Akamai extends reach towards IoT devices – Technologist

Akamai has unveiled a solution line that streamlines and secures the delivery of data to connected devices and in-application messaging at scale.

Called Edge Cloud, it is designed to serve the needs of businesses bringing billions of endpoints online as part of the IoT connected device revolution and further boost the adoption and power of in-application messaging.

“Akamai is investing to extend its network capabilities with the goal of meeting the unique needs of the growing IoT device and application messaging markets,” said Craig Adams, senior vice president and general manager, Web Performance and Security, Akamai Technologies. “Delivering massive amounts of data across the globe securely is in Akamai’s DNA. We are focused on developing technology designed to scale, simplify and secure the way IoT and application data is delivered to endpoints.”

Solving critical scale and operational challenges

According to IoT Analytics Research, by 2025, approximately 22 billion connected devices will be sending data across the Internet. In addition, billions of application instances will be sending trillions of messages, and these endpoints represent both vast opportunities and challenges for businesses in terms of harnessing, distributing and protecting the data.

From car makers to hotel operators, virtually every industry is incorporating endpoints in the form of connected devices and applications into their business strategies, capitalizing on the ubiquity of Internet access. However, building and managing the infrastructure required to support, scale and secure these experiences can be incredibly time-, cost- and resource-intensive for organizations and not a part of their core competency.

According to Akamai, its Edge Cloud solution line provides global scale that other data platforms for IoT and messaging lack. As more use cases emerge for IoT and in-application messaging, such as Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT), the need to offer connectivity for billions of devices, real-time data delivery and capabilities that allow for easier data management are a requirement.

IoT Edge Connect, a new product within the Edge Cloud solution line, tackles these challenges head on by offering a secure framework. Both resource-constrained IoT devices and applications using MQTT for messaging can send or publish information about a given topic to a server that functions as an MQTT message broker.

“We are offering the next generation of messaging with scalability, operational simplicity and security, providing a turn-key solution that allows customers to focus on their core business rather than integrating and managing discreet but necessary components for messaging,” said Lior Netzer, vice president and CTO, IoT, Akamai. “With the launch of IoT Edge Connect, we’re harnessing the power of the Edge and bringing it to the next frontier of connected devices and applications.”

With IoT Edge Connect, developers can enable low-latency interactions with millions of endpoints and process data in real-time. Customers using the service can reduce network, compute and database build out, reduce security breaches and improve manageability, avoiding the need to develop and maintain proprietary and costly IoT and in-app messaging networks.