Things. M2M. IoT - Connecting Special Purpose Devices to and through the Cloud

"Internet of Things" is one of the hot catchphrases of the industry these days. It's about connecting special-purpose devices (laundry machines, dishwashers, toasters, locomotives, trucks, factory robots, etc.) directly or indirectly to the Internet. As things go, several commercial customers have nudged us in the direction of taking a good, long look at this space and we're already actively helping several of them to deal with the particular scale challenges of needing to connect tens of thousands or more devices concurrently and with bi-directional information exchange. 

This is the first in a series of episodes I'll do on the IoT/M2M subject area here on "Subscribe!" and in this first one, I'm introducing the problem space, talk about patterns, and am talking about the connectivity options and challenges around devices, specifically also discussing VPN.

More on the subject:

• June 2012 MSDN Magazine "Using Service Bus for Things" (must read)
• July 2012 MSDN Magazine "A Smart Thermostat on the Service Bus"
• Internet of Things: Is VPN a False Friend?