Cloud-based technology offers end users in the manufacturing and processing industries a plethora of benefits. Perhaps most importantly, it enables a “single source of truth” for large datasets gathered from disparate systems and facilities. By synchronizing this data, cloud platforms can enable end-to-end planning and visibility that would be difficult or impossible if local, on-premises servers were used instead. Moreover, because cloud platforms ingest large quantities of data from many locations and companies, theycan be used to train powerful machine learning applications that individual operations would not have the capacity to develop on their own.
Currently, three large platforms hold 80% of the global cloud market:亚马逊网络服务(AWS),微软Azure.， 和Google Cloud。但是，并非所有云平台都是平等的。虽然它们提供了类似的基线功能，但该平台为自己雕刻了战略性的利基，这使他们更适合某些行业和使用案例。物联网分析, an Internet of Things market research firm,has broken down the features of each of the major cloud platforms and provided commentary on their strengths and weaknesses. The service offerings of each cloud provider in this analysis focus on three categories relevant to industrial companies:
- Application Management/Enablement:Services aimed at enabling software developers to make and manage Internet of Things (IoT) applications. This may include rules engines, IoT development environments, or digital twins.
- 设备管理：旨在保证连接设备的服务通过提供在设备上运行的软件或其相关边缘网关的软件的修补程序和更新正常工作。例如，这可以包括设备监视，固件更新或部署配置管理。
- Data Management/Enablement:Services that provide the capability to store and analyze IoT-related data.
亚马逊网络服务
AWS was the first major platform to introduce public cloud service, having done so in 2006. However, it only began adding IoT-specific services in 2015, according to IoT Analytics. Most prominently, AWS is known for the multitude of its offerings, with a total of 227 different cloud services being listed on its website in 2022. This is because AWS’ business model is most oriented toward application management/enablement, rather than device management or data management/enablement. It is also known for its ease-of-use and flexibility compared to other platforms, as attention has been paid to making setup as intuitive as possible, and tutorials are openly offered by the company. That said, while AWS’ offerings are diverse, they are not as specialized as Microsoft Azure, particularly regarding applications for manufacturing, of which AWS provides fewer, says IoT Analytics. Still, the platform has begun to move in this direction with the announcement of several new IoT services aimed at those in industry, including AWS IoT RoboRunner, which is specifically tailored for robotics, and AWS Private 5G, a management service that assists in deploying, operating, and scaling private cellular networks.
微软Azure.
虽然Microsoft Azure在AWS后四年推出了公众云，但它在AWS所做的5个月后介绍了其IoT服务。从那时起，IOT Analytics表示，微软已经建立了一个专为企业客户端的物联网策略，并在这个域中设定了AWS。对于许多客户来说，Microsoft Azure更容易采用，因为它们已经使用了Microsoft Windows，Microsoft 365和前台操作中的Microsoft Dynamics。因此，从OT（Operations技术）中拉到Microsoft Azure云的数据更容易与前台IT系统集成。此外，Microsoft Azure提供了AWS缺乏的行业特定服务，例如Microsoft Cloud制造。Microsoft Azure特色的另一个关键型器是它与Power Bi等商业智能工具集成的能力。总体而言，微软Azure专注于简化企业使用的方式，以实现更好的互操作性，特别强调工业物联网和边缘计算。虽然AWS具有强大的应用程序管理/启用产品，但Microsoft Azure旨在掌握带有特殊注意力的设备管理，以支付工业硬件和设备。
Google Cloud
In the global public cloud computing market, Google Cloud is a distant third to both AWS and Microsoft Azure, according to IoT Analytics. However, it is still the key supplier of several commonly adopted cloud technologies. Most prominently, the open-source container orchestration platform Kubernetes was designed by Google and has become the de facto standard for managing software containers in the cloud. In addition, because of Google’s extensive experience in organizing search and other data, IoT Analytics notes that Google Cloud excels in analytics, big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Of the three major cloud platforms explored in this article, Google Cloud is most oriented toward data management/enablement services as opposed to application management/enablement or device management services. Google Cloud’s IoT service is called Cloud IoT Core and is similar to Microsoft Azure’s IoT Hub. However, it integrates Google’s general analytics tools to enable further data processing and management functionality. Still, compared to both AWS and Microsoft Azure, IoT Analytics says Google Cloud offers substantially fewer IoT-specific services overall. While there are several major IoT clients who use Google Cloud, the platform is less focused on industrial companies and moreso on IT companies such as Spotify and Snapchat.
