Last updated June 12, 2017.
Published on February 8, 2016.
The market for Internet of Things (IoT) platforms is rapidly evolving. With an ever increasing number of available platforms to choose from, we decided it would be helpful to lay out their features and capabilities for easy comparison. To complete our matrix, we used the following criteria: a major IoT player with a platform that has real-world success implementing industrial use cases.
The first section gives general information about the various platforms, including the platform name, the Platform as a Service (PaaS) used, and the date the platform became available. Most were released fairly recently, whereas Cumulocity’s platform has been around since 2010, C3 IoT’s since 2009, Connecthings’ since 2007, M2Mi’s since 2006, and Jasper’s since 2004. All platforms are delivered in the cloud, however, Bosch, C3 IoT, Carriots, Kaa, M2Mi, and PTC also offer their solutions on-premises.
Analytics: All platforms have strong analytic capabilities, including Hadoop scale data management and storage, as well as the ability to gather real-time data insights.
Application Development & Integration: Almost every company offers a platform that can be connected to via more than just Ethernet or WiFi, such as via cellular, satellite, or low power/short range communication (Bluetooth, ZigBee, etc.). Common communication protocols among these platforms include HTTP and MQTT. MQTT is an extremely lightweight machine-to-machine (M2M)/IoT connectivity protocol. All platforms have device management and data management capabilities.
Devices: One thing that most all platforms have in common is the ability to send device commands, meaning they are able to send messages to the devices. Other common capabilities of these platforms include device identification, device lifecycle management, device registries, and device/client/service libraries. A few of the platforms include object storage, some provide SDKs, and some have virtual device capabilities.
Security: All platforms securely send and receive data, use strong authentication and authorization methods, and use encryption. The majority also have audit capabilities.
Workflow / Event Processing: Most of the platforms have the ability to create workflows, process events, and create rules.
Other: Ayla, C3 IoT, Connecthings, Cumulocity, GE, IBM, Intel, Jasper, M2Mi, PTC, SAP, and Xively have won awards regarding the Internet of Things. Most all of the platforms have a free trial and/or a starter kit for an easy jump start. As far as pricing goes, most depend on the number of devices that are connected plus the amount of data traffic and data storage used. However, some platforms have everything included within the cost of the platform and some charge for the platform plus additional add-ons.
Key:
Industrial IoT Platforms: A through I (Amazon, AT&T, Ayla, Bosch, C3 IoT, Carriots, Connecthings, Cumulocity, GE, IBM, Intel)
| Amazon | AT&T | Ayla | Bosch | C3 IoT | Carriots | Connecthings | Cumulocity | GE | IBM | Intel | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform Name | AWS IoT | M2X | Ayla IoT Platform | Bosch IoT Suite 2.0 | C3 IoT Platform | Carriots | Connecthings IoT Platform | Cumulocity | Predix | IBM Watson Internet of Things Platform | The Intel IoT Platform |
| PaaS Platform | AWS | Heroku, Salesforce, Openshift | Ayla IoT Platform | Bosch SI PaaS | C3 IoT Platform | Carriots | Connecthings | Cumulocity | Pivotal Cloud Foundry | IBM Bluemix, Pivotal Cloud Foundry | Microsoft Azure, AWS, IBM Bluemix |
| Released Date | December 2015 | January 2015 | August 2014 | January 2015 | 2009 | ~ 2011 | ~ 2007 | ~ 2010 | February 2016 | October 2014 | December 2014 |
| Home Page | AWS IoT Home Page | AT&T M2X Home Page | Ayla IoT Platform Home Page | Bosch IoT Suite Home Page | C3 IoT Home Page | Carriots Home Page | Connecthings Home Page | Cumulocity Home Page | Predix Home Page | IBM IoT Foundation Home Page | Intel IoT Platform Home Page |
| APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT / INTEGRATION | |||||||||||
| Connect via more than the Internet |  | | | | | | | | |  | |
| Application Marketplace | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Device Provisioning | | | | | | | | | |  | |
| MQTT Support | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Telecom Integration | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Machine Learning | | | | | | | | | | | |
| DEVICES | |||||||||||
| Libraries | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Object Store | | | | | | | | | | | |
| SDK | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Virtual Device | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Amazon | AT&T | Ayla | Bosch | C3 IoT | Carriots | Connecthings | Cumulocity | GE | IBM | Intel | |
| SECURITY | |||||||||||
| Audit | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Identity & Access Management | |  | | | | | | | | | |
| WORKFLOW / EVENT PROCESSING | |||||||||||
| Workflow | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Event Processing | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Rules | | | | | | | | | | | |
| OTHER | |||||||||||
| Awards/Recognition | No awards found | No awards found | 2015 IoT Excellence Award | No awards found | 2015 Fierce Innovation Award | No awards found | Best IoT Start-Up 2016 (awarded by Ericsson), Most Innovative Apps for Transport 2015, Best RFID/NFC Application 2013 + more | 2015 Global Frost & Sullivan Award for New Product Innovation + several more | 2015 Global Industrial Software Growth Excellence for Application Convergence Award | Best IoT Product - Inquirer Tech Hero Awards | Intel IoT Gateways and Intel IoT Platform were winners of 2015 IoT Innovations award from Connected World magazine |
| Training/Access | AWS IoT Starter Kits, AWS IoT Free Tier, | Free Trial, Sample Apps, Tutorials, IoT Starter Kit | Free Ayla Developer Account, Ayla Design Kit, Free IoT Hands-On Labs, Demo | Training Courses (Berlin, Germany) | Training / resources provided during trials (3 trial options) | Free Tier for Testing and Prototyping | iOS and Android Quickstart for Beacons documentation, sdk-tutorial (GitHub) | Free Trial | Predix Startup Program, Predix Security Starter Kit | jStart, Quickstart, Free Trial, IoT Starter | IoT developer program (devkit, tools, training and developer outreach) |
| Amazon | AT&T | Ayla | Bosch | C3 IoT | Carriots | Connecthings | Cumulocity | GE | IBM | Intel |
Industrial IoT Platforms: J through X (Jasper, Kaa, Losant, M2Mi, Microsoft, Oracle, PTC, Salesforce, SAP, thethings.IO, Verizon, Xively, Zebra)
| Jasper | Kaa | Losant | M2Mi | Microsoft | Oracle | PTC | Salesforce | SAP | thethings.iO | Verizon | Xively | Zebra | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform Name | Cisco Jasper Control Center | Kaa IoT Platform | The Losant IoT Platform | M2M Intelligence Platform | Azure IoT Suite | Oracle IoT Cloud Service | ThingWorx IoT Platform | Salesforce IoT Cloud | SAP HANA Cloud Platform for IoT | thethings.iO | Verizon ThingSpace IoT Platform | Xively IoT Platform (by LogMeIn) | Zatar |
| PaaS Platform | Jasper Control Center | N/A | Losant | IBM Bluemix, AWS, Google App Engine | Microsoft Azure | Oracle IoT Cloud Service | Thingworx | AWS | SAP HANA Cloud Platform | thethings.iO | ThingSpace | Xively | Zatar |
| Released Date | ~ 2004 | 2014 | Introductory Period | ~ 2006 | September 2015 | January 2016 | May 2015 | Pilot | May 2015 | 2014 | October 2015 | May 2013 | November 2013 |
| Home Page | Jasper Control Center Home Page | Kaa IoT Platform Home Page | Losant IoT Platform Home Page | M2M Intelligence Platform Home Page | Azure IoT Suite Home Page | Oracle IoT Cloud Service Home Page | ThingWorx IoT Platform Home Page | Salesforce IoT Cloud Home Page | SAP HANA Cloud Platform for IoT Home Page | thethings.iO Home Page | Verizon ThingSpace IoT Platform Home Page | Xively IoT Platform Home Page | Zatar Home Page |
| APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT / INTEGRATION | |||||||||||||
| Connect via more than the Internet | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Application Marketplace | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Device Provisioning | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| MQTT Support | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Telecom Integration | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Machine Learning | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| DEVICES | |||||||||||||
| Libraries | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Object Store | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| SDK | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Virtual Device | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Jasper | Kaa | Losant | M2Mi | Microsoft | Oracle | PTC | Salesforce | SAP | thethings.iO | Verizon | Xively | Zebra | |
| SECURITY | |||||||||||||
| Audit | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Identity & Access Management | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| WORKFLOW / EVENT PROCESSING | |||||||||||||
| Workflow | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Event Processing | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Rules | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| OTHER | |||||||||||||
| Awards/Recognition | 2015 GSMA Global Mobile Awards Winner: Best Mobile Innovation for the ‘IoT’ (plus 12 more awards) | No awards found | No awards found | IoT/M2M Innovation World Cup '14/'15 (Security), Gartner 2014 Cool Vendor, 2014 M2M Evolution IoT Excellence Award, CW's 2014 Top 100 M2M providers | No awards found | No awards found | 2015 IoT Excellence Award, Most Innovative Platform Solution 2014, Best in Show Award for IoT Solution 2013, and many more | No awards found | 2014 M2M Evolution IoT Excellence Award | No awards found | No awards found | 2015 IoT Excellence Award, Most Innovative Platform Solution 2014, Best in Show Award for IoT Solution 2013, and many more | No awards found |
| Training/Access | Product demos, No-obligation trial | Product is Open Source (Free), Kaa Documentation, Kaa Community at Stack Overflow | Product is currently free, the Losant Kit Store contains IoT Dev Kits | Private product demos, Free Trial | IoT Hub Free Tier (Preconfigured solutions included to help customers get started) | IoT Discovery Workshop, Oracle IoT Cloud Service Learning Library | ThingWorx IoT Starter Kits, ThingWorx Readiness Assessment, ThingWorx Discovery Session | None found | SAP HANA Cloud Platform IoT Services Starter K | Free Trial, Quickstart Docs | Dev Kits, Free dev and test sandboxes with RESTful backend services | Tutorials available in the Developer Center, Free Developer Account | Free Trial, Zebra Learning Portal (2017), Zebra Instructor-led Courses |
| Jasper | Kaa | Losant | M2Mi | Microsoft | Oracle | PTC | Salesforce | SAP | thethings.iO | Verizon | Xively | Zebra |
The above products are not by any means all the leading Industrial IoT products on the market. We plan to review and add the following platforms: Autodesk SeeControl, Blackberry IoT Platform, Bright Wolf Strandz IoT Platform, C2M, Concirrus, Connio, Davra Networks RuBAN, Device Insight, Echelon IzoT Platform, EVRYTHING, Exosite, FIWARE, GroveStreams, HPE IoT Platform, Itron, MachineShop, Octoblu, PLAT.ONE, Preva Systems WISE3, Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure, Sentilo, Siemens MindSphere, T-Mobile M2M Hub Platform, ThingPlus, Waylay, Wind River Helix / Wind River Intelligent Device Platform XT, Workpad IoT, Wot.io, and WSO2. If you know of an IoT platform that should be on the list, please let us know.
We plan to update the Industrial IoT Platform Comparison as new IoT platforms and product updates are available. If you are interested in being notified when new updates are made or have suggestions as to how to make this comparison more useful, please contact io*@ma*************.com.
M&S Consulting provides Industrial IoT strategy, objective IoT platform selection, and IoT implementation and integration services. Contact us if interested in learning more about how an IoT platform can deliver value to your business.
Change Log:
- 06/12/17 – Added C3 IoT Platform
- 04/04/17 – Updated ThingWorx capabilities
- 01/26/17 – Added Zebra Technologies’ Zatar Platform
- 12/01/16 – Added new row, Machine Learning
- 11/28/16 – Added Ayla IoT Platform
- 11/18/16 – Added Kaa IoT Platform
- 08/17/16 – Added Verizon ThingSpace IoT Platform
- 08/09/16 – Added thethings.iO
- 07/22/16 – Added Xively IoT Platform
- 07/20/16 – Added Carriots
- 06/29/16 – Added Connecthings IoT Platform, added Released Date
16 Comments on “Industrial Internet of Things Platform Comparison”
Great comparison, but I think Microsoft is a it misrepresented:
1. Microsoft has already integrated Jasper into Azure IoT Suite so Telecom integration is quite easy
2. “Access via more than internet” category seems strange. Communications with non-ip enabled devices are conducted via field gateways. Microsoft has field gateway SDK (sample open source code) for that. I currently run a few projects with this set up.
Also I would add a bit more depth onto analytics space – big data, machine learning capabilities etc
Request adding Workpad.com to the list, focused on object storage and RESTful accessible time-series storage with little or no development necessary. Includes asset management, streaming video transcoding, mobile-ready UI, and rich reporting and sharing tools.
none
Just curious why workflow is listed as not included for Thingworx ? Thingworx utilities appears to include process workflow when I look at their product information. Or do you define workflow as something else ?
And where is Kaa IoT Platform?? It looks like one of the best platforms for industrial automation. Can you add it?
If needed can help to analyze it.
What about Siemens MindSphere?
And C3 IoT?
Why AWS has not Telecom Integration? I think it has Workflow too with Amazon Simple Workflow Service
How About WSO2 platform? It’s amazing open source Iot Platform.
Autodeck see contol Iot PLATFORM COMPARISON
I am looking for a deep definition of each o the areas that this analysis is showing. Could you please help?
You are totally missing one of the leading open source IoT Platform from Eclipse based on Cura and Kapua Open Source distribution and obviously its commercial version available from Eurotech EveryWare IoT with ESF (EveryWare Software Framework) and EveryWare Cloud. Eurotech donated the core to Eclipse since several years. This platform it is available since 2012 and it is today one of the platform with more real production deployments in several different verticals.
Hi Giuseppe!
Thanks for the interesting comment.
I’m currently doing some research on OpenSource IoT-Platform and Eclipse IoT seems one of the most promising so far.
Can you by chance name any companies/projects that have the platform already in real production deployment?
It would help me a lot to have a few examples and references for further scrutiny.
Many Thanks & best regards
Have you assessed Siemens MindSphere, Schneider Electric Ecostruxure, ABB Ability, Rockwell FactoryTalk Cloud and Honeywell Sentience yet?
Is “Virtual Device” means, device simulation or what ? Anyone can help ?
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