As the platform giants race to define the frameworks for the internet of things (IoT), Amazon has held back, but has remained a lurking presence, poised to pounce.
That pounce may have come closer with a rare acquisition by the ecommerce leader – of 2lemetry, a start-up which has created a platform, called ThingFabric, for integrating connected devices across enterprises.
Amazon has, like all the cloud giants, positioned itself as an ideal platform to host IoT deployments and big data analytics, but it has made fewer specific announcements than its rivals in this area. The new acquisition looks set to add new IoT-specific middleware, developer and big data capabilities to Amazon Web Services (AWS), and could even be relevant to the ecommerce major’s expected push into smart home and other connected consumer services.
The buyer was characteristically tight-lipped about its transaction, but 2lemetry said on its website that it would continue to offer the same services and customer support to its users, and also retain its name and branding.
Whether that remains true once the firm is fully integrated, Amazon – which unlike Google and Apple does not acquire large numbers of start-ups – is sure to have bigger ideas than just adding a connectivity solution to its portfolio. 2lemetry has developed enterprise-class middleware which could clearly be incorporated into Amazon’s broader cloud services and device frameworks, upping its game against Microsoft and Google in the enterprise space.
The start-up says its ThingFabric technology is an IoT-optimized version of traditional middleware solutions for enterprise application integration. It promises “device connectivity at scale, cross-communication, data brokering and storage”. It also has big data capabilities which may enhance the Amazon offering, allowing the data capture from the enterprise apps to be managed and analyzed using 2lemetry’s own predictive computational models and configurable rules engine.
The firm’s website says its platform is protocol and hardware agnostic, and works with legacy systems, and is accompanied by an application programming interface plus tools and developer support services for IoT projects.
It has an existing relationship with Amazon, and has integrated ThingFabric with Amazon Web Services.