Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is getting into the industrial Internet of Things (IoT) business. GCP today announced Google Cloud IoT Core, a managed service to help enterprises capitalize on the data from all the sensors connected to their industrial devices.
Google has been developing its consumer IoT ecosystem for a number of years, investing in Nest, Android Things, Android Wear, and Google Home. But with Cloud IoT Core, Google is jumping into the industrial IoT fray.
Cloud IoT Core is device-agnostic. Businesses can connect all their globally distributed devices to GCP for central management. And they can build applications by integrating with Google’s various data analytics services.
The company said Cloud IoT Core has value across multiple industries; for example:
- Utilities can predict consumer energy usage in real time
- Transportation firms can manage vehicles, ships, and aircraft
- Manufacturers can intelligently schedule equipment maintenance to minimize downtime.
“Many enterprises that rely on industrial devices such as sensors, conveyor belts, farming equipment, medical equipment, and pumps are struggling to monitor and manage those devices,” wrote Indranil Chakraborty, a Google Cloud product manager, in a blog post today.
Cloud IoT Core lets businesses connect millions of globally dispersed devices into a single system with even data ingestion. Devices are registered to the customer’s service via the industry-standard MQTT protocol. For Android Things-based devices, firmware updates can be automatic.
Google said all device data is secured via industry-standard security protocols.
GCP offers its Google Cloud IoT Core as a fully-managed, pay-as-you-go service.