Software major Microsoft today announced the launch of IoT innovation center at the first Microsoft IoT Expo held at Hua Nan Bank International Conference Center in Taiwan.
Microsoft IoT Expo featured over 70 keynote speeches and the software giant showcased 33 IoT applications, focusing on smart city, retail, manufacturing, and life.
Microsoft has helped 22 Taiwanese companies with over 87 IoT devices to be Microsoft Azure Certified for IoT by this September, with the number of certifications taking up over 40 percent of all certified devices worldwide.
Microsoft said Asia is a critical and rapidly growing part of the IoT market and Microsoft has already deployed the Azure IoT Suite to multiple regions.
“We believe that through the first Microsoft IoT Expo, our market leading IoT offerings and the newly launched Microsoft IoT Innovation Center as a hub in Asia, we are enabling customers and partners to realize the enormous business potential of IoT,” said Sam George, general manager, Azure IoT, Microsoft.
Microsoft IoT Innovation Center has selected Taiwan, a place renowned for its high-tech sector and hardware manufacturing, to gain a foothold in the Asia market while aiming to accelerate IoT deployment with partners worldwide.
“By using Microsoft Azure’s public cloud, we have promoted the uFleet logistics management system to Tingtong Logistics in Shanghai, China, and the UShop+ passenger volume statistics system to the branch stores of Green Land supermarket’s chained stores and the retailers in Southeast Asia,” said Allan Yang, CTO of Advantech.
At the IoT expo on October 13 and 14, Microsoft has showcased IoT applications, including a smart vending machine developed by AAEON, which allows visitors to pay by swiping their badges and a coffee-making robot developed by TECHMAN ROBOT, which could be started by the visitor badge.
The software major also displayed a Persuasive Electric Vehicle, co-developed by Microsoft and MIT Media Lab by using Microsoft’s Cognitive services and Cortana Intelligent Suite, at the two-day IoT event in Taiwan.
