VMware Unveils IoT Management Solution to Help Customers Take Control of IoT

Photo Credit: VMware blog

VMware today unveiled VMware Pulse IoT Center, a secure, enterprise grade Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure management solution that will enable information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) teams to have complete control of their IoT infrastructure and things. 

The first solution in a new family of VMware IoT offerings, VMware Pulse™ IoT Center™ will help customers to more efficiently manage, operate, scale and protect their IoT projects from the edge to the cloud.

Gartner estimates that through 2020, 90 percent of IoT projects will use some form of IoT gateway. (1) Additionally, the worldwide installed base of IoT endpoints is expected to grow from 12.1 billion at the end of 2015 to more than 30 billion in 2020, according to IDC. (2) As IoT becomes prevalent in the enterprises, organizations need a simplified approach to manage, monitor and secure their infrastructure and data.

"As enterprises look to transform into digital businesses, this creates an opportunity for IT and OT teams to collaborate as they embrace IoT to improve operations within their business, while generating new forms of revenue," said Mimi Spier, vice president, IoT, VMware.

"We're leveraging our expertise and proven success in the enterprise and applying it to IoT infrastructure and across all 'things.' VMware Pulse IoT Center will provide IT and OT teams visibility and control across their IoT use cases, while offering peace of mind with security capabilities throughout the IoT value chain."

Building New IoT Solution Based on Proven Enterprise Products

Customers investing in IoT face significant challenges as they move from Proof of Concept to production. They are seeking a simpler way to track, visualize, monitor and secure hundreds of thousands of different types of edge systems and connected devices across their IoT use cases. VMware Pulse IoT Center will simplify the complexity of managing customers' IoT infrastructure and their diverse types of things as easily as one.

It will help improve reliability of infrastructure by providing accurate and real-time visibility of 'thing' health to enable customers to proactively address anomalies before they arise. VMware Pulse IoT Center will help accelerate ROI by streamlining how IoT projects gets deployed and scaled. Additionally, it will enable security across things, edge, network and applications to further protect IoT infrastructure and data access.

This new solution, highly focused on enterprise IoT, leverages existing, proven technologies from bothVMware AirWatch® for device management and VMware vRealize® Operations™ for infrastructure monitoring and troubleshooting. It has been built to meet the specific, complex needs of IoT for both IT and OT teams, while supporting a broad range of edge systems and their connected devices. VMware Pulse IoT Center, which will be available as both a simple to deploy on-prem solution and as a Service offering, is currently in private beta with customers across automotive, entertainment, retail banking, health care and manufacturing industries.

With VMware Pulse IoT Center, customers will be able to:

Manage Broader: Simplify the complexities of managing connected 'things' including:

• Easily on-board, manage, monitor and secure diverse IoT edge systems, connected devices and applications from a single console;
• Interoperate between heterogeneous edge systems and connected devices with different hardware, operating systems and communication protocols; and,
• Define and track what, where and when things are updated over the air (OTA) or changed -- with a sophisticated and flexible rules engine.

Operate Smarter: Access to accurate and real-time visibility of 'thing' health and ability to act on anomalies before they arise including:

• Real-time infrastructure analytics and real-time monitoring;
• Ability to visualize all edge systems, connected devices and their relationships (i.e., status, location, dependencies) IoT use case grouping; and,
• Defining KPIs / measures, alerts, and actions.

Protect Better: Secure IoT infrastructure across things, edge, network and applications, including the ability to:

• Minimize data exposed by creating a tunnel from data point to application by using VMware NSXas an add-on;
• Enterprise wipe of data from devices at any time if they are exposed to security threats; and,
• Maintain up-to-date firmware and security patches and upgrade software OTA via an integrated policy engine.

Innovate Faster: Streamline and accelerate how IoT gets deployed and scaled to:

• Simplify the deployment of an IoT use case with one management tool for all devices;
• Speed time to value with a simple way to onboard devices and update them over time; and,
• Dynamically deliver the right information to the right thing at the right time -- from edge to cloud with software lifecycle management.

Dell Technologies Advances Customers' IoT Projects Customers need to be able to securely transfer and analyze important data at the edge of the network (for example a vehicle, a remote oil pump, a manufacturing factory floor or an HVAC unit) to glean real-time intelligence and make smarter business decisions. Dell EMC will be offering VMware Pulse IoT Center as the preferred enterprise management and monitoring solution for Dell Edge Gateways to help customers easily manage all their IoT devices through a single tool. Dell Technologies' broad IoT infrastructure enables customers' digital transformation from edge to core to cloud.

This announcement is VMware's latest in IoT. The company has announced several key relationships including Deloitte, EuroTech, Fujitsu, HARMAN, ThingWorx and Viz Explorer, in the lead up to today's news. In 2016, it launched Liota (Little IoT Agent), a vendor-neutral open source software development kit (SDK) for building secure IoT data and control orchestration applications.

Supporting Quotes "Our customers are looking for faster, real-time analysis of the massive amount of data produced by devices on their networks, to perform immediate, smart decision-making. We know that intelligent computing at the edge of the network is critical to enhancing customer experience and accelerating business growth," said Andy Rhodes, Vice President and General Manager, Internet of Things, Dell. "VMware Pulse IoT Center will help our customers make managing all their data and devices simpler and their journey to digital transformation a reality."

"We at Fujitsu welcome the launch of VMware Pulse IoT Center, which we will integrate into our OTA Reprogramming Solution for connected cars," said Shikou Kikuta, SVP, Head of Mobility IoT Business Unit, Fujitsu Limited. "Fujitsu and VMware will also expand collaboration to provide more secure and efficient IoT solutions, primarily on mobility."

"We are excited to be part of the VMware Pulse IoT Center launch," said Sanjay Dhawan, President of HARMAN Connected Services. "IoT initiatives are ramping up across all industries. VMware and HARMAN have partnered to deliver complementary offerings that simplify IoT deployments allowing enterprises in a range of vertical markets to deliver more sophisticated and innovative services and products."

Pricing and Availability VMware Pulse IoT Center is expected to become available in calendar 2017. Pricing will be announced upon general availability. The solution will be sold as both a standalone solution by VMware and partners as well as a bundled offering via partners such as Dell EMC and others.

View VMware Pulse IoT Center Demo's at Dell EMC WorldVMware will demonstrate VMware Pulse IoT Center at its booth (#1143 - Sands Expo Hall C) during Dell EMC World (May 8-11).