Microsoft recently announced Azure Sphere, a solution to secure billions of microcontroller-powered devices including the IoT devices which are deployed globally by a number of companies every year. Azure Sphere comprises of mainly three parts – Aan operating system, Azure Sphere-certified microcontrollers (MCUs), and an Azure Sphere Security Service.
Microsoft Azure Sphere
The certified microcontrollers combine “both real-time and application processors with built-in Microsoft security technology and connectivity”. Talking about the chipsets for the Xbox, Microsoft says that the silicon security technology takes advantage of years of experience. These certified chips would be manufactured by a number of partners of Microsoft in the future. MediaTek notably is already building these chips.
The Azure Sphere OS, it is built on a custom Linux Kernal. This OS contains multiple layers of security just to further protect these IoT based devices from an attack. Whereas, the Azure Sphere Security Service’s role is to act as a turnkey, cloud service that will be responsible for protecting each Azure Sphere device. This includes device-to-device and device-to-cloud communication.
With all these great features, Microsoft is really not ready to compromise with the efficiency as well as the security of the whole solution. With a hardware chip and software blended so tightly – along with capabilities of interacting and keeping themselves updated with the help of the Cloud, makes it a top-notch solution. Azure Sphere could, therefore, turn out to be a compelling choice for the businesses out there to adopt and implement their IoT devices with.
Currently, tMT3620 by MediaTek is the first Azure Sphere Chip and is available for businesses in a private preview. It will start to be available publically to anyone sometime later this year.
To read more about this solution and other announcements, head to this official blog post by Microsoft here.
