Microsoft purchased on Tuesday an Italian company called Solair that operates a cloud-based Internet-of-Things (IoT) platform.
Solair’s technology is going to be used by Microsoft to upgrade the company’s previous IoT platform called Azure IoT Suite, said Microsoft blog post. The company added that it will be a series of cloud services meant to help others use the IoT.
Solair’s software will be able to run as a cloud service or on companies’ infrastructure and, also, its service will be focused not only on companies but also on home automation, smart metering, remote maintenance and inventory management.
For people to use their interface between their devices and the cloud, this technology offers a hardware gateway. Companies can work with all of their Internet-connected devices.
MachNation analyst Dima Tokar said that Microsoft bought Solair because of its technology and not its customer base.
Microsoft Azure IoT partner director Sam George said he is excited for the talent and technology the company has acquired. Also, he said that the combination of Solair’s IoT customization and deployment solutions, with Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform is designed to help businesses in any industry to use IoT in a more efficient and profitable way.
“For example, Solair has brought the power of IoT to the Rancilio Group’s full line of espresso machines, allowing the Italian manufacturer to remotely monitor machines, resulting in greater efficiency across the supply chain. Using the power of cloud-based data and analytics, Solair has helped the Rancilio Group reduce costs and increase revenue,” George said.
Solair CEO Tom Davis wrote on a blog post that the Solair team is looking forward to work with Microsoft and the Azure IoT team, because he thinks is a good opportunity to bring the IoT to new and unique customer scenarios.
Microsoft did not specify what it will get out of Solair’s technology, but it promised to release more details on the integration of the two companies later.
Where did Solair come from?
Solair started its business in 2011 and was based outside the Italian city of Bologna. The company has worked with Italian espresso machine manufacturer Rancilio Group and food processing machine company Minerva Omega Group
Other companies are building their own cloud service for IoT devices, such as Amazon Web Services’ AWS IoT service, and offerings from Oracle and Salesforce.
Source: Tech Crunch