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What is IoT Device Management and How Does it Work?

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More and more gadgets are getting internet functionality as low-cost, low-power sensor technologies and wireless connectivity develop. As a result, there is now a whole Internet of Things (IoT) that can communicate with other devices online and exchange data.

The Internet of Things is all about disparate online objects interacting with one another and gathering enormous amounts of data to support overarching human objectives without requiring direct human participation. The consumer benefits of IoT solutions are undeniably substantial, but for the industry to prosper, IoT device management must quickly advance as well.

There is no denying that the IoT has successfully adapted to both our professional and personal environments, so it is critical to understand from a business perspective how these massive numbers of smart devices should be managed to keep the ecosystem as secure, reliable, and scalable as possible.

This article goes into great length regarding IoT device management, the capabilities you require, and the leading software solutions in this market. You can find responses to the following questions in this context:

  • What Is IoT Device Management?
  • Why is IoT device management important?
  • How does IoT Device Management Work?
  • What are the components of IoT device management?
  • What is IoT Device Management Use Cases?
  • What are the Advantages of IoT Device Management?
  • What are the Challenges of IoT Device Management? How do I solve them?
  • What are the Protocols Used in IoT Device Management?
  • Top IoT Device Management Software

What Is IoT Device Management?​

In order to supply, monitor, and maintain the expanding array of connected objects (also known as the Internet of Things endpoints or edge devices) in your residential or commercial network, you must use a variety of processes, tools, and technologies. The need for IoT device management software is growing as more and more devices have network capabilities.

Platforms for managing IoT devices are often known as "connected device platforms". IoT device provisioning and authentication, remote configuration and management, data gathering and reporting, real-time monitoring, and over-the-air (OTA) software deployments for updates, patches, and device onboarding/offboarding, among other things, are all included in this management.

Automated features and security features are the two main components of IoT device management platforms. The goal of these products is to automate as many management tasks as possible. As a result, the resources required to manually manage the entire network of devices are reduced, enabling scalability for hundreds or thousands of IoT devices. These platforms add an additional layer of IoT-specific security, protecting both individual devices and halting the spread of security flaws among IoT devices.

Platforms for IoT device management should be able to synchronize management across various device kinds, suppliers, locations, etc. There are various advantages to this centralization. It offers tremendous scaling advantages. The time savings and increased productivity that a single management platform provides are associated benefits. By lowering the level of coding expertise required to administer IoT devices on the platform, certain platforms can increase accessibility for IoT device administration.

Why is IoT Device Management Important?​

IoT Device Management is crucial because unprotected devices that are connected to the internet or the cloud run the danger of being accessed by criminals.

IoT device management can be thought of as the operational side of your IoT strategy. The logistics to connect the physical and digital worlds are successfully provided by it, which includes a number of procedures and activities to deploy, connect, maintain, and retire physical devices at scale.

IoT device management is one of the most challenging parts from a technological standpoint, even though it is a fundamental capacity for developing solutions based on connected devices. The capacity to manage and monitor devices across a heterogeneous environment in a secure, efficient, and large-scale manner is a requirement for effective IoT device management. You may introduce new services, develop new recurring income streams, and reduce the cost of solution support if you master the logistics of IoT device management.

How does IoT Device Management Work?​

An integrated application called an IoT device management platform makes it easier to manage IoT devices by letting you keep track of every stage of their lives, from planning and onboarding to monitoring and maintenance to retirement. all in one location. How IoT device management works at each step of the IoT lifecycle is outlined below:

  • Onboarding a device: Provisioning is the first stage of IoT device management. In order for a device to be incorporated into your network, it must first be configured using its original, off-the-shelf settings. This process is known as provisioning. Once the device has been provisioned, you must authenticate it by verifying its identification as it is introduced to the IoT system and by authenticating users upon login. In order to avoid invasions and maintain the security of confidential information, this phase makes sure that only approved devices are enrolled. Bulk device registration is a feature offered by IoT device management platforms that makes it easier and faster to onboard your IoT devices. These platforms allow you to onboard thousands or even millions of devices simultaneously.
  • Apparatus viewing: Get complete access to all of your IoT devices in one location. You may locate exactly what you need when you need it by searching for and filtering devices in a device list.
  • Configuring a device: Networks and devices are dynamic entities. Instead, they are always changing. Beyond the initial provisioning stage, a configuration is made possible through IoT device management. Updates to the firmware, networking, access rights, and other properties can all be included in the configuration.
  • Device aggregation: Scaling from a small number of devices to thousands or more is necessary for effective IoT device management. Each device must then be kept up to date with firmware and other configuration upgrades. Organize your devices by classifying them into top-level groups, subgroups, or intelligent smart groups that are dynamically created based on their purpose, location, or other criteria. Devices that are grouped together make managing them and performing bulk operations simpler.
  • Diagnostics: Perform diagnostics on all of your IoT devices, from a single unit to the network as a whole. To avoid system downtime, rapidly and effectively troubleshoot and fix problems.
  • Status checking: Learn more about the functionality of a single device or a group of devices that fit your definition. Gain knowledge about user-defined data points like vibration or temperature. Create user-defined notifications that can be used to signal events that call for preventive maintenance to extend the life of a machine. Identify and fix problems like attempted device configuration changes that can result in security breaches. View device alerts to keep operations within specifications.
  • Object safety: IoT security is a sine qua non for conducting business in the connected world of today. To make sure that devices are using the most recent, secure software, IoT device management facilitates firmware updates. The architecture of the IoT device management platform should be created to safeguard physical, network, application, and access control.
  • Updating devices: You will eventually, or repeatedly, need to update the firmware, software, configurations, credentials, profiles, and trusted certificates on your devices. IoT device management is most effective when done in bulk, and this is especially true when updating IoT devices. Consistency and effectiveness are increased when groups of devices can be configured with a single click.
  • Integration of data: The data that your IoT devices give to users across the organization, including operators, product designers, business decision-makers, and more, is what makes them valuable. Your IoT device management platform can interface with external apps thanks to data integration capabilities. This makes it possible to perform tasks like distributing updates and code to every deployed device in your installation and directing device data to the right users and dashboards.
  • Device deactivation: When a device malfunctions, you go through an update cycle, or it reaches the end of its service life, you should replace or decommission it. If the actual device is being replaced, decide whether to keep the data on it or archive it if it will be permanently discarded.

What are the Components of IoT device management?​

Device onboarding, operational diagnostics, device configuration, device security, device maintenance, and device end-of-life are some of the components of IoT device management. Components of IoT device management are outlined below:

  • Device onboarding: An IoT device must be onboarded into the network when it is turned on for the first time. However, they lack a fully featured, standalone interface to help users with the onboarding process, unlike conventional devices. Some of the tasks you might anticipate during device onboarding include verifying credentials, defining authentication methods, assigning a device identity, etc.
  • Device configuration: Each IoT device connected to your network must be set up to meet your company's requirements. For instance, if you have a fleet of connected trucks, you would want to group particular devices according to their normal operating location or destination.
  • Operational diagnostics: Diagnostics can give you a wealth of information about how your IoT operations are doing. You need a centralized IoT device management capability because the majority of IoT devices lack the memory or computational power to interpret diagnostics on the device itself.
  • Device security: This is going to play a bigger role in IoT device management. Although the EU accounted for 30% of all endpoints in 2020, it allowed 98% of IoT device traffic to pass through unencrypted channels. IoT device administration provides the appropriate security protocols and brings unmapped endpoints under organizational control.
  • Device upkeep: In addition to updating device firmware to the most recent version, you should keep an eye out for any security flaws that might be introduced by recent releases. IoT device management performs bulk over-the-air (OTA) updates for device maintenance, just like deployment or configuration
  • End of life: IoT devices that are no longer in use but are still connected to the company network offer a serious security risk since an outside party could steal data from the device covertly. Furthermore, a dated or broken gadget could seriously harm operations. End-of-life policies and protocols outline the precise steps that must be taken to decommission an IoT device, how to recycle the materials for a low carbon footprint, and how to retire the device.

What is IoT Device Management Use Cases?​

The goal of the Internet of Things (IoT) is to connect various objects and machinery. The biggest obstacle to the IoT becoming a reality is not the sheer volume of linked devices. Instead, a reliable solution must be found for the heterogeneity and diversity of objects that are always evolving. The interaction between linked devices is consequently made easier by a gateway and device management software. Some use cases of IoT device management are listed below:

  • Device administration for linked heating systems: The intelligent networking of heating systems is referred to as smart heating. It creates new opportunities for operating and monitoring heating systems from a distance in both smart homes and commercial structures. For example, residents and property managers can use a smartphone or tablet to monitor connected heating systems.

  • Management of devices for connected logistics: Global exports frequently go through several different stages. Products are packaged in the country of manufacture. They are then driven to a port by a truck. The containers then begin their voyage across the ocean. This persists for a few weeks. Finally, a truck is dispatched to deliver the products to the specified location. The device management system must provide the ability to handle various communication protocols, such as 3G, 4G, or satellite, in order to make it possible for these shipments to be connected, a requirement for being able to monitor the items remotely.

  • Device administration in smart homes: A great illustration of how linked gadgets can improve our quality of life is smart home technology. By integrating your house's gadgets and appliances, you can accomplish home automation, enhanced security, energy management, and cost savings. The majority of the time, a central gateway links smart home appliances to a cloud-based backend. A gateway has the ability to connect to thousands of IoT devices and can function with many users, tenants, and applications. Aside from providing greater independence in terms of internet connectivity, reducing the amount of data transferred to the cloud, and thereby lowering costs, connecting devices indirectly to the cloud via gateways also ensures privacy because master data can be processed and stored locally.

  • Managing devices for IoT gateways: The IoT gateway makes it simple to connect to Industry 4.0 environments without interfering with the automation logic, which is a cost-effective way of networking new and current machines and optimizing production processes and product quality. For the purpose of integrating IT applications, a carefully planned out combination of control hardware and software gathers sensor and process data, communicates it to MES, cloud applications, or local machine state monitoring systems, for example, and makes process data analysis possible.

  • Managing devices for connected agriculture: The IoT has the power to trigger an extraordinary increase in agricultural output. Additionally, it encourages the sustainable expansion of food production. Agribusiness operations are significantly impacted by the environment. To ensure great yields and quality, farmers must make the appropriate choices in a timely manner. With the appropriate connectivity solution (sensors, device management software, and data analytics), the agricultural production process may be conveniently and reliably monitored from a distance.

  • Device administration for linked vehicles: There must be a secure and dependable method for remotely upgrading software as soon as the car establishes an internet connection. The software can never break down or be attacked. Because it helps to resolve any issues the gadget may have, on the one hand. However, it poses the greatest security risk if it is exploited improperly to inject malicious code.

  • Management of linked freight trains' devices: Road shipments typically include the ability to track deliveries continuously and determine if they will arrive on schedule. However, this has often been the exception rather than the rule when it comes to rail. Freight cars have been unable to provide the necessary data. Because freight cars lack their own power source or sensors, connection technology has been unable to penetrate the rail freight transportation industry.

What are the Advantages of IoT Device Management?​

Today, Device Management is a crucial prerequisite for any IoT platform. Large-scale IoT deployments demand a more sophisticated set of functionalities, even while standard IoT platforms now on the market typically provide monitoring of IoT sensors and devices, data collection, and application operations.

Provisioning and authentication, configuration and control, monitoring and diagnostics, software updates and maintenance, connectivity enablement, sophisticated analytic capabilities, and improved security are all made possible by IoT device management.

Numerous advantages can be gained by both individuals and enterprises through effective IoT device management. The main advantages of IoT device management are as follows:

  • Enhanced Security: Enhanced security is one of the main advantages of IoT device management. The risk of unwanted access and data breaches rises along with the number of connected devices. By making sure that devices are properly secured and that only authorized workers have access to them, IoT device management aid in the prevention of these security issues. Organizations may greatly lower the risk of security attacks by setting access control measures, keeping track of device usage, and encrypting data. Regular firmware and software updates aid in addressing any security flaws that might be found in the devices.

  • IoT device remote management: Monitoring, managing, and tracking fleets of connected devices is critical because many IoT installations can contain millions of devices. Because of all this, it is important from now on to ensure that it works effectively and safely. Of course, devices must be deployed first. In addition, users should continue firmware and software upgrades, monitor device health, maintain access to these devices, and resolve issues remotely. These devices can be managed and updated remotely, removing the requirement for manual data verification. For real-time analytics, IoT devices help communicate all data immediately to a single place. In practice, the notable advantage of IoT device remote administration is enhanced product vision.

  • Enhanced Efficiency: By enabling enterprises to remotely monitor and manage devices, IoT device management increases efficiency. This implies that businesses can lessen the requirement for onsite maintenance, which will save money and enhance output. Industrial businesses, for instance, may monitor their equipment remotely, allowing them to spot possible issues before they become serious and preventing expensive downtime. Businesses might spot opportunities for optimization and enhancement by studying device data. Increased productivity and lower operating expenses may result from this.

  • Flexibility in the face of advancing technology: IoT devices are producing enormous amounts of data as intelligent systems spread around the globe. Taking into account digital feedback from intelligent edge systems, this has increased the demand for software that securely records and analyzes real-time machine data, which has boosted product uptake across numerous industrial verticals.

  • Enhanced Reliability: IoT device management offers the advantage of improved reliability. Organizations may lessen downtime and increase dependability by remotely monitoring devices and making sure they are maintained appropriately. This is particularly crucial for devices that are mission-critical because even a brief period of outage can have a big impact on business operations. Organizations may monitor device performance in real-time using IoT device management technologies like qbee.io, which enables them to immediately identify and resolve any potential problems. This can ensure that equipment is running as efficiently as possible, cutting downtime and boosting dependability.

  • Improved scope of scalability: Greater scalability IoT devices may be readily adjusted to meet the enterprise's needs by adding more devices or modifying the data points that must be transferred. Additionally, a department's potential to grow heavily depends on a company's capacity to manage devices through a common administration interface. Improved scalability supports businesses' attempts to manage and upgrade a larger number of devices without sacrificing service quality. Organizations can control several devices from a single interface by utilizing a centralized device management platform, which streamlines management and decreases the need for manual intervention.

What are the Challenges of IoT Device Management? How do I solve them?​

IoT device management has numerous advantages, but it also has certain drawbacks. IoT leaders need a strategy to deal with the biggest management problems if they want to thrive. IoT device management difficulties are as follows:

  • Data management: Unprecedented data production from IoT networks is becoming more and more crucial to everyday company operations. Data management must be a primary priority since managing the masses of data they generate is difficult. Organizations need to make sure that only the data that the team wants to log and analyze is collected. Making meaningful conclusions will be more difficult with further information. Finding the ideal software setup to efficiently track and analyze the gathered data, as well as a storage solution capable of handling it all, is crucial for IoT professionals. For their IoT data, many firms are using cloud services, but some continue to use on-premises devices. If businesses want to easily access the data and the insights it may offer, all technologies must be integrated. The bandwidth that data needs as it travels across the network from a device to storage to a processor and back again is an overlooked aspect of IoT data management. Providers offer data plans with various uptime and capacity service levels for IoT devices linked via cellular networks. For a company handling sensitive data, even a little outage might be disastrous.

  • Online safety: Each IoT device is a possible point of entry for hackers to attack the network of an organization. Unauthorized individuals or devices can be kept from accessing the organization's devices or network with the help of provisioning and authentication. While authentication confirms through secure credentials that the new IoT device is authorized to access the network, provisioning registers it with the network. IoT technology updates need to be planned because they develop quickly. IT administrators will need to prepare for updates and patches that vendors may issue at any time to the firmware, software, or device controllers. If they are connected physically and are on the company network, devices can upgrade without risk. It may be necessary to take extra precautions when updating remote devices to prevent running into busy work hours or a device's power-saving off phase. Additionally, IT administrators need to implement security measures to secure data sent through IoT networks. Transmissions between devices and the network, particularly those between remote devices, are susceptible to hacking. Only safe wireless networks with password protection should be used by businesses.

  • Power administration: Another aspect of IoT device management that many businesses are unaware of is power consumption. In difficult-to-reach places, IoT devices either run on battery power or conventional electrical power. Although most technology is developing quickly, battery life is still behind. Companies organize routine maintenance, recharging, or replacement of remote IoT device batteries and regularly monitor their condition. IT personnel managing a fleet of remote devices may benefit from learning how to save device power while not in use.

  • Compatibility: With so many different kinds of smart devices accessible, it can be challenging to make sure they can all be managed by a single system. The development of a unified management platform that can support all devices may be difficult because each device may have a different set of features and capabilities. Organizations must choose a device management solution that can work with a variety of platforms and devices to solve this problem. They must make sure that an API connector can connect the solution to the current IT infrastructure.

  • Complexity: Managing IoT devices can be challenging, particularly for companies that have a lot of them. Each device needs to be managed and monitored separately, which can take a lot of time and resources and necessitate extensive IT experience. Organizations might utilize automation solutions to streamline device management procedures to deal with this issue. For instance, they can speed up device deployment and administration by using automated provisioning and configuration technologies.

  • Cost: Managing a lot of devices can be expensive and require a lot of equipment and IT personnel. Device management expenditures may increase due to security and compliance needs. Organizations can use an IoT device management strategy that focuses on lowering costs while optimizing benefits to overcome this difficulty. Investing in an IoT device management tool that is run, maintained, and security-hardened by a third-party supplier with expertise in doing this may be necessary. This eliminates the NRE (non-recurring engineering) costs and enables pay-as-you-grow models, enabling flexible and cost-effective scaling.

  • Device surveillance: IT managers become overwhelmed trying to handle all of the IoT devices due to their sheer number on the market. Just as a beacon or controller needs to be set up, monitored, diagnosed, updated, and maintained on an ongoing basis, every new sensor needs to be installed, monitored, diagnosed, updated, and maintained on an ongoing basis. Every new sensor, beacon, or controller needs to be constantly installed, monitored, diagnosed, updated, and maintained. IoT device management software or web portals make it simple for IT administrators to monitor more recent devices. IT personnel frequently need to take on additional tasks to monitor and manage older equipment, such as creating a subnet to improve legacy device performance. The gadgets located in far-flung areas away from the company's main facilities exacerbate these difficulties. The IT team in charge of them will find it simpler to implement IoT devices with remote monitoring, upgrades, and diagnostic capabilities.

  • Connectivity of devices: With each new IoT device, network traffic and internet connectivity rise, necessitating network scaling. Although certain gadgets rely on wired connectivity, most use wireless technology. High uptime and scalability can be ensured with the most recent Wi-Fi technology. Cellular networks may be used by some companies to link devices in populous or metropolitan areas. Wireless providers' standard rates and any overages incurred by remote devices that rely on cellular connections could go up.

What are the Protocols Used in IoT Device Management?​

One of the primary IoT (Internet of Things) difficulties is the input of industrial data, whose solutions appeared to be Big Data yesterday and "Edge" pre-processing today. The management of IoT devices is one of the biggest issues businesses are now having with its deployment.

The "ecosystem" that each manufacturer utilizes today is their own management software. Only this program allows for the maintenance and monitoring of all the devices, including remote configuration and software/firmware updates. The key is to use devices that implement standard protocols or tools like the Muutech platform, which allows users to communicate with other providers' management platforms. This allows users to continue using non-standard IoT devices from various brands in conjunction with devices that use standard protocols, preventing vendor-locking.

Due to its minimal weight, robustness, and lack of overhead, MQTT (and its variation, MQTT-SN) is the standard protocol having the greatest influence in the IoT. It functions using a subscription-publish mechanism, which is very similar to the premise of many chat systems. We have some IoT Device Management protocols that can address this requirement for standardization:

  • LwM2M: The Open Mobile Alliance's Lightweight M2M (LwM2M) protocol is quick, organized, and suited for low-capacity devices.
  • OMA-DM: OMA-DM is another Open Mobile Alliance creation that is primarily focused on mobile apps. Ideal for moving objects (like changing IP addresses). more hierarchical and complicated than LwM2M.
  • TR-069: TR-069, developed by the Broadband Form (its initial version dates from 2004), is a protocol that is commonly used by telecommunications carriers to furnish their routers, etc., and is incorporated into hundreds of thousands of devices worldwide. This is quite intricate, weighty, and structured, but it functions admirably for gateways and telecom equipment.

Using one protocol over another will be more convenient depending on the specific application, so we will need a central platform to manage various IoT architecture devices (sensors, gateways, etc.) from various manufacturers while constantly attempting to shorten the setup time of each of these things.

Top IoT Device Management Software​

Users can track, monitor, and manage actual IoT devices using tools for managing IoT devices. Using these methods, users can frequently remotely deliver software and firmware upgrades to devices. IoT device management platforms include security and permissions features to guarantee that every device is secure from flaws. These tools are primarily used by IT administrators, and some businesses may even hire an IoT administrator to monitor the functionality, security, and general health of each connected item. IoT platforms, IoT analytics software, IoT security software, and other IoT tools may all be used in conjunction with IoT device management platforms.

In addition to limiting IoT sprawl and maximizing device functionality, strong IoT device management software can facilitate IoT scaling. Top IoT device management software programs are made to be easily scalable, so they can adapt to different company situations.

10 of the top IoT device management tools are demonstrated below.

  1. AWS IoT Device Management: AWS IoT Device Management is a piece of software from Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables remote monitoring and management of your connected devices. It consists of a variety of AWS IoT services, such as software for devices, control services, and analytics services. Organizing, managing, and remotely managing IoT devices at scale is simple with AWS IoT Device Management. You may control permissions and register your devices individually or in bulk using IoT Device Management to keep them secure.

  2. Azure IoT Hub: Hosted on the Azure cloud, Azure IoT Hub is Microsoft's IoT device management software. It offers extra services for developing IoT applications and includes tools for device security, provisioning, and management at scale. A managed service for bidirectional connectivity between IoT devices and Azure is Microsoft's Azure IoT Hub. A cloud-hosted solution on the back end is offered by Azure IoT Hub to connect almost any device. With per-device authentication, users may move their solutions from the cloud to the edge.

  3. Google Cloud IoT Core: The IoT device management program from the market leader in cloud computing, Google, is called Cloud IoT Core. It aids in managing, connecting to, and ingesting data from dispersed endpoints. There is little to no on-site technical work necessary because it is a completely managed service. You can connect, manage, and ingest data from millions of widely scattered devices with ease and security with the Google Cloud IoT Core, a fully managed service. Combined with other Cloud IoT platform services, Cloud IoT Core offers a comprehensive solution for gathering, a fully managed service that makes it simple and secure to connect to, control, and ingest data from devices spread throughout the world.

  4. Hologram: Hologram is an IoT device management solution for businesses that have a significant, globally dispersed IoT presence and find it challenging to set up and manage network connections without a hitch. Hologram makes switching between numerous local carriers simpler. For IoT devices, its cellular platform offers SIMs that seamlessly swap networks among 550+ carriers in 200+ countries.

  5. IBM Watson IoT Platform: An Internet-of-things managed cloud-hosted solution, the IBM Watson IoT Platform supports device connectivity, control, visualization, and general device visibility and administration. It's a platform with a user interface that lets users add and manage devices. IoT device management use cases are addressed by the IBM Watson IoT Platform, which makes use of the organization's cognitive APIs, visual dashboards, security guidelines, and developer tools. You can extract and comprehend unstructured data, including videos, photos, and handwritten text, thanks to Watson's cognitive capabilities.

  6. BalenaCloud: A collection of tools called Balena makes it easier to deploy and control Linux-based connected devices. Its set of technologies includes BalenaCloud, a platform based on containers for launching IoT apps. Using container technology, you may design your own device image, join endpoints to the network, and maintain security.

  7. Bosch IoT Suite: Bosch is an engineering and technology business that offers a strong IoT solution for commercial applications. It has three parts: Asset Communication, which enables remote asset control, Edge for local connectivity, and Hub for direct device connectivity.

  8. IoT Operations Dashboard from Cisco: In order to install, monitor, troubleshoot, and obtain insights on networking devices and connected equipment at scale, the Cisco IoT Operations Dashboard is a cloud-based dashboard. The dashboard provides integration with Cisco, secure equipment access, application administration, and cybersecurity.

  9. IoT Central in Azure: By integrating business processes, connecting your devices, analyzing previously untapped data, and bringing the Internet of Things to life, Azure IoT Central transforms your business as you discover new business models and revenue sources.

  10. Huawei IoT Device Administration: IoT Device Management by Huawei Cloud links any number of IoT devices to the cloud, allows for their visual management, integrates and analyzes data, and activates open capabilities for service creation. The IoT platform offers extensive device management features, including.