Author: Bert Van Hoof

Feed: Microsoft Azure Blog. Author: Bert Van Hoof. One of the most dynamic landscapes embracing Internet of Things (IoT) is the modern city. As urbanization grows, city leaders are under increasing pressure to make cities safer, accessible, sustainable, and prosperous. Underlying all these important goals is the bedrock that makes a city run: infrastructure. Whether it be water, electricity, streets, traffic lights, cities are increasingly using the Internet of Things (IoT) to manage their infrastructure by capturing and analyzing data from connected devices and sensors. This gives city managers real-time insights to improve operational efficiency and outcomes and to altogether ... Read More

Feed: Microsoft Azure Blog. Author: Bert Van Hoof. For the last five years, our industry has buzzed with the promises of IoT. IoT has evolved from being a next-horizon term, to a common vernacular employed across industry conversations. In fact, earlier this year we surveyed 3,000 enterprise decision makers across the world and learned that 85% have developed at least one IoT project. Across four major industries (manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and government), more than 84% of enterprise decision makers consider IoT “critical” to success (read the full report here). Despite this near consensus, the average maturity of production-level IoT projects ... Read More

Feed: Microsoft Azure Blog. Author: Bert Van Hoof. Azure IoT Central is an IoT app platform for solution builders that simplifies the challenges of building and deploying scalable and affordable enterprise grade IoT applications. Across the retail industry, the use of connected devices to deliver business performance continues to grow in popularity. New solutions are accelerating business model transformation by connecting manufacturers, supply chains, warehouses, and store shelves to owners, operators, and customers in exciting new ways. Today we’ll discuss our stance on IoT in the retail industry, as well as tell you about just a few of our partners ... Read More

Feed: Microsoft Azure Blog. Author: Bert Van Hoof. The pace of change has never been as fast as it is now. Globally, the population is becoming more urban and income levels are rising. By 2050, nearly 70 percent of the global population will live in cities or urban areas—that’s six billion people. Consumer behavior has also materially changed over the last decade, and omnichannel retail, personalization, and demand for same day deliveries are growing. To cater to the changing landscape, urban distribution centers that stage products closer to users within large cities are on the rise to enable faster delivery ... Read More

Feed: Microsoft Azure Blog. Author: Bert Van Hoof. Many of the conveniences we enjoy today are dependent on the infrastructure cities and municipalities provide, such as water mains, streetlights, and roads. This infrastructure and its associated technology support our transportation systems, schools, hospitals, and more. A vital type of infrastructure is the electrical grid - every basic need we have is dependent on access to energy, but the way energy is managed is changing rapidly. Electric vehicles, solar roofs, battery storage, demand flexibility, and green energy are fundamentally changing grid management and driving the urgency to modernize the energy industry ... Read More