IoTCo on-boards millions of smart home devices for Energy conservation using Azure IoT solution

IoTCo is a technology enterprise focused on providing complete in-home IoT solutions. Their solutions consist of machine learning and data analytics. With this, they create a unique and total solution for controlling the behaviour of their domestic electrical appliances. Their efforts are oriented towards creating smart homes and neighbourhoods using handheld devices. This helps them deliver successful eco-solutions rather than products.

However, with an on-premise solution system to collect, store and manage the product data, IoTCo faced multiple challenges.

Absence of two-way communication

IoTCo faced challenges with a two-way communication between its home automation product (Smart wall plug) and the on-premise system. The products could not communicate their condition data with the system and it could not control the product function. The system administrator could not command any function into the product to avoid malfunction or enhance its performance. This affected the product efficiency.

Multiple devices, limited infrastructure

IoTCo’s devices were geographically dispersed and their data could not be collected in a common system. For one solution platform placed for one region, only a limited number of products could be on-boarded. This limited data did not help with accurate data predictions related to products, consumers and their usage patterns. A cloud solution would have on-boarded millions of products at once, but IoTCo lacked a sophisticated infrastructure. This created avenues of limited revenue generation.

Absence of device health data

The on-premise infrastructure did not provide insights on device health data. This diagnostic information was especially crucial to understand the present and future of the device and its health. Only then, predictive analytics would be exercised. It would ensure maximum upkeep of the devices and controlled energy usage. However, with limited devices and limited data on-board, diagnostic information was not available for IoTCo.

Managing and controlling energy loss

IoTCo’s products had the possibility to suffer energy loss. They lacked an in-built diagnostic system. The users and manufacturers remained unaware of the product’s health and condition due to the lack of bi-directional communication in the system. If a product had already malfunctioned or whether it was going to, remained a mystery. In the case of a spike in energy consumption, the cause remained untouched. This made energy loss a strong possibility. Consumers would be needed to pay a surplus amount than necessary in case of power loss.

Not achieving desired solution performance

IotCo’s existing system lacked scalability and had opportunities of performing better than it did. The on-premise solution faced challenges with speedier and efficient performance. and lacked a sophisticated infrastructure. Its maintenance could have caused problems related to increased downtime, taking a long time to be up and running again, frequent repair cycles etc. It had the possibility to affect the entire system performance and the upkeep of all connected products at once.

Solution: Microsoft Azure enabled Azure IoT platform