Ayla Networks, whose Internet of Things (IoT) platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offers device management and application enablement, recently announced new capabilities for its IoT platform that will further simplify the ability to gain business value from IoT. This new Ayla IoT platform release overcomes restrictions on choosing wireless modules to connect to the Ayla IoT cloud and streamlines the creation of enterprise applications that use IoT device data.
A new Ayla portable software agent significantly cuts the time needed to get to market with IoT initiatives, by allowing manufacturers to select essentially any cellular or Wi-Fi module and have it connect easily to the Ayla IoT cloud. For makers of IoT solutions and service providers, the Ayla IoT platform has added new application enablement capabilities designed to be faster and easier to build both mobile and web-based enterprise applications that take advantage of IoT data.
“IoT applications and use cases continue to grow in size and complexity, and Ayla Networks is committed to keeping our IoT platform technology a step ahead of what the market needs,” said Jonathan Cobb, CEO, Ayla Networks. “Our new portable device agent allows business priorities, rather than connectivity technology, to dictate the basis for choosing hardware modules to connect devices to the IoT cloud. And our expanded application enablement capabilities will be particularly useful for enterprises, service providers and manufacturers that are getting started on IoT projects and want to scale quickly and innovate faster.”
Portable Agent
To connect to an IoT cloud, devices use an embedded cellular or Wi-Fi module, comprising both a hardware chip and a software agent, that provides wireless cloud connectivity. Until now, IoT software agents had to be built and certified to work with a specific chip and module type, an expensive process that could take a year or more and involve significant certification overhead.
The new Ayla portable agent circumvents this problem by enabling connectivity to the Ayla IoT cloud from any cellular or Wi-Fi module—without the lengthy process of certifying a different software agent for each chip or module variation, and without having to generate source code to port the agent to a chosen module. As a result, IoT solution providers that want to connect to the Ayla IoT cloud are no longer restricted to a list of certified cellular or Wi-Fi modules; instead, they can take a bring-your-own (BYO) approach to IoT modules.
“The Ayla portable agent will help companies with the development of new IoT products by reducing the burden on module hardware selection, allowing them to concentrate on differentiating their offerings to serve rapidly expanding markets,” said Jessica Yu, director, WP1 PLM, Universal Global Scientific Industrial.
“As a world-leading communications module manufacturer, LITE-ON appreciates partners with Ayla Networks to make it easier for our customers to complete the ‘last mile’ of their IoT applications,” said Steven Wu, GM, Internet Communication Modules (ICM) business unit, LITE-ON. “With growing demand for low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) chips, enabling easy access to the Ayla IoT cloud will expand the markets for our comprehensive communications modules.”
“We believe that the Ayla portable agent will allow us to offer a more diverse range of modules to a wider range of industries,” said Antony Chen, marketing director, AMPAK Technology. “The combination of our modules and easy Ayla IoT cloud access will help our customers win in the smart device market by offering more creative and cost-effective products.”
The Ayla portable agent includes source code, reference implementation, a porting guide, and a test suite for both cellular and Wi-Fi solutions. In addition, Ayla Networks can recommend development partners able to perform porting work for enterprises that lack in-house IoT firmware development expertise.
Application Enablement
The Ayla Mobile App Foundry is Ayla’s next-generation mobile application platform, designed primarily for large enterprises and service providers.
Introducing a template-based approach that reduces mobile app development costs, the Ayla Mobile App Foundry speeds both the development and maintenance of mobile apps. It allows enterprises to quickly develop and update derivative versions of an app, such as consumer, field service, dealer, retail staff and geographically localized versions. The ability to generate apps from a common template—without managing multiple code bases—radically shortens the innovation and release cycles as enterprises expand and scale their IoT businesses.
The Ayla Web Software Development Kit (SDK) reduces development cycles for applications that leverage IoT device data in conjunction with an enterprise’s other cloud or data integrations. A new product, the Ayla Web SDK makes it easy for developers to create business applications on top of the Ayla IoT platform. It provides pre-packaged functionality for user management, device monitoring, session management and rule-based access control (RBAC) management.
Ken Briodagh is a writer and editor with more than a decade of experience under his belt. He is in love with technology and if he had his druthers would beta test everything from shoe phones to flying cars.Edited by
Ken Briodagh
