PTC is extending its ThingWorx Internet of Things (IoT) open platform strategy by supporting public IoT device cloud offerings. ThingWorx now allows enterprises to fully-leverage their cloud investments, realize new economies of scale in use of their preferred cloud provider, and mix and match a combination of ideal components from cloud providers and ThingWorx.
With this new flexibility, ThingWorx enables enterprises to build enterprise-ready IoT solutions on a cloud platform of their choice; leverage the right combination of components from ThingWorx and third party device clouds to suit their specific goals, environment and needs. It also helps evolve interactions with devices, clouds, databases and systems as technology changes, and integrate with existing systems and architectures extending existing investments while gaining the agility to move to different technologies in the future.
In addition to offering its own device cloud service, the ThingWorx platform now integrates with Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT, and will fully support Microsoft Azure IoT Hub in July. PTC will pursue additional device cloud integrations for ThingWorx, which will allow customers to realize the collective range of services provided by these companies, including the availability of connected device data.
Device cloud services are becoming an integral part of the IoT landscape, used by enterprises to capture and analyze vast amounts of data from the ‘things’ in the IoT. One of the challenges for enterprises, to date, is that they want to invest more time innovating above the device cloud level, building applications that leverage the underlying device cloud data. PTC’s integration of the ThingWorx platform with AWS IoT and impending integration with Microsoft Azure IoT Hub, along with future device cloud support, will allow enterprises to more fully leverage their cloud investments as well as mix and match their preferred combination of world-class components from a range of cloud providers and ThingWorx.
“By working closely with IoT cloud leaders, we can unlock unprecedented value from the IoT, which will enable our customers to further enhance their products and offerings,” said Jim Heppelmann, PTC president and CEO.
“The cloud is becoming increasingly important to the growth of enterprise IoT, and IT architects need to consider which IoT cloud platform offerings will serve as a foundation for IoT initiatives today and in the future,” said Vernon Turner, senior vice president and fellow for the Internet of Things, IDC. “PTC is taking a significant step with its integration of the ThingWorx platform with the leading IoT cloud platforms. This will not only increase the openness of ThingWorx as a platform, but it will also allow PTC customers to identify and implement the appropriate components across cloud platforms to further their IoT initiatives.”
With ThingWorx, users can connect any device in the ecosystem to the platform; natively integrate with cloud platform providers to take advantage of the cloud services alongside the platform; remove complexity and develop IoT applications and solutions without limits; automate complex big data analytics using integrated machine learning; extend and share innovation with other IoT developers; and deploy solutions to meet the needs of the market – cloud, on-premise and embedded options meet the needs of every use case.
Integration with several cloud offerings will help enterprises and IoT-based service providers across industries who are racing to build competitive IoT-based offerings. The ThingWorx model-based development environment, with pre-built integrations to major cloud platforms, will enable customers to accelerate development and time-to-market, providing an important competitive advantage.
The ThingWorx architecture remains open over time, giving companies the freedom to evolve their devices, clouds, databases, and enterprise systems as their environment and needs change. ThingWorx supports integration to existing systems and architectures, allowing organizations to extend current investments and expand over time.
