It is hard to separate Cloud services from IoT (Internet of Things), and Amazon is no exception. Their IoT service on AWS is part of a series of tools for managing all of those devices in the Cloud. To stay clear, we will look at the IoT service (AWS IOT) in this article as opposed to the larger IOT group of tools that includes other services like Green Grass and the Dash Button.
Internet of Things in a Nutshell
It may help to provide a brief synopsis of IoT. Think of all the devices around your house that communicate with the Internet. Those all fall into this category. In short, a device that connects to the Internet/Cloud for any reason is a member.
These devices may seem like a lot of technology in our houses that serves no purpose. Why does your toaster need to connect to the Internet? However, many features and services can come from a connected device. The most common of these include diagnosis of problems, functionality updates, and feedback to other systems. Thus, a connected toaster may get an update to help it better toast your bread or send a message to let your watch know the toasting has completed.
The Amazon Service
There is a lot of work that goes into building a network of connected devices. They have to register with the Cloud, be able to find other devices, and communicate. This service covers all of that foundational work. It also serves as a form of traffic cop for messages amongst devices.
On top of the communication infrastructure, there is the ability to add rules and permissions. Thus, all of the logic for your devices can be managed in one place. This becomes very powerful with only a few steps. However, don’t take our word for it. Check out the Tutorial provide in the IOT AWS Console for some simple, yet powerful, examples.
Just The Beginning
As I eluded to earlier, this is just a part of the suite of tools to help your IoT development and testing. However, this is an excellent service to start with. There are some simple tutorials provided in this console and examples to get you started. You cannot go wrong spending some time playing around with this service. No matter whether you are considering the creation of an Amazon Button to boost sales of your product or building a new smart device. Once again, Amazon has already answered your questions and needs with a handy little service.
If you find this interesting take a look at the other AWS tour articles we have created.
