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Any Help/Advice on an Easy IoT Cloud to Connect to?

Mike McKean
I was wondering if anyone knows an easy way of building an access method to an IoT Cloud. I am looking at Google Core and Microsoft Azure.  I also looked at some much smaller Clouds. Maybe if I outline the end to end structure that may help;

Sensors; They could communicate by Bluetooth, Wifi, or Mobile network via a SIM card. I know there are lots of other options, but I want to restrict my connectivity options to these three.  I will design/build these. Happy with this part.

Gateway/Bridge. If possible, I want a software install, that can be installed on a Windows laptop. The gateway/bridge will manage a number of Sensors, on one side, and an WAN connection on the other. I may have an option here, but the firm which was offering me a trial has gone quiet. I think I need to keep their details confidential, as they do not seem to have gone public about what they are talking to me about. But does anyone have such a solution they can tell me about?

Cloud. This is where I find I am trying to eat an Elephant, all in one bite. All I want is to connect the Gateway/Bridge to a hosted environment.


I think one of my issues is that I am very rusty at much of this. For instance I am having to re-learn C++, then install/learn Eclipse, then I.C. manufacturers IDE’s, e.g. MBED and CCS, then Visual Studio for Azure …… and so it goes on. I don’t mind the learning, it’s just there is only one of me, and I need sleep in between work … 
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    I've been watching the connectivity of small crypto devices and LoRA nodes to things like AWS and Azure, lots of promise but very few who can explain in terms that most of us can understand how to actually achieve it. There is great scope for innovation in making these processes more intuitive whilst keeping them secure.
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    Hi Alex,

    Thanks for the reply. I am going to raise a couple issues, and I’d love your feedback, or indeed anyone’s thoughts;

    1. I keep being driven by the edict; don’t re-invent the wheel. i.e. why go to all the effort of trying to build something, i.e. a Cloud for IoT, when we can just use someone’s code, or package. Ok, happy to pay them. Not asking for a freebie.  (indeed my new solution - at the end of this message is costing me money).

    2. I have invested a bit of time with the Azure and Google IoT solutions. I was allocated “credits”, so my free trial did not cost anything. I don’t think I did it right. Azure was costing me about £25/day, and Google about £1/day  (One Pound/day). I think that shows I was not doing things right? … i.e. I am not blaming Google or Azure for my failure. I am clearly acknowledging that I did it wrong.

    3. So, as of yesterday, I have given up, with pre-packaged IoT solutions.

    4. Here’s my new plan;

    (a) As of this morning, I am renting a Windows server from my ISP. Going to set it up as a web server, and then connect using RESTful webservices between the Windows server and my IoT Sensors.  (I am not familiar with Linux).

    (b)     I am also going to build the Gateways. I am probably going to stick with Bluetooth for local Sensor to Gateway connectivity. Mainly because I want to limit what technology I invest in, and learn. I have read up on several others, and they all have some really good qualities. I am just sticking with Bluetooth, to minimise my learning.  

    (c) I have already ordered some T.I. technology, which should help on the Sensor side. I ordered it a week ago. I am hoping by the time it arrives, I'll have the web server and Gateway set up.  (and piggies might fly).


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    I thought that an Amazon Web Server account was basically free, allowing you to tinker around and connect some simple devices? Connection certainly isn't simple, and that is where I think there is scope for improvement.

    Something like this little board, the Curiosity PIC32MZEF Development Board, is supposed to allow you to experiment with such connectivity. At least that is the idea....
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    Hi Alex, thanks. 

    Re Amazon. I have used Amazon, and found it very good. I think I had about a 12 month free trial, and I used it for various things. To me, it’s similar to Google/Azure, and again, I think I need to go for a DIY solution. I stress, all due to my failure, not theirs. They are superb service providers. 

    Re the Microchip Board. You are right
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    Mike, the last Microchip European Masters featured a talk by a senior Amazon guy on the subject, and a brief demo (the last of the conference, so rushed) of connecting Atmel crypto devices to their cloud. All very cryptic and embryonic, in my opinion there is still a language barrier between the web and embedded worlds.
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    Suggest you look at Thingstream.io,  IOT Product of the Year - 2017 because it is simple, highy secure and lower cost than Sigfox
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    It looks like it is solely GSM?
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    Hi Laurence, thanks. 
    I do appreciate what you sent me. It’s good to see what people are offering. Their solution I think is good, if someone is not designing their own sensors, and knows how to manage a mainstream Cloud. I am the opposite to both. I am the guy, trying to “part fog”, and “push water upstream” at the same time …
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    I am re-posting this, comemnt, as I don't think I published it correctly.
    Hi Laurence, thanks. 
    I do appreciate what you sent me. It’s good to see what people are offering. Their solution I think is good, if someone is not designing their own sensors, and knows how to manage a mainstream Cloud. I am the opposite to both. I am the guy, trying to “part fog”, and “push water upstream” at the same time …
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    Hi Laurence, thanks. I apologise for the repeated posting in this reply. I had not pasted it correctly. I thought it was important to reply to you properly. Hence why I am replying again. I was helped by Natalia and tech support to solve my issue. So thanks to Naalia and the folks behind the scenes.

    I do appreciate what you sent me. It’s good to see what people are offering. Their solution I think is good, if someone is not designing their own sensors, and knows how to manage a mainstream Cloud. I am the opposite to both. I am the guy, trying to “part fog”, and “push water upstream” at the same time  

    I am going to continue with my server. But I want you to know, I looked at their website. Just to show I did read what they offer;


    1. Their solution needs me to use one of their sensors, or their SIM card in one of my Sensors. I would prefer to have the flexibility to use any SIM card. That's part of the value of what I want to build. Which is that customers can change SIM cards, as, and when they want. Ok, climbing up a 40' pole to change a SIM card, in winter, may not be something people do too often, but I want to avoid SIM card "lock-in".  I think that will become a "check box" in ITT's/tenders. i.e. avoiding vendor lock-in, will be an issue. 

    2. I also want to use Bluetooth, and/or Wifi to LAN/WAN networks. That let's me connect to corporate networks. But, I do agree that for some sites, a mobile type of connection, using a SIM card will be a necessary option. 

    3.  The technology they use for connectivity is limited to 182 alphanumeric characters. I want unlimited amounts of data, or should I say, only limited by any bandwidth/network issues. e.g. I may want to send audio, video, or streaming data. 

    4. From what their website describes, I still need to use one of the mainstream IoT Clouds, or at least that's the topology their website shows. So, I still am back to where I am now, except I use their sensor(s) or SIM card, and their solution is another layer in between my sensors and the Google/AWS/Azure cloud? 

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