Watson IoT Platform leaves IBM’s Cloud • The Register

IBM will retire its Watson IoT Platform service on IBM Cloud.

According to a customer email seen by The registryIBM plans to “retire the Watson IoT Platform service on IBM Cloud effective December 1, 2023 without a direct replacement,” after which access to the platform APIs would no longer be available.

The statement added: “Please note that devices cannot connect to the MQTT and HTTP endpoints and existing connections will be terminated. Any remaining customers using this service should plan to switch to alternative services before that time.”

Contacted by The registryIBM has so far said it would not provide additional comment.

IBM’s website lists embedded systems maker Adesto Technologies, Cisco DNA Spaces (utilization insight) and cleaning and asset management technology company EnOcean as the platform’s partners.

IBM launched the Watson IoT platform around a decade ago, before expanding the service with a new headquarters in Munich, Germany.

The platform is designed to provide customers with a place to manage their IoT devices, monitor usage, and collect and process generated data.

In 2018, an IBM blog promised that the platform would help companies “succeed by delivering an Industrial IoT solution that’s built for today, but designed for the future.”

Big Blue has invested in IoT elsewhere, however. The company expanded its IT system monitoring and support and announced support for Open Horizon, an open-source project that promises autonomous management of more than 10,000 edge devices simultaneously. The technology integrated into IBM Edge Application Manager aims to enable the deployment and remote management of AI, analytics and IoT enterprise workloads.

IBM sold Watson Health, another Watson-branded initiative, in January, although the alleged $1 billion price tag turned out to be worth $230 million in pre-tax profit.

In June, IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna said the company had decided to ditch the AI ​​unit for healthcare because it hadn’t acquired the required vertical expertise in the healthcare sector.

IBM is not alone in deciding that one IoT platform is one too many. Google Cloud is shutting down its IoT services from August 2023, giving customers less than a year to find alternatives.

In a letter to customers, Google Cloud said, “We would like to inform you that Google Cloud IoT Core service will be retired on August 15, 2023. At this point, your access to the IoT Core Device Manager API is no longer available. “

IoT devices using the service will no longer be able to connect to MQTT and HTTP bridges after this date, the note said.

In 2019, Google ended Android Things, prompting then-users to migrate to IoT Core. ®