Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS), officially launched AWS IoT on Friday. The AWS IoT platform was first announced at October’s re-Invent conference as a beta release. It aims to provide developers with a way to connect devices to the cloud and build, deploy, and manage IoT apps. According to AWS, the platform “can support billions of devices and trillions in messages, and can process those messages to AWS endpoints as well as other devices securely and reliably.” The AWS IoT platform has four main prongs:

• Developers have the option to connect their devices with the cloud and start sending data to other devices or apps using the Device Gateway. Devices can send and receive messages using HTTP, MQTT, and other standard protocols. The messages can be one-to one or one-to many.
• The Rules Engine allows developers to quickly respond to data from their devices. According to the company, the feature “evaluates inbound message published into AWS IoT. Transforms and delivers them to another device/a cloud service, based upon business rules you specify.”
• Developers can track every cloud-connected device using metadata with the Device Registry.
• Device Shadows preserves a device’s “latest state” so that applications can continue to interact even if it’s offline.

[Click on the image to see a larger view.] The structure of AWS IoT platform. Source: AWS. The release also includes a device SDK that promises “mutual authentication, encryption at all points” AWS IoT currently is available in the U.S. East and U.S. West as well as the EU and Asia Pacific regions. Pricing is determined by the number of messages published and delivered. One message equals a 512-byte block. The cost for the U.S. and EU regions is $5 per million messages. In the Asia Pacific region, it is $8 per million messages. A free tier is available that allows you to send up to 250,000 messages per month for 12 consecutive months.