Operational excellence in every industry begins by linking the physical world to the digital, enabling organizations to turn raw data from connected assets into actionable insights and real-world improvements. Azure IoT Hub and Azure IoT Operations make this possible by seamlessly integrating data from machines whether on a single factory floor or spread across the globe into a unified platform. Together, they serve as the backbone of connected operations, ensuring that assets, sensors this data is then moved to Microsoft Fabric for real-time analytics and further leveraged by AI agents to drive informed decisions.  This approach lets organizations scale efficiently, unifying teams, sites, and systems under the Adaptive Cloud Strategy. It enables use of cloud-native and AI technologies across hybrid, multi-cloud, edge, and IoT environments in a single operational model.

Azure IoT Hub empowers organizations to securely and reliably manage connected assets across the globe, providing real-time visibility and control over diverse operations. With proven scalability, broad device support, and robust management tools, IoT Hub delivers a unified platform for developing and operating IoT solutions. Organizations in various industries are using Azure IoT Hub to enhance their operations. In mining, sensors provide real-time safety data and support compliance. Fleet managers track equipment health to boost efficiency and prevent failures, while rail operators use GPS and vibration sensors for precise monitoring and issue detection. Ports utilize conveyor and loading system metrics to optimize scheduling and reduce delays. These examples show how Azure IoT Hub delivers actionable insights, greater safety, and operational efficiency through connected devices. As customers evolve, Azure IoT Hub continues to advance, deepening its integration with the Azure ecosystem and enabling AI-driven, connected operations for the next generation of applications.

Today, we’re announcing the public preview of Azure IoT Hub integration with Azure Device Registry bringing IoT devices under the purview of Azure management plane via ARM resource representation and securing them with best-in-class Microsoft-backed X.509 certificate management capabilities.

From Connected Devices to Connected Operations

Ready-to-use AI platforms are enabling organizations to unlock untapped operational data and gain deeper insights. Organizations are leveraging AI to unify machine and enterprise data, extract actionable insights, and translate them into measurable business gains. They are broadly transitioning from connected devices that simply gather and transmit telemetry, to connected operations which empower supervisors and AI agents to interpret events and respond to scenarios in real time. The integration of Azure IoT Hub with ADR enhancements extends the comprehensive capabilities of Azure to IoT devices. With this integration, Azure Device Registry (ADR) acts as the unified control plane for managing both physical assets from Azure IoT Operations and devices from Azure IoT Hub. It provides a centralized registry, ensuring every entity whether an industrial asset or a connected device is uniquely represented and managed throughout its lifecycle. By integrating with Azure IoT Hub, ADR enables consistent device onboarding, certificate management, and operational visibility at scale. This integration simplifies large-scale IoT fleet management and supports compliance and auditability across diverse deployments.

What’s New in this Preview

We’re excited to announce the public preview of new capabilities that bring IoT devices into the broader Azure ecosystem. This integration allows IoT to be managed at scale through the Azure management plane. It also strengthens security and enables consistent governance across large deployments:

• Deep integration with Azure: The Azure Device Registry (ADR) now offers a unified control plane, simplifying identity, security, and policy management for millions of devices. New ADR features make it easier to register, classify, and monitor devices, supporting consistent governance and better operational insights. Combined with Device Provisioning Service (DPS), these enhancements help reduce deployment challenges, speed up time-to-value, and lower operational risks. With IoT Hub integration, IoT Hub devices are represented as Azure resources, providing:
  • One unified registry across multiple IoT Hubs and Azure IoT Operations (AIO) instances.
  • ARM-based management for all Azure resources from cloud to edge.
  • A consolidated view of the entire IoT fleet, simplifying large-scale deployments, monitoring and management.
• Certificate lifecycle management: Now in public preview, this capability enables secure onboarding and automated certificate rotation for IoT devices, directly integrated with ADR and IoT Hub. X.509 certificates are widely recognized for providing a robust security posture by establishing trusted, cryptographically verifiable device identities. Starting today, customers can use a Microsoft-backed PKI to issue X.509 certificates across their IoT fleets. Devices receive operational certificates that authenticate with IoT Hub, chained to Certificate Authorities (CAs). Policy-driven lifecycle management makes certificate renewal simpler and keeps state in sync with your Hubs.

This integration sets the stage for Physical AI by connecting digital and physical systems, thus unlocking new possibilities for data and artificial intelligence.

Customer feedback from Private Preview

This release has received positive feedback from private preview customers. Particularly the Microsoft-supported PKI and certificate management capabilities, highlighting that previous manual processes were inefficient and fragmented. Customers further noted the advantages of grouping devices from multiple IoT Hubs under a unified namespace, which streamlined management. Moreover, the integration of certificate management within ADR has diminished the reliance on custom solutions.

“We were genuinely impressed by how seamless it was to implement. With just a few clicks, clear policy definitions, and two calls in firmware, the entire process became automated, frictionless, and reliable with no external dependencies.” – Uriel Kluk, CTO, Mesh Systems

Why It Matters

These investments make Azure IoT Hub the cornerstone for connected operations at scale, empowering customers to:

• Reduce manual cert ops with policy‑driven rotation (fewer outages due to expired certs).
• Consolidate device registry in ADR for cross‑hub fleet governance.
• Accelerate compliance audits with centralized certificate lineage.
• Apply advanced AI tooling for predictive insights and automation.

Call to Action

Explore the new capabilities in public preview today and start building the next generation of connected operations with Azure IoT Hub and ADR.

• • Learn more on Azure IoT Hub documentation