Azure Sphere Reviews

I use the solution in my company for process automation. Based on the kind of devices and architecture our company's customers use, our company is now fetching those data points and integrating them with the back-end systems. Typically, my company deals with the data integration layer.

With the tool, the learning curve is really good. I don't have to spend time in long training sessions, which is typically required for other platforms. As my company is a Microsoft kind of shop, we have developers, making the learning curve easy compared to other tools. When it comes to integration with the back-end systems, manufacturing companies are still using some other apps in their environment. Getting data or pushing those analytics data back to the back-end systems is relatively simple while using Azure Sphere and other integration points, and so that is why there is a clear direction from our company's end customer that they need an Azure solution.

When it comes to the challenges or drawbacks associated with the product, I will not talk about the system. Our company's customers who are into manufacturing and other such businesses are not very familiar with Microsoft Azure so we have to actually educate them at times about the solution, especially the client operators and all who build our customer's technology. The lack of awareness of the products among our company's customers is a challenge that needs to be looked at and improved by Microsoft.

I have been using Azure Sphere for a year, and my company has been working around it for our customers. My company operates as an integrator of the product.

My company operates as a relatively medium-sized organization. Scalability-wise, my company is comfortable with the product, and we don't see any challenges with it. Nobody has ever reported any issues because of the product.

My company operates as a relatively medium-sized organization. Scalability-wise, my company is comfortable with the product, and we don't see any challenges with it. Nobody has ever reported any issues because of the product.

I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.

Positive

I think my team is comfortable with the installation of the product.

When my team installed Azure Sphere for one of our customers, which had almost 500 devices to be onboarded, the entire process took around four months.

My company has a team of around 11 people who dedicatedly take care of the product's installation and deployment.

I think the license part is good enough as of now because as a company, we don't handle the license part. My company has a partner from Microsoft who manages everything for us, so we don't deal directly with the licenses.

I know about Azure Sphere's over-the-air updates. My organization deals with a startup company that manages the tool for us. My company typically takes care of the solution architecture and integrations.

My company uses Microsoft for desktops and various partner solutions for integration from the marketplace provided by Azure. I think we interchangeably use Azure Sphere wherever we see that it has some kind of relevance.

There are always some concerns, considering that the cloud costs are usually high, but I think it is very common for all, and it is not something that is applicable just to Azure. My company's customers generally pass on such cloud-related issues revolving around costs, but unfortunately, issues crop up again when the cost shoots up again.

My company signed up with Microsoft's Generative AI for a partnership a couple of months ago. My company is trying to explore a value proposition to be able to take it to the market.

I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

The edge security feature is what is most important for us. We were using certain microcontrollers also. Ensuring that the micro controls or the edge devices that we are using are risk-free and more compliant, and when we were burning our firmware, that is the place where we were actually using. Our use was very limited, however, we went for Azure Sphere for the simple reason that we wanted to minimize the cybersecurity-related risk over the edge devices.

It's more of a closed integration with the other Azure stacks. People, when they go for some IT app development, know that they have to go for Azure SQL. They have to use a certain platform for visualizations. However, Azure Sphere is something that still needs to give more confidence to its users. Probably more integration of Azure Sphere with its entire technology stack is something that Microsoft can do to make it a very approachable tool for others. Otherwise, it's a friendly tool and it's a good tool. 

The type of edge devices being addressed through the suite was limited, however, even that has also significantly increased. 

I've used the solution for a couple of months, just for one client. I used it eight months back.

It's stable and the performance has been great. So far my experience has been good. There weren't any bugs or glitches and it didn't crash or freeze. 

Scalability-wise, the devices that I was using were around 25 in number, and the solution was easy to deploy. I just need to duplicate the solution, my firmware, to 20 other devices, which was pretty easy. I didn't find any issue with that. 

The only thing is, that is something that we still need to evaluate, how good is this Azure Sphere in the industrial setup? There's a solution called Kepware From PTC that takes care of industrial tools and industrial communication. With that kind of scalability, if Azure Sphere can also achieve it at industrial levels, that would be good. It is good for connected products. For example, a home connected device like Alexa, et cetera. However, from a factory ecosystem point of view, it still needs to achieve that kind of maturity.

All documentation is available. Every single step-by-step instruction is available in terms of guidance and documentation. Getting any hands-on support from their technicians was also not a problem. My experience, overall, was positive.

Positive

I wasn't actually involved in the initial setup. I'm not the right person to comment on that. When I wanted to use it, I just asked them and they got it installed.

We did not really evaluate any other option before using this solution. 

We have a strategic ecosystem partnership with Microsoft.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

We use the MQTT the serial protocol, which is similar to AWS, for remote monitoring statements. 

The sphere module is offered at a fairly low cost and has a secure interface. It is comparable to Amazon who supply their Greenfield Solution or their Access using a free Artot. Microsoft offers an encapsulated solution, which has a security built-on chip. When you use this solution, you get a dual processor with all the necessary security and Microsoft updates supplied. You don't have to be concerned about the security aspect related to IoT because Microsoft takes care of this. 

One of the pain points of this solution is that the full Linux box is not exposed to all developers. This restricts what the applications can do as they cant be adjusted.

This solution releases frequent updates that require consistent upgrading that can be annoying. When the Microsoft security updates are in progress, the solution is not fully functional. 

We have used this solution for less than one year. 

This is a stable solution. 

This is a scalable solution. 

This solution offers secure IoT communication to the cloud at a fairly low cost. 

This solution is a more suitable fit for a larger organization. It is a good add-on to existing products. For example, if you already have an IP PTP or UR based product and you want to add a secure connection to the cloud, this is an ideal solution. The only drawback would be the fact that Microsoft issues very frequent updates.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.