Creating multi-purpose hardware with IoT app stores

The traditional approach to IoT requires customised hardware and kernels with a monolithic software image being flashed at the manufacturing stage leaving devices static. This renders devices unable to evolve functionality and subject to unmitigated security risks.

A new software defined IoT approach helps produce multi-purpose hardware with software that updates automatically helping to patch security and bug fixes. Canonical’s IoT app store offering facilitates this new age of IoT, allowing businesses to utilitse snaps, the containerised software packages which work on all major Linux distros.

With IoT devices becoming more prevalent and hardware margins decreasing, the need for monetisation is increasingly sought outside the original sale of the device. IoT app stores help companies build a business beyond hardware and create new revenue streams.

For businesses, the chance to create their own branded, private IoT app store opens up a wealth of opportunities for both themselves and their customers. IoT app stores enable businesses to have full control over the store content and set authorisations ensuring that their customers only receive a selected range of snaps which can be specific to the brand and certain devices.

Brand stores provide businesses with their own curated repository where they can manage the updates which they push to their customers whilst also ensuring that only authenticated devices have access to the store. In the past, businesses have faced challenges when trying to target specific devices whilst maintaining control over what software is offered to a device. IoT app stores provide a solution to these issues without the need for costly and time consuming custom builds.

On February 13^th, Kyle Nitzsche, Solutions Architect at Canonical, will be hosting a live webinar – An introduction to IoT app stores – in which he will cover the different types of stores available, how software updates can be managed in a scheduled manner and the permissions set for different users.

Watch the webinar