Azure IoT Central is evolving: what you need to know
On September 23, 2026, Microsoft announced guidance that will help Azure IoT Central customers migrate their solutions to use new features of Azure IoT Hub and Microsoft Fabric. The new approach leverages IoT Hub capabilities such as certificate management, along with Microsoft Fabric capabilities such as the operations agent, to modernize connected solutions. Existing users can continue using their Azure IoT Central solution as-is until September 20, 2029 if they don't want to take advantage of these new features right away. This is a natural step in our ongoing evolution of Azure IoT: we continue to invest deeply in the platform services that power Azure connected solutions, building on core Azure constructs such as RBAC and ARM resource models, while integrating AI capabilities across Azure and Fabric. If you build on IoT Central today, keep reading to understand what is changing and how to transition to a modern Azure IoT architecture. A platform that keeps getting better Azure IoT Central pioneered a managed application experience that made easy to get started with IoT. Since then, Azure IoT has grown significantly. Azure IoT Hub and Device Provisioning Service (DPS) provide the foundation for secure, high-scale device connectivity and provisioning, while new investments add richer device lifecycle capabilities such as certificate management and deeper integration with Azure Device Registry. Azure Device Registry brings devices into the Azure management plane as ARM resources, enabling more consistent governance across connected environments. These investments also align with Microsoft's broader vision for connected operations, where operational technology, enterprise data, analytics and AI come together on a unified platform. As discussed in our recent work on connected operations and industrial AI, Azure IoT, Azure Device Registry, and Microsoft Fabric Real-Time Intelligence provide the foundation for connecting device telemetry with operational and business context. This enables organizations to move beyond monitoring toward real-time intelligence, automation, and increasingly AI-powered operational experiences. By concentrating our investment on a unified, Azure-native platform rather than a fixed application experience, we can innovate faster and give customers a more flexible and scalable foundation to build connected solutions tailored to their business needs. What's changing Azure IoT Central is evolving toward an architecture built on Azure IoT Hub and Microsoft Fabric. Your existing applications continue to function and can be managed as-is until September 20, 2029. Key dates The key milestones are: New IoT Central application creation is unavailable starting September 23, 2026. Existing applications continue to work as-is through September 20, 2029. After September 20, 2029, IoT Central applications are no longer available. The modern Azure IoT platform The recommended path is Azure IoT Hub with DPS and Microsoft Fabric, with Azure Device Registry where applicable. This preserves the core device connectivity and provisioning you rely on today and upgrades your analytics and dashboards to Microsoft Fabric Real-Time Intelligence. You can continue to use your existing devices and data while benefiting from greater scalability, stronger lifecycle controls, and a modern real-time analytics experience. The following table maps common IoT Central capabilities to their modern Azure-native targets: Capability today (IoT Central) Modern Azure-native target Device connectivity and messaging Azure IoT Hub Device onboarding and provisioning Device Provisioning Service (DPS) Device inventory and governance Azure Device Registry (ADR), in preview Rules, automation, and integration Message routing, Event Grid, Functions, Fabric Activator Dashboards and analytics Microsoft Fabric Real-Time Intelligence, Power BI Get started faster with the Fabric solution accelerator To move your analytics forward quickly, start with the Azure IoT Solution Accelerator Workload for Microsoft Fabric Real-Time Intelligence (https://github.com/Azure-Samples/azure-iot-accelerator-workload-for-fabric-rti). Instead of rebuilding dashboards and pipelines from scratch, the accelerator deploys a working, end-to-end Fabric Real-Time Intelligence workload on top of your IoT Hub telemetry - Eventstream ingestion, an Eventhouse/KQL database, and ready-to-use real-time dashboards - so you can see your device data flowing in minutes and can then tailor it to your solution How to get started You can start planning your transition today: Review your current IoT Central deployment, including device templates, device groups, jobs, rules, exports, dashboards, and users. Evaluate the Azure IoT Hub and DPS target architecture, and Azure Device Registry where applicable. Plan your migration in phases, keeping IoT Central available during the transition. Follow the customer migration playbook at https://aka.ms/AzureIoTCentralMigrationPlaybook, which maps common IoT Central scenarios to Azure IoT-native services. Migration partners If you would like additional help, experienced Microsoft partners can support discovery, migration planning, and execution. Both partners below build on Azure IoT Hub, DPS, Azure Device Registry, and Microsoft Fabric: Mesh Systems builds on Azure IoT Hub and Azure IoT Operations to accelerate connected-product development and migration. Read their story in the following link: How Mesh Systems Builds on Azure IoT Hub. Helin delivers an Intelligent Edge Application Platform for industrial AI at the edge, built on Azure IoT Hub, DPS, Azure Device Registry, and Microsoft Fabric. Read their story in the following link: Scaling Industrial AI at the Edge with Helin and Azure IoT. Our commitment We are committed to helping you transition smoothly and to continuing our deep investment in Azure IoT. Thank you for building on Azure IoT - we look forward to supporting your move to a modern, Azure-native foundation for connected operations. Help and support Get answers from community experts in Microsoft Q&A Microsoft Q & A for IoT Central If you have a support plan and need technical help, create a support request in the Azure portal. Review the full guidance and recommended migration partners at https://aka.ms/AzureIoTCentralEvolutionDirect IoT Hub-to-Fabric message routing, with context preserved via CloudEvents, in Public Preview
Announcing Public Preview of Microsoft Fabric Eventstreams as a native Azure IoT Hub routing endpoint. Customers can now send device telemetry directly into Fabric without building custom integration pipelines, using the same routing rules, filters, and enrichments configurable in IoT Hub. Events are delivered using the CloudEvents envelope, which preserves critical metadata for downstream analytics.
