Microsoft 'Retires' Azure IoT Central In Platform Rethink

Lindsay Clark reports via The Register: In a statement on the Azure console, Microsoft confirmed the Azure IoT Central service is being retired on March 31, 2027. "Starting on April 1, 2024, you won't be able to create new application resources; however, all existing IoT Central applications will continue to function and be managed. Subscription {{subscriptionld} is not allowed to create new applications. Please create a support ticket to request an exception," the statement to customers, seen by The Register, said. According to a Microsoft "Learn" post from February 8, 2024, IoT Central is an IoT application platform as a service (aPaaS) designed to reduce work and costs while building, managing, and maintaining IoT solutions. Microsoft's Azure IoT offering includes three pillars: IoT Hub, IoT Edge and IoT Central. IoT Hub is a cloud-based service that provides a "secure and scalable way to connect, monitor, and manage IoT devices and sensors," according to Microsoft. Azure IoT Edge is designed to allow devices to run cloud-based workloads locally. And Azure IoT Central is a fully managed, cloud-based IoT solution for connecting and managing devices at scale. Central is a layer above Hub in the architecture, and Hub itself may well continue. One developer told The Register there was no warning about Hub on the Azure console. As for IoT Edge, it is "a device-focused runtime that enables you to deploy, run, and monitor containerized Linux workloads." Microsoft has not said whether this would continue.

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