How do I converge IoT at the edge?
IoT adoption for organisation is hugely growing. The adoption is being used to control environmental building settings including; lighting, heating, air purity, security, asset tracking, vape detection and much more. Despite this adoption, IoT is still fundamentally challenging to deploy due to complex and costly array of network equipment. Each IoT group of devices typically gets deployed with its own set of gateways and management tools. Not only is additional hardware required to interface with these devices, additional security measures need to be taken for the IoT devices and power infrastructure considered and added, resulting in overly complex and siloed overlaid networks. This problem creates a real need to simplify the provision of IoT for organisations looking to take advantage of the real business advantages that IoT can deliver. But how can this be achieved?
Organisations needing to adopt IoT in a safer, timely manner require a system that converges these varying protocols and technologies together under a single plane of glass. A way to consolidate the various radio technologies such as Wi-Fi, BLE, Zigbee and LoraWAN into a single platform.
CommScope Ruckus IoT Suite addresses this problem by enabling the reuse of LAN and WLAN infrastructure in both green and brown field networks and automating IT security oversight. IoT Suite addresses common challenges from both IoT supplier and deployer. It enables any and all IoT traffic to be captured and backhaul data over a common LAN/WLAN infrastructure. The platform can also operate as a dashboard or mediation device with API support for simple integration with other northbound platforms. Layman terms, an organisation can remove additional gateways and hardware needed to adopt IoT devices and provision them directly within their existing network management tool using the IoT suite product.
Version 1.5 provides several new features and capabilities beneficial to IoT deployment.
- Rules Engine: IoT traffic is prioritised appropriately for the application, a feature that is critical for the processing of sensor data at the edge.
- Embedded LoRaWAN Network Server: Enables the seamless integration of IoT traffic originating from LoRa devices.
- IoT SDK: Enables IoT developers to design products that are managed by CommScope’s RUCKUS IoT.
- Enhanced IoT Security: Enables secure enterprise-grade on-boarding of devices, as well as certificate-based authentication supporting MQTT over SSL and REST APIs, VLAN isolation of IoT traffic.
In addition to the new features, partnered IoT ecosystem vendors include ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions, AVSystem, Kontakt.io, Soter Technologies, IP Configure, Telkonet, and TraknProtect. These vendors provide connected entry, safety buttons, asset, room tray and vendor tracking, energy management, online thermostats, and location-based advertising. These solutions are integrated into IoT Suite, enabling a common IoT dashboard and sophisticated rules-engine functionality that allows sensor alerts to trigger actions by other devices.
To conclude, real-world organisational IoT deployments are frequently challenged by a complex and costly array of gateways, network protocols, and disparate management tools. By consolidating multiple radio technologies into a single platform effectively addresses fragmentation at the edge by enabling unified management and the implementation of a comprehensive security framework. A converged access layer forms the foundation for universal connectivity requirements for all users, applications, devices, and locations.
To discuss the benefits and features of CommScope Ruckus IoT Suite for your organisation, please email or call DigitalAir Wireless. We offer consultation, design, integration and support for IoT deployments.