For me, one of the most exciting areas of technology in the past few years is the Internet of Things (IoT). I don’t quite believe that a dishwasher or fridge needs to be connected to the internet just yet, and there are valid privacy concerns about a TV or audio device that’s permanently connected to the internet and always listening for the sound of your voice to issue a command. There are a lot of a practical applications for IoT devices, however. You could have manufacturing equipment report on its health status, generate maintenance alerts, and allow operators to understand its efficiency across multiple factories around the world. A trucking company could stream telemetry from its vehicles about loads being carried and average driving times, and be able to reroute drivers as needed more intelligently. Shipping companies could track each container and help their customers manage their supply chain better by knowing where their resources are.
In Azure, you can integrate IoT devices with a range of services. Azure Web Apps can provide a frontend for your data to be visualized, Storage can be used to log data streamed from devices, and serverless features such as Azure Logic Apps (discussed in the next and final chapter) can process the data received.