microsoftIoTMicrosoft has boosted investment in the Industrial IoT with the availability of an OPC UA testing lab and extended support to customers and partners in Asia through its Federated Lab initiative to accelerate digital transformation and tap into the global market.

One year after the launch of the IoT Innovation Center in Taiwan, Microsoft has boosted investment in the Industrial IoT with the availability of an OPC Unified Architecture (UA) testing lab and extended support to customers and partners in Asia through its Federated Lab initiative to accelerate digital transformation.

Since the October launch in Taipei last year, the Microsoft IoT Innovation Center has helped customers and partners advance their digital transformation by facilitating in-depth engagement with IoT partners to create new connected business solutions. The Industry 4.0 plan is part of Taiwan's "5+2 Major Innovative Industries policy," which aims to transform hardware to have cloud connectivity and AI capability that helps to revitalize Taiwan's economy.

"Government programs, such as the 'Asia Silicon Valley Development Plan' and 'Forward-Looking Infrastructure Plan,' advocate developments and transformation in the technology service industry in Taiwan," said Minister of Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), Jong-chin Shen. "We're pleased to partner with Microsoft to setup the IoT Innovation Center in Taiwan as Asia hub to foster close collaboration with local and global partners by speeding up IoT solutions and deployment across different industries."

Microsoft’s Azure IoT platform

Customers and partners are turning to the IoT to create new business solutions that help them address problems in new ways using data-driven insight on their journeys toward digital transformation. Microsoft has built a portfolio that supports the needs of all customers and enables everyone to access the benefits of digital transformation. For example, Azure IoT Suite is a customizable PaaS solution that is best used when managing a huge number of devices and manufacturers seeking connected factory solutions which require highly customizable IoT solutions tailored to their complex needs. Microsoft IoT Central is a fully managed SaaS solution that is best used when you need to get started quickly with minimal IoT experience. Azure IoT Edge provides organizations with the capacity to do local computer processing. When combined with a PaaS or SaaS solution, edge processing allows for faster calculations and reduces the cost of data sent to the cloud.

"Our comprehensive IoT platform and global partner ecosystem help our customers create an actionable plan to develop, test, and deploy IoT solutions quickly. We are deepening investment in Industrial IoT and extending support to Asian customers and partners through the IoT Innovation Center in Taiwan to accelerate digital transformation in a key global market", Microsoft Corporate Vice President Jason Zander said.

Testing and Solution Development Lab for Industrial IoT

So far, more than 70 percent of total certified devices for Azure IoT were contributed by Asian partners across heterogeneous OS and connectivity protocols. Partners were enabled to build vertical solutions including Connected Factory, Fleet Management, Smart Retails, Tele-Care, Home Automation, Energy Management, and Connected Vehicle by using Azure IoT Services and data analytics platform.

Moving forward, Microsoft will establish testing and solution development labs for the Industrial IoT to create powerful and thoughtful collaborations. For example, the lab will not only enable partners to build an OPC UA Gateway with built-in Azure IoT connectivity but also supports partners in validating security, interoperability, robustness and salability for OPC UA for compatible products and services. To jumpstart small and medium manufacturers for Industry 4.0, Microsoft is looking at accelerating industrial partners' OT/IT integration through the technical readiness program on Azure IoT and Microsoft's AI platform to boost manufacturing digitization. Furthermore, there will be extended support to industrial clusters in Asia through a federated lab alliance.

Stefan Hoppe, VP of OPC Foundation, said, "Microsoft's commitment to open standards, and specifically to the OPC Foundation, is absolutely amazing. Microsoft is clearly a pioneer and a leader in developing and bringing to the market the best technology that truly enables multivendor information integration and interoperability. It has been a pleasure to work with the Microsoft development team and witness how they are giving so many suppliers seamless connectivity to the Azure cloud through their development and commitment to providing open-source implementation of OPC UA technology."

For more information about the Microsoft Innovation Center, please visit: https://www.microsoft.com/taiwan/IoT/

By MediaBUZZ