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E.E. Wang

On-Prem or Cloud-Native – Figuring Out Which Architecture Fits Your IoT Project


Developers and system integrators are faced with a multitude of options when it comes to collecting, monitoring, directing and storing data from their IoT projects. Most of these can be categorized into two specific architectures, on-prem or cloud-native. Pick the wrong one and your project costs can quickly skyrocket in a matter of days or weeks.


Below we compare both architectures, as well as how and when developers and system integrators should consider deploying these options.


On-Prem: Start Here First.

You’ve got an IoT project idea but you aren’t yet ready to commit tens of thousands of dollars in a cloud-native IoT solution. Nowadays it can seem like IoT and cloud are synonymous but the last thing you want to do is kill your budget, resources and weeks of engineering time by going to the cloud too quickly.


On-prem is perfect for:

  • IoT projects that are in the early development or POC stages

  • Small to mid-sized deployments

  • Deployments involving enterprises where data privacy and control are important concerns

  • Deployments that need more than what one-size-fits-all IoT cloud platforms offer

  • Deployments that desire control over when and how IoT software upgrades are applied

  • Deployments involving legacy or existing devices that cannot be connected to the Internet or public clouds due to security concerns

Building a solid on-prem IoT infrastructure first can ensure faster ROIs and better performance when your IoT project deployment is ready to move to a cloud-native architectures by:


  • Establishing an adaptable and robust infrastructure that ensures your connected machine network is “IoT ready”

  • Identifying what data needs to stay local and what needs to be sent to the cloud

  • Allowing business teams to clearly understand ROI benefits before investing in the additional technical resources and time required for a cloud-native rollout


Cloud-Native: When Your IoT Project Is Ready to Scale

As IoT projects start to scale to multiple sites or thousands of devices, it makes sense for developers to look at cloud-native architecture.

Cloud-native architecture is perfect for:

  • Your project needs to scale to thousands of devices across many different sites

  • Involves deployments that necessitate sending all device data to the cloud to leverage tens to hundreds of servers for data processing

  • You are willing and able to invest in time, budget and development resources to build a cloud-native solution

  • Your application and use case is not sensitive to technology, features, data retention, privacy and government policy changes by the cloud service provider that may be beyond your control


For most enterprises, transitioning your IoT project to a cloud-native model involves deploying a set of on-prem and pre-cloud IoT services to:

  • Convert and normalize protocols and data formats to comply with the cloud platform provider’s specifications before you can send any data to the cloud

  • Label and tag data streams

  • Aggregate data to minimize bandwidth costs

  • Filter data to comply with enterprise and government data privacy regulations


Ready-to-use IoT edgeware solutions, like Machinechat’s JEDI One, can provide a perfect solution for developers and system integrators seeking to deploy field-ready POCs, on-prem IoT solutions or pre-cloud IoT services quickly.


A single software binary with no external dependencies to maintain, JEDI One can be deployed on an embedded system, server or virtual machine in your enterprise’s private cloud. Pre-configured and ready-to-use HTTP, TCP-CSV, MQTT broker and custom data collectors make integrating any sensor or device a task that takes minutes versus days. After that, establishing data visualization, monitoring, rules-based notifications, alerts and notifications is as easy as using your mouse (in other words, zero coding). Execute local action scripts in any programming language. More importantly, you control what data you store, where it is stored and for how long.


Want to learn more about how to simplify and accelerate your IoT project? Read our blog on BYIoT (Bring Your IoT) and the first critical mile in making your deployment "IoT ready."

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