IoT device management provides a definite road to IoT time-to-value and profitability.
The road to the Internet of Things (IoT) success can be tricky. Many enterprise IoT solutions struggle to scale due to ineffective manageability. Unlike traditional IT deployments, IoT involves a large number of devices with a heterogeneous mix of firmware and software that autonomously communicate with the infrastructure. Human intervention is minimal. Much less like servers and desktops, IoT devices are usually resource-constrained with limited memory, storage, and processor capacity. So in your IoT design, in addition to laying out the overall architecture and components, unless you plan for managing the devices across their lifecycle, the solution may soon turn unstable. That’s where IoT device management comes in.
IoT Device Management – what to expect
Enterprise IoT use cases involve hundreds and often thousands of connected devices. In industrial settings, these devices may be distributed across a wide geographical area. The cost and complexity of manual onboarding and monitoring these devices soon turns impractical.
A cloud-enabled IoT device management solution helps you to automate the process. The platform enables administrators to securely onboard, organize, track, monitor, and remotely manage all the connected devices with the ease and efficiency of using the automated controls from a central management console.
IoT device management delivered as a cloud service lets you centrally monitor and manage devices until they are ready to retire. From a single management console, you can have a comprehensive view of the entire deployment and automate these essential management functions:
1. Secure device provisioning
Maliciously compromised IoT devices provide inroads to your infrastructure. During onboarding and communication, authentication of devices and determining their access privileges are essential. A cloud-based IoT device management platform validates new devices before they connect to the network. The platform lets you configure passwords, certificates, or you may define a preferred means of device authentication. Once authenticated, the platform provisions the device based on its access privileges.
2. Automate configuration control
In a large warehouse with hundreds of connected light bulbs, imagine the challenges of managing their configurations manually! An IoT device management platform lets you automate the process. Pre-defined scripts can remotely configure devices with custom configurations such as location, authentication passwords/keys, unique ID, and other application-specific settings. Remote programmability also allows reset, application of firmware updates, patch bugs, reload, power-off, or simply retire devices when no longer in use.
3. Monitor devices remotely
After installing IoT devices in access-constrained locations, it becomes hard to monitor or troubleshoot issues manually. A scaled number of devices make it all the more impractical. IoT device management platforms continuously monitor device location, device health, network parameters, and failure indicators. In the case of anomalies, administrators are alerted to take diagnostic action remotely from a central location.
4. Patching OT assets simplified
Due to the complex nature of OT environments, applying patches is not a common practice. As a result, IoT devices often run outdated versions with vulnerabilities exposing the risk of exploits. Besides, OT operators are less accustomed to patching hygiene. IoT device management platform equips engineers to program automated device upgrades over-the-air (OTA) with security patches and updates for hardware, software, and firmware that can be pushed remotely during maintenance windows. Regular updates help to prevent security incidents proactively.
5. Gain Insights from Data
Device monitoring generates a wealth of data. A device management platform integrated with cloud analytics applications transforms the raw IoT data into KPIs and various prescriptive and predictive insights. Having a systemic approach to data collection and insights sustains the key value propositions of IoT use cases.
Nivid’s N-Smart platform combines the capabilities
Nivid Technologies is committed to your IoT success. N-Smart is Nivid’s cutting-edge IoT-as-a-Service platform. N-Smart’s single-pane-of-glass view helps enterprises to centrally manage all aspects of the IoT solution with complete control over local, national, or global IoT deployment. Our future-proof, comprehensive, management module of N-Smart is a cloud-enabled platform that delivers IoT device management as a service. N-Smart is a highly secure and scalable solution that simplifies IoT management and operations end-to-end and across the entire deployment lifecycle.
N-Smart can authenticate and securely onboard thousands of devices. With N-Smart, you can configure devices, organize them in groups, send command and control messages, monitor device health, send OTA firmware updates, and monitor and control the entire deployment from a single pane of glass. N-Smart interfaces with cloud applications to give you advanced analytics and insights to plan and expand your IoT deployment across profitable markets and geographies.
Since N- Smart offers device management as-a-service, enterprises can avoid upfront costs and termination fees. The platform’s flexible architecture scales as your deployment grows and protects your IoT investment.
To discover why enterprises prefer our N-Smart IoT as-a-service solution and to learn more about how N- Smart simplifies IoT device lifecycle management, contact our team of experts.