What is an IoT platform,
and why is it important?

IoT Platforms: The backbone of connectivity

Imagine a world where all the surrounding things are connected: they exchange information that interactively changes the behavioral scenarios of IoTs. From smartphones and smart light bulbs to refrigerators and cars, all become part of a large network we call the Internet of Things (IoT). This is how the concept of IoT is realized, enabled by sensors and software within IoT platforms.

The latter are actively evolving, becoming increasingly complex objects whose task is to collect data about their environment, process it and, based on this information, execute given scenarios. The functionality of IoTs can be divided into 4 main aspects:

1. Data collection: Every smart device has sensors that collect strictly specific information, for example, a thermometer can measure temperature, a motion sensor detects motion, and a humidity sensor detects humidity levels.
2. Data transmission: The collected information is transmitted over the internet to a local or cloud server.
3. Data processing: Once the data has reached the server or cloud, it is processed and analyzed.
4. Decision-making: The system then makes a decision based on the processed data and sends the necessary commands back to the devices.

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The wide variety of Internet of Things (IoT) and possible scenarios of behavior can make potential users hesitant to abandon the idea of making their lives easier with digital technology. To cope with the challenges of managing an extensive ecosystem and IoTs, companies such as Temy are developing software for so-called IoT platforms whose task is to simplify the integration of smart devices into a complete system.

For example, in a smart home, lighting, heating, cameras, TVs, refrigerators, and other devices can all work through a single device — an IoT platform. The latter are designed with user-friendliness in mind, so interfaces are intuitive navigators of IoT components and settings are as simple as possible.

Real-life application examples: From smart homes to smart cities

Consider that your home can think and only cares about your comfort and safety. Lights turn on when you enter a room and turn off when you’re not there, and the temperature is always perfect. Security systems watch over your home around the clock, and the refrigerator monitors the amount of food and makes the necessary orders in the online store — these few simple examples even skeptics can be clearly convinced of the possibilities of smart technology. What’s more, the IoT approach to solving routine processes is already being applied in the provision and optimization of infrastructure in megacities such as New York, London, Tokyo and Singapore. IoT tasks range from monitoring air pollution to adjusting traffic lights to optimize road traffic.

Medicine is not left out of the processes towards IoT optimization. In this field, smart devices remotely track patient conditions, to monitoring medicines and equipment — behind every smart data collection, transmission, and processing point is a number of IoT platforms whose computing power enables, if locally, decision-making, but if cloud-based, the possibilities are limited.

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Pragmatic decision makers may be deterred by the answer to the cost question. In the past, their concerns would have been valid: as recently as five years ago, the cost of installing and maintaining smart patient monitoring devices started at $10,000 and went up to $100,000 or more, depending on the complexity of the system and the number of connected devices; now, the cost of the same scale starts at half of the amounts outlined above, according to Digital Health. Software development for IoT platforms accounts for nearly a third of the cost. Overall, from smart refrigerators to industrial sensors, it’s IoT platforms that are changing the world around us. They help us live more conveniently, work more efficiently, and care about the future of our planet.

Why IoT platforms are important for startups

Suppose you have a concept designed to revolutionize the smart home market in terms of security: your innovative system uses artificial intelligence to recognize faces and analyze behavior that, due to the geographic location of your target audience — Hollywood — is different from that of common offenders. But for your software to work, on the one hand it needs to be given information, and on the other hand it needs to react to the interpreted information. This is where ready-made solutions come to the rescue — IoT-platforms that can realize the most complex user scenarios.

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IoT in the language of primacy:

• Faster to the finish line: IoT platform development allows you to prototype your products in the shortest possible time. Instead of starting from scratch, you get ready-made tools to connect devices, collect and analyze data. This means you can test your idea in the marketplace faster and get valuable feedback from users.
• Save resources: Developing your own IoT infrastructure is expensive. IoT platforms offer flexible pricing plans that allow you to optimize costs depending on the scale of your project. This is especially significant for startups with limited budgets.
• Focus on innovation: When all technical issues are solved with the help of the platform, you can focus on the most essential thing — developing a unique product and marketing it.
• Scalability: IoT platforms can easily scale with your business. You can start with a small project and gradually expand it without worrying about technical limitations.

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For example, Temy, a company known for its innovative solutions, has successfully implemented a startup that develops smartwatches for athletes, thanks to an IoT platform, can quickly build a prototype watch without spending years developing its own systems. The gadgets track heart rate, calories burned and other important indicators, and the collected data will help the startup improve the product and make it even more useful for users. The result is a high-quality, market-ready product in a fraction of the time it would have taken otherwise.

Bottom Line

IoT platforms are the backbone of modern technology, making our lives easier and businesses more efficient. They are behind solutions to security and user comfort issues in smart homes and cities, and help startups realize their ideas faster. Saving resources of time and money, flexibility in scaling, improving the quality of both data collection and interstitialization, and realizing scenarios — behind all these arguments are IoT platform development specialists that you can consult with first before making a final decision.

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