Getting Started in IoT: What You Need to Know about Google IoT

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The Internet of Things (IoT) is a fairly new computing paradigm that many diverse organizations are using to gather and process data from multiple monitoring devices. The idea of adding sensors and intelligence to basic objects had been discussed for decades but was hindered by the available technology. Recently, the introduction of smaller and more cost-effective sensors combined with the connectivity afforded by the Internet has made the idea of monitoring just about anything much more feasible.

IoT has taken the world by storm with widespread use by both consumers and businesses across the globe. Evidence of the popularity of IoT devices is dramatically illustrated by the tremendous increase in the number of installed IoT units. The consumer base of IoT devices has grown from 3.9 billion in 2016 to an estimated 12.8 billion in 2020. Business use has seen similar increases and the total number of devices in play by 2020 is estimated to exceed 20 billion units.

The Internet of Things is being used for a wide range of business and consumer applications. Among the most common usage scenarios are:

• Smart homes — This is currently the highest-ranking use of IoT technology and shows no signs of slowing down. Your voice-activated assistant and the devices it can control are just a few examples of the IoT in action in the consumer market.
• Smart cities — The IoT has enabled city planners to use the technology to assist in areas as diverse as traffic management, environmental monitoring, and water distribution. The goal of these efforts is to make cities more livable and reduce the issues that impact citizens on a day-to-day basis.
• Industrial Internet — Monitoring of industrial processes and power generation is becoming more efficient due to the use of IoT devices and the data they generate. Automated processes can use this data to make adjustments to equipment or produce alerts to address issues.
• Smart retail and supply chains — The use of IoT sensors has made it possible to maintain tighter control of inventory, reduce waste, and enhance the consumer experience.

An overview of cloud computing models and deployment options

An IoT implementation makes specific use of cloud computing resources. Before investigating the details of Google’s IoT offerings, let’s take a quick tour of the options that are available to an organization by leveraging the power of cloud computing.

There are generally three cloud computing models that are used to address the needs of a cloud provider’s clients. Depending on the particular benefits that your organization desires, one or more of these models can be used to satisfy customer requirements. We will use IBM’s definitions to illustrate the differences in the models.

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) — In this model of cloud computing, a vendor provides computing resources to a customer on an on-demand basis. The model alleviates an organization’s need to buy and maintain their hardware. It enables the infrastructure to be easily scaled to meet changing demands. The customer is usually responsible for managing the software applications they choose to run on the provider’s hardware.
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) — The PaaS model presents a customer with a computing platform that can be used to develop, manage and deliver their own applications. The platform is offered to the client with tools to help their development efforts. Security, operating systems, storage, and other infrastructure components are managed by the cloud provider, enabling the sector to concentrate on its development goals.
• Software as a Service (SaaS) — This model provides the client with ready-made applications developed by the cloud vendor. The software offerings are accessed through the web or an API and are not installed on users’ devices. Most SaaS offerings operate on a subscription model that can be scaled to address changing service requirements. All aspects of supporting the vendor’s software are performed by the cloud provider.

These models can be implemented and deployed using these three strategies:

1. Cloud — When a model is deployed in the cloud it implies that the cloud provider hosts the complete application or system. Based on the model in use, customers may be responsible for part of the management of the computing environment.
2. Hybrid — In a hybrid deployment the cloud provider and customer both supply computing resources to satisfy the model being implemented. It can be a bridge to full cloud deployment or be used to add enhanced resources to an enterprise’s in-house computing environment.
3. On-Premises — As its name implies, this deployment technique, which is also called a private cloud implementation, makes use of a customer’s on-premises resources. The cloud vendor provides enhanced capacity and functionality with virtualization and resource management.

What does Google’s IoT offering provide its customers?

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It is quite likely that you already have an idea of how you want to use Google’s IoT offerings. There are other, more general-purpose cloud services available from a variety of vendors, including Google. While the IoT makes use of cloud resources, the two concepts are not synonymous. Many cloud services have nothing to do with the Internet of Things.

Several of Google’s cloud offerings are specifically designed to serve the needs of an IoT implementation. They make extensive use of the provider’s resources to deliver the desired end-result to the customer. In some cases, there is a crossover between Google’s more general cloud services and those tailored for the IoT. Let’s look at some of the benefits these services can afford your organization.

Google Cloud IoT is a complete platform that can be used to construct virtually any type of IoT implementation. It provides scalable cloud services, software, and machine learning capabilities to users interested in using the IoT to expand their businesses or gain a competitive edge in the market.

Cloud IoT Core is at the heart of Google’s portfolio of products focused on the Internet of Things. This fully-managed service enables customers to connect, manage, and collect data from up to millions of devices. It offers clients a total solution to gather, process, analyze, and visualize IoT data in real-time. This can lead to insights that result in more efficient operation or technological innovation.

Cloud IoT Core has multiple components that are used to modify the platform’s functionality to furnish the specific goals of an IoT implementation. These include:

Cloud Pub/Sub performs data ingestion to supply raw materials for analytics and machine learning. Your data needs are handled and scaled without you needing to be concerned with provisioning or load isolation. Events captured by Pub/Sub are then made available to other services that process the data they contain.

Google’s Cloud Machine Learning Engine is one of the services that can make use of the data passed along by Pub/Sub. It offers developers and data scientists a platform on which to build advanced machine learning models and put them into production. The Cloud ML Engine enables you to take advantage of training and predictive services that can be used to develop innovative solutions to many problems facing business and industry from your IoT data.

Google Cloud Functions is another component that adds functionality and flexibility to your IoT system. It is a server-less solution that can be used to build real-time data processing systems, application backends, and intelligent applications. Events captured from your IoT devices can be processed by Cloud Functions and then sent to additional services if required.

Google Maps can be used to construct IoT systems that contribute to smart cities and enhanced user experiences. It can easily be incorporated into any of Google’s cloud offerings and can be instrumental when your data collection system is geographically diversified.

Google offers a free trial of their IoT platform which can be used to evaluate the specific services that you need to implement the system you envision. No matter how you choose to take advantage of the possibilities of the virtually limitless number of IoT devices worldwide, Google has the capability to make it a reality.

Missed our other IoT articles? You may want to read these:

• Top 5 Things About the IIoT That You Need to Know
• Getting Started in the IoT: What You Need to Know about Amazon Web Services
• Getting in the IoT: What You Need to Know about Microsoft Azure
• Top IIoT Platforms

Published By Zachary Stank

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.