New era of IoT data analysis
Cisco and SAS, the market leader in networking and analytics, are combining their expertise in Internet of Things (IoT). The Cisco SAS Edge-to-Enterprise IoT Analytics Platform enables enterprises to realize the potential of IoT data without having to worry about the associated hardware and software purchases. This opens the door for them to implement versatile use cases - whether it's ensuring the safety of workers on an oil rig, monitoring the health of heart patients, or interacting with customers via smartphone.
The new solution is the first edge-to-enterprise platform for IoT analytics that leverages a Cisco Validated Design. Because of its flexibility and scalability, the platform helps organizations apply analytics at different network layers based on volume, speed, and latency requirements. Validated Design reduces hurdles and risks when analyzing IoT data. Companies can focus on extracting valuable insights from their data instead of having to build IoT infrastructure themselves.
Interconnectivity
"The value of IoT is in the data that it generates," says IDC Research Director Alan Webber. "But data in itself is not value until it is transformed into information, knowledge and action through analytics. And that's what makes the partnership between SAS and Cisco so exciting: two global leaders adding real value by using analytics to turn edge data collected via IoT into business advantage."
Mike Yost, President of MESA (Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association) International, also sees great benefits in the platform. "Fundamentally, the IoT discussion is about nothing more than the commercial potential that arises from linking information technology (IT) and operational technologies (OT). It presents a complex challenge for our members. Being able to rely on analytics on the network to go where the data originates solves many problems. It's certainly a positive development that people are no longer mere custodians of data, but can actually explore it and thus draw better insights from it."
Fact-based immediate actions
Key features of the platform include:
edge computing - The combination of Cisco IoT Gateways and SAS Event Stream Processing creates the prerequisite for running analytical models against data-in-motion and getting answers in less than a second. In doing so, the analysis is done close to the device and the sensors that generate the data. The analysis triggers alerts and defines which data should be retained and forwarded.
Flexible Enterprise Computing - The relevant data sets that have been identified in this way are brought to the data center or the cloud, where they are supplemented with context in the form of company data. Advanced analytics technologies such as visualization, data mining and machine learning are used to generate new insights and analytical models. Models can be deployed in the cloud or at the edge.
Management - Cisco provides a robust infrastructure to connect the edge to the data center/cloud and control analytics processes at different network layers. This is especially important when there are a large number of edge devices, as is the case with electric utilities with smart grids.
"The Cisco SAS Edge-to-Enterprise IoT Analytics Platform has a broad range of uses across many industries, putting information at the fingertips of businesses quickly and enabling immediate action," said Raghunath Nambiar, chief technology officer of the Unified Computing Systems Group at Cisco. "By working together, SAS and Cisco are amplifying the benefits that can be derived from streaming data for all kinds of applications - from customer interaction to asset performance to fraud prevention. Combining our expertise gives our customers control and agility in equal measure."
Further information on the partnership is available here as well as in the report of the market research and consulting company 451 Research "SAS takes Event Stream Processing to Cisco's Edge for Internet of Things Stack“.
