Resource Guide: Making Physical AI Practical for Real‑World Industrial Operations
Microsoft’s adaptive cloud approach enables organizations to turn operational technology (OT) data into intelligent actions, autonomously, without requiring everything to live in the cloud by unifying cloud-to-edge management plane, data plane, and intelligence platform. At the center of this approach are key foundational technologies: Key Purpose Offering Direct-to-cloud device management + telemetry ingestion Azure IoT Hub Industrial connectivity + edge data plane Azure IoT Operations Unified analytics + real-time intelligence Microsoft Fabric On-device AI inferencing runtime Foundry Local Microsoft Azure IoT Gartner winner: Microsoft named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Global Industrial IoT Platforms This blog walks through where to get started with each: 1. Manage Cloud-Connected Devices and Telemetry with Azure IoT Hub Azure IoT Hub is a fully managed cloud service that enables secure bidirectional communication, device-to-cloud telemetry ingestion, cloud-to-device command execution, per-device authentication, remote management and more. Telemetry from IoT Hub can also be routed downstream into analytics platforms like Microsoft Fabric for visualization or AI modeling. Recommended Usage: Devices that utilize IoT Hub are distributed, stand-alone devices with fixed-functions. These devices typically do not require cloud-managed containerized workloads or cloud-managed proximal industrial protocol connectivity. Examples of appropriate device-to-cloud IoT Hub endpoint devices include water monitoring stations, vehicle telematics, distributed fluid level sensors, etc. Resources Current in-market services overview: IoT Hub: What is Azure IoT Hub? - Azure IoT Hub DPS: Overview of Azure IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service - Azure IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service ADU: Introduction to Device Update for Azure IoT Hub Building scalable solutions with Azure IoT platform: Best practices for large-scale IoT deployments - Azure IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service Scale Out an Azure IoT Hub-based Solution to Support Millions of Devices - Azure Architecture Center Azure IoT Hub scaling Try out our preview of new IoT Hub capabilities (integration with Azure Device Registry and Certificate Management) Learn more about these capabilities on our blog post: Azure IoT Hub + Azure Device Registry (Preview Refresh): Device Trust and Management at Fleet Scale… Integration with Azure Device Registry (preview): Integration with Azure Device Registry (preview) - Azure IoT Hub Microsoft-backed X.509 certificate management (preview): What is Microsoft-backed X.509 Certificate Management (Preview)? - Azure IoT Hub How to start with the preview: Deploy IoT Hub with ADR integration and certificate management (Preview) - Azure IoT Hub 2. Connect Industrial Assets with Azure IoT Operations Azure IoT Operations provides a unified data plane for the edge that runs on Azure Arc–enabled Kubernetes clusters and supports open industrial standards. It allows organizations to connect and capture equipment telemetry, normalize OT data locally, route hot-path signals to real-time analytics, securely manage layered industrial networks, and more. Edge‑processed data can then be sent upstream to Microsoft Fabric for AI‑driven analysis. Recommended Usage: Azure IoT Operations is intended to be the data plane for an adaptive cloud deployment extending the management, data, and AI capabilities of the Microsoft cloud to an on-prem device. This device binds to these cloud planes providing a platform for local data processing and intermittent connectivity. The target for these devices range from a small-gateway-style PC to a full data center. Azure IoT Operations endpoints enable cloud-managed containerized workloads and cloud-managed proximal industrial protocol connectivity. Examples of appropriate adaptive cloud and Azure IoT Operations endpoints include, on-robot computers, industrial machine controllers, retail store sensor/vision processing, and top-of-factory site infrastructure for line of business applications. Resources Azure IoT Operations Overview Azure IoT Operations Documentation Hub Quickstart: explore-iot-operations/quickstart at main · Azure-Samples/explore-iot-operations Open-source framework for scaling robotics from simulation to production on Azure + NVIDIA: microsoft/physical-ai-toolchain How we built the demo: explore-iot-operations/quickstart at main · Azure-Samples/explore-iot-operations Edge-AI: microsoft/edge-ai: Production-ready Infrastructure as Code, applications, pluggable components, and… Latest Announcements & Blogs Making Physical AI Practical for Real-World Industrial Operations: Part 1 | Microsoft Community Hub Making Physical AI Practical for Real-World Industrial Operations: Part 2 | Microsoft Community Hub Unlock Industrial Intelligence | Microsoft Hannover Messe 2026 From pilots to production: How Microsoft and partners are accelerating intelligent operations 3. Advanced Analytics with Microsoft Fabric Microsoft Fabric delivers a unified, end‑to‑end analytics platform that transforms streaming OT telemetry into real‑time insights and live dashboards. Fabric Operations Agents monitor industrial signals to recommend targeted actions, while Fabric IQ provides a shared semantic foundation that enables AI agents to reason over enterprise data with business context. Together, Fabric turns live industrial data into AI‑powered operational intelligence. Get Started Get Started with Microsoft Fabric Learning Path Fabric Real-Time Intelligence documentation - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn Create and Configure Operations Agents - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn Fabric IQ documentation - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn 4.Run AI Models On‑Device with Foundry Local Foundry Local extends on‑device AI to Arc‑enabled Kubernetes edge clusters, providing a Microsoft‑validated inferencing layer for running AI models in industrial, disconnected or sovereign environments. Get Started Foundry Local on Azure Local Documentation - link Participate in Foundry Local on Azure Local preview form - link Foundry Local on Azure Local: HELM deployment Demo - link Customer Stories Chevron: Chevron plans facilities of the future with Azure IoT Operations Husqvarna: Husqvarna Group Boosts Operational Efficiency with Azure Adaptive Cloud Ecopetrol: Azure IoT Operations and Azure IoT for energy help Ecopetrol optimize energy distribution while lowering operational costs P&G: Procter & Gamble cuts model deployment time up to 90% with Azure IoT Operations Toyota: Toyota Industries innovates its paint shop processes with Azure industrial AI and Azure IoT HubAzure IoT Hub + Azure Device Registry (Preview Refresh): Device Trust and Management at Fleet Scale
What’s New in this Preview In November 2025, we announced the preview integration of Azure IoT Hub with Azure Device Registry, marking a huge step towards integrating IoT devices into the broader Azure ecosystem. We’re grateful to the customers and partners who participated in the preview and shared valuable feedback along the way. Today, we’re expanding the preview with new capabilities to strengthen security, improve fleet management, and simplify development for connected devices. With this refresh, preview customers can: Automate device certificate renewals with zero-touch, at-runtime operations to minimize downtime and maintain a strong security posture. Integrate existing security infrastructure like private certificate authorities with your Azure Device Registry namespace. Leverage certificate revocation controls to isolate device or fleet-level risks and maintain operational continuity Utilize an improved Azure Portal experience for streamlined configuration and lifecycle management of your devices. Accelerate solution development with expanded IoT Hub and DPS Device SDK compatibility for smoother integration and faster time to value. Together, these enhancements help organizations to secure, govern, and manage their IoT deployments using familiar Azure-native tools and workflows. Why this matters: From Connected Devices to Connected Operations Operational excellence begins by bridging the gap between physical assets and digital intelligence. Consider a global logistics fleet where every vehicle is more than just a machine; it is a trusted, connected, and manageable digital entity in the cloud. As these assets move, they emit a continuous stream of telemetry - from engine vibrations to fuel consumption – directly to a unified data ecosystem, where AI agents can reason over it with greater context. Instead of waiting for a breakdown, these agents detect wear patterns, cross-reference with digital twins, and provide recommendations to reroute a vehicle for service before a failure occurs. This completes a shift from reactive troubleshooting to proactive physical operations. Yet, for many organizations, this transformation is often stalled by fragmented systems where security policies, device registries, and data streams exist in silos. Overcoming this requires a sophisticated stack designed to establish trust, manage device lifecycles, and orchestrate data flows at a global scale: The Digital Operations stack for cloud-connected devices This journey starts with having a secure foundation for fleet management. In an era where perimeter security is no longer enough, organizations need an identity foundation that is both hardware-rooted and deeply integrated with device provisioning. Utilizing robust X.509 certificate management, where keys and credentials are anchored in tamper-resistant hardware, provides high-assurance system integrity across millions of endpoints. Once trust is established, Azure Device Registry creates a unified management plane, where devices are represented as first-class Azure resources, enabling ARM-based fleet management, role-based access control for lifecycle operations, and Azure Policy for enforcement. Simultaneously, IoT Hub provides secure, bidirectional messaging for at-scale fleets. This high-fidelity data provides the essential fuel for Physical AI. By streaming trusted telemetry into Microsoft Fabric, organizations can break down data silos and allow AI agents to reason over real-world events in a centralized analytics environment. The Azure IoT stack provides the essential bridge for cloud-connected devices, enabling customers to transform their industrial environments into highly secure and intelligent ecosystems. For more information on Azure's approach to industrial AI, check out: Making Physical AI Practical for Real-World Industrial Operations. Azure IoT Hub + ADR (Preview): Expanding Fleet and Certificate Lifecycle Management The April 2026 Preview for Azure IoT Hub and Azure Device Registry (ADR) deliver key features to further standardize device identity and enable policy‑driven management for certificates at scale. You can think of device identity in Azure Device Registry like the birth record of a person. When someone is born, certain information becomes permanently associated with them - such as their date and place of birth. In the same way, a device’s identity represents its immutable existence within your solution - things like its serial number, model, or ownership context. However, as that person moves through life, they obtain different credentials that allow them to prove who they are in different situations - such as a driver’s license or passport. These credentials may expire, be renewed, or even replaced entirely over time without changing the person’s underlying identity. In IoT, devices use X.509 certificates as their credential to prove identity to services like IoT Hub. In your Azure Device Registry namespace, you can define the public key infrastructure (PKI) that manage your X.509 certificates and certificate authorities (CAs). In this preview, we are making it easier to integrate with existing security infrastructure and manage certificates at fleet scale. Certificate Management for Cloud-connected Devices in Azure Bring Your Own Certificate Authority (BYO CA) in Azure Device Registry Organizations that already operate sophisticated certificate authorities, with well‑established compliance controls, audit processes, and key custody requirements, want to integrate their trusted CA with the Azure Device Registry operating model. With BYO CA, customers can use their own private certificate authority while still benefiting from Azure’s fully managed device provisioning, and lifecycle management. Azure handles the heavy lifting of issuing, rotating, and revoking issuing certificate authorities (ICAs) and device certificates - while you stay in control of the top-most CA. Full Ownership of Trust and Keys: By bringing their own CA, organizations maintain absolute control over their private keys and security boundaries. Azure never takes custody of the external CA, ensuring existing governance, auditability, and compliance controls remain fully intact. Automated Lifecycle Management: While the CA remains customer-owned, Azure Device Registry automates the issuance, rotation, and revocation of device certificates. This eliminates the need for custom tooling or manual, per-device workflows that typically slow down deployments. Bring your own Certificate Authority in Azure Device Registry Fleet‑Wide Protection with Certificate Revocations Revocation is a mechanism for selective isolation, used to contain a single or group of devices by decommissioning a single device's certificates or the entire anchor of trust. When a single device is compromised, lost, or retired, device certificate revocation enables a precise, targeted response. This allows organizations to isolate individual devices instantly, reduce blast radius, and maintain uninterrupted operations for healthy devices - without rebuilding device identities. ADR propagates the revocation state to IoT Hub, blocking revoked devices until they’re re-provisioned. When a subset of devices requires isolation, policy revocation allows operators to decommission an entire trust anchor rather than managing individual devices. By mapping a specific Issuing CA to a single ADR policy, organizations gain a high-precision containment mechanism. In a single action, an operator can invalidate a compromised CA and then plan for a staged credential rollover across the entire segment. ADR automatically enforces this updated trust chain within IoT Hub, ensuring that only devices with newly issued certificates can connect. This makes large‑scale certificate rotation predictable, controlled, and operationally simple. Revoking the certificate for a single ADR Device on Azure Portal Flexible Options to renew Device Certificates Managing X.509 certificates at scale doesn’t stop once a device is onboarded. Operational certificates are short-lived by design, ensuring devices do not rely on long-lived credentials for authentication. In real-world IoT fleets, devices are often intermittently connected, deployed in hard-to-reach locations, and expected to run continuously - making certificate renewal one of the most operationally challenging parts of device security. Azure IoT Hub now enables device certificate renewal directly through IoT Hub, complementing the role of Device Provisioning Service (DPS). While DPS remains the solution for first-time device onboarding and certificate issuance, IoT Hub renewal is designed for the steady state - keeping already-connected devices securely authenticated over time without introducing downtime. IoT Hub certificate renewal follows similar patterns as other device-initiated operations such as twin updates and direct methods. With this capability, devices can request a new certificate as part of normal operation, using the same secure MQTT connection they already rely on. Support for IoT Hub and Device Provisioning Service (DPS) Device SDKs Managing credential issuance and renewals at scale is only possible if devices can handle their own credential lifecycles. We’ve added Certificate Signing Request (CSR) support to our C, C# (.NET), Java, Python, and Embedded device SDKs for IoT Hub and Device Provisioning Service (DPS). Beyond developer convenience, this provides multiple device-initiated paths for certificate renewal and trust-chain agility. Devices can generate CSRs and request newly signed X.509 certificates through IoT Hub or DPS as part of normal operation. This allows security teams to rotate and update certificates in the field without touching the hardware, keeping fleets secure as certificate authorities and policies evolve over time. Customer Feedback from Preview We’re grateful to the customers and partners who participated in the preview and shared valuable feedback along the way. Hear some of what our customers had to say: "The availability of a built-in certificate manager is a great upgrade in keeping the IoT space more secure."— Martijn Handels, CTO, Helin Data “Secure data is the starting line for industrial AI. With Azure certificate management, at CogitX we can ingest manufacturing signals safely and confidently - then use domain‑aware models to deliver real‑time insights and agentic workflows that improve throughput, quality, and responsiveness.” – Pradeep Parappil, CEO, CogitX Get Started Explore the new capabilities in preview today and start building the next generation of connected operations with Azure IoT Hub and Azure Device Registry: Get Started with Certificate Management in Preview.Advancing Firmware Security: Fleet Visibility and New Capabilities in Firmware Analysis
When we announced general availability of firmware analysis enabled by Azure Arc last October, our goal was clear: help organizations gain deep visibility into the security of the firmware that powers their IoT, OT, and network devices. Since then, adoption has continued to grow as customers use firmware analysis to uncover vulnerabilities, inventory software components, and secure their software supply chain. Leading into the Hannover Messe (HMI) 2026 conference, we’re excited to share the next wave of firmware analysis capabilities, delivering enhancements that help customers connect firmware risk to real-world fleet impact, prioritize vulnerabilities more effectively, scale to larger and more complex firmware images, and expand security analysis for UEFI-based platforms. These updates are driven directly by customer feedback and by the rapidly evolving threat landscape facing embedded and edge devices. Connecting Firmware Risk to Your Deployed Fleet with Azure Device Registry (Preview) Securing connected devices doesn’t stop at identifying vulnerabilities in firmware—it requires understanding where those vulnerabilities exist in your deployed fleet and which devices are affected. We’re excited to announce a new preview integration between firmware analysis enabled by Azure Arc and Azure Device Registry, bringing fleet-level visibility of IoT and OT devices directly into the firmware analysis experience. This helps customers quickly understand how many devices and assets are running a given firmware image, and which ones may be exposed to known security issues. From firmware insights to fleet impact Firmware analysis helps customers uncover security risks hidden deep inside the firmware running IoT, OT, and network devices—risks such as known CVEs, outdated open-source components, weak cryptography, and insecure configurations. Until now, these insights were primarily scoped to the firmware image itself. With this new preview integration, firmware analysis now connects directly to Azure Device Registry, allowing customers to: See how many devices from IoT Hub integration with ADR (preview) and assets from Azure IoT Operations are associated with a specific analyzed firmware image Understand the real-world blast radius of vulnerabilities discovered in firmware Quickly identify which devices may require patching, mitigation, or isolation This preview bridges an important gap between security analysis and operational decision-making. What’s included in this preview With this release, we’re introducing new fleet-level context directly into the firmware analysis experience: A new Devices + Assets count column in the firmware analysis workspace showing how many Azure Device Registry devices and assets are running each analyzed firmware image A click-through experience that lets users view the list of affected devices and assets in Azure Device Registry Visibility spanning both: Devices connected via IoT Hub Assets managed through Azure IoT Operations This information is derived by correlating firmware metadata with device and asset inventory in Azure Device Registry, giving customers immediate insight into deployment exposure. Key use cases Identify vulnerable devices at scale: When critical CVEs are discovered in a firmware image, customers can immediately see how many deployed devices are impacted—without manually correlating spreadsheets, tools, or inventories. Prioritize remediation actions: With fleet visibility, teams can decide whether to patch devices, temporarily isolate affected devices from the network, or disable devices that pose unacceptable risk. Bridge security and operations teams: Security teams gain clear insight into where vulnerabilities exist, while operations teams can quickly act on specific devices and assets—all within the Azure portal. This integration is especially valuable in environments where downtime, safety, or regulatory compliance matter—such as manufacturing, energy, telecommunications, and critical infrastructure. Prioritizing Vulnerabilities with Enhanced CVE Metadata (Preview) The number of publicly disclosed vulnerabilities continues to rise year over year, making it increasingly difficult for security teams to determine which CVEs truly require urgent action. Simply knowing that a vulnerability exists is no longer enough—teams need context to prioritize remediation efforts. With this release, firmware analysis now provides richer metadata for each discovered CVE, helping customers focus on vulnerabilities that pose the greatest real-world risk. New CVE metadata includes: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) status – Indicates whether a CVE is listed in the CISA KEV catalog, signaling that the vulnerability is actively exploited in the wild. EPSS score (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) – A data-driven probability score that estimates the likelihood of a vulnerability being exploited in the next 30 days, complementing traditional severity metrics by focusing on exploitation likelihood rather than impact alone. Additional vulnerability context, including CVSS vectors and base scores, CWE classifications, and expanded metadata to support filtering and analysis. Together, these enhancements make it easier to triage findings, align remediation with risk, and communicate priorities across security, engineering, and product teams. Faster Performance for Large and Complex Firmware Images As firmware analysis adoption has grown, we’ve seen customers analyze increasingly large and complex firmware images—particularly in domains like networking equipment, where a single image can generate thousands of findings. To support these scenarios, we’ve made architectural enhancements to the service that significantly improve performance when working with large result sets. Key improvements include: Up to 90% reduction in load times of analysis results, especially for firmware images producing 10,000+ findings More responsive filtering and exploration of results These changes ensure that firmware analysis remains fast and usable at scale, even for complex network and infrastructure firmware images. Expanding UEFI Firmware Analysis (Preview) Modern devices increasingly rely on UEFI firmware as a foundational security boundary. In this release, we’re expanding our UEFI analysis capabilities to provide deeper visibility into UEFI executables and components. New UEFI-focused capabilities include: Detection of OpenSSL libraries and related CVEs within UEFI firmware Binary hardening analysis for UEFI executables, including detection of proper configuration of Data Execution Prevention (DEP) memory protection Continued support for discovering cryptographic material in UEFI images, including embedded certificates and keys This preview allows customers to evaluate the new capabilities, provide feedback, and help shape future enhancements in this area. Note: UEFI SBOM and binary analysis features are currently in preview and intended for evaluation and feedback. Bulk Export of Analysis Results for Supply Chain Collaboration We also recently released a highly requested feature that makes it easier to share firmware analysis results with partners and suppliers. Customers can now: Bulk download analysis results across one or more firmware images Export results as CSV files packaged into a ZIP archive This capability simplifies workflows such as sharing findings with device manufacturers or firmware suppliers, integrating results into downstream analysis or reporting pipelines, and supporting software supply chain security and compliance processes. Looking Ahead We’re excited about the progress we’ve made with this release and what it means for customers securing IoT, OT, and network devices. From connecting firmware risk to fleet-level impact with Azure Device Registry, to richer vulnerability prioritization, improved scalability, and deeper UEFI analysis—these enhancements reinforce firmware analysis as a critical tool for addressing some of the most challenging blind spots in modern infrastructure security. Firmware security is foundational to trustworthy systems—especially as edge devices continue to play a central role in industrial operations, networking, and data collection. If you’re already using firmware analysis and Azure Device Registry, the ADR integration preview will appear directly within the firmware analysis experience as it rolls out. We look forward to your feedback as we continue building secure, observable, and manageable digital operations with Azure. As always, we value your feedback, so please let us know what you think.
Azure IoT Hub with ADR (preview): Extending Azure capabilities and certificate management to IoT
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 documentationBridging the Digital and Physical Worlds with Azure IoT Hub and Azure IoT Operations
Operational excellence starts with people. Empowering those people with the most up to date insights and recommendations requires bridging the gap between the physical and digital worlds to generate the best possible outcomes for real time decision making. Creating this bridge transforms data into insights, insights into intelligent actions, and actions into real-world results. Digital Operations, integrated with AI insights, help make this possible by combining data from connected assets across a variety of physical locations and deployment topologies, and transforming that data into insights and decisions that scale using AI and Analytics. At Microsoft Ignite, we’re extending this vision with new Azure IoT Hub and Azure IoT Operations capabilities to manage connected assets at scale, unify digital operations, and realize AI-enabled outcomes across your enterprise. Connected Operations in Action Azure IoT Hub and Azure IoT Operations form the backbone of connected operations, where every asset, sensor, and system contributes to a continuous loop of intelligence by moving data to Microsoft Fabric for real-time analytics, and for use with AI agents. This pattern applies to nearly every sector of the economy. In manufacturing, these capabilities allow production engineers to predict and avoid equipment failures by analyzing vibration and temperature data at the edge before costly downtime occurs. In energy and utilities, distributed sensors can provide data to control points that help balance load, optimize grid efficiency, and ensure safe operations even in remote areas. In transportation and logistics, connected fleets use edge AI models to detect safety risks in real time, while cloud-based analytics optimize routing and fuel efficiency across entire regions. Across industries, this edge-to-cloud collaboration enables the ability for intelligent systems to sense, reason, and act in the physical world with speed, safety, and precision. From Data to Intelligent Action Organizations today must capture and act on data from both geographically dispersed and tightly collocated assets. That data needs to be processed close to where it’s generated, at the edge, to enable real-time decision-making, reduce latency, and enhance security. At the same time, the cloud remains vital for contextualizing operational data with enterprise systems, training AI models, and managing a consistent identity and security framework across all assets. AI models trained in the cloud can then be deployed back to the edge, where they act on events in real time. Operators can work with AI agents to reason over this data whether it’s structured or unstructured, organized in silos, or contained in free-text fields, to provide results to a mixed team of human and AI operational assets. We have a portfolio of products uniquely designed to make this continuum, from edge to cloud, more intelligent, secure, and repeatable. Together with our partners, we help bridge Operational Technology (OT) with Information Technology (IT) to deliver better business outcomes. New at Ignite: Accelerating Digital Operations We’re excited to share our latest set of investments at Ignite across our portfolio of services. A few key announcements: Azure IoT Hub New Features (Preview): Simplifying Secure Connectivity at Scale 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. 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. The next generation of Azure IoT Hub investments makes it easier and more secure than ever to connect and manage distributed assets. At Ignite, we’re previewing: New certificate management capabilities that simplify device onboarding and lifecycle management. Integration with Azure Device Registry (ADR) that brings all devices into a common control plane, enabling unified identity, security, and policy management. ADR enhancements that make it easier to register, classify, and monitor assets, paving the way for consistent governance and operational insight across millions of devices. This deeper Azure integration with ADR standardizes operations, simplifies oversight of edge portfolios including IoT devices, and brings the full power of Azure’s management ecosystem to IoT and Digital Operations workloads. Azure IoT Operations New Features (GA): The Foundation for AI in the Physical World Azure IoT Operations is more than an edge-to-cloud data plane, it’s the foundation for achieving AI in the physical world, enabling intelligent operational systems that can perceive, reason, and act to drive new operational efficiencies. Built on Arc-enabled Kubernetes, Azure IoT Operations unifies operational and business data across distributed environments, eliminating silos and providing a repeatable, scalable foundation for autonomous, adaptive operations. By extending familiar Azure management concepts to physical sites, Azure IoT Operations creates an AI-ready infrastructure that supports autonomous, adaptive operations at scale. Our latest GA release of Azure IoT Operations introduced major enhancements: Wasm-powered data graphs deliver fast, modular analytics helping businesses make near real-time decisions at the edge. Expanded connectors now include OPC UA, ONVIF, REST/HTTP, Server-Sent Events (SSE), and direct MQTT for richer industrial and IT integrations. OpenTelemetry (OTel) endpoint support enables seamless telemetry pipelines and observability. Asset health monitoring to provide unprecedented visibility and control. These capabilities help bridge Information Technology, Operational Technology, and data domains, empowering customers to discover, collect, process, and send data using open standards while laying the groundwork for self-optimizing environments where AI agents and human supervisors collaborate seamlessly. Integration with Fabric IQ and Digital Twin Builder To fully unlock the value of connected data, organizations need to contextualize it, linking operational signals to business meaning. Fabric IQ, a new offering announced at Ignite, and Digital Twin Builder in Fabric make this possible, transforming raw telemetry into AI-ready context. This integration allows companies to model complex systems, run simulations, and create intelligent feedback loops across manufacturing, logistics, and energy environments. Edge AI: Real-Time Intelligence in the Physical World Azure’s AI capabilities for edge environments bring intelligence closer to where it matters most. And, because these services are Arc-enabled, organizations can develop, manage and scale AI workloads across diverse environments using consistent tooling. Today, we are announcing updates to two of our key services that enable AI at the edge: Live Video Analysis features (Public Preview) in Azure AI Video Indexer enabled by Arc: delivers real-time agentic video intelligence to improve safety, quality, and operations. Edge RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) Public Preview Refresh enables local generative AI reasoning with contextual awareness - empowering AI agents to act within industrial constraints securely and efficiently. These innovations accelerate time to insight and help organizations deploy AI where milliseconds matter. Partner Innovation: Scaling Real Business Value Last year, we showcased the breadth of Azure IoT Operations’ industrial ecosystem. This year, we’re celebrating how partners are integrating, co-innovating, and scaling real customer outcomes. Our partners are packaging repeatable, scalable solutions that connect operational data to enterprise systems—enabling AI-driven insights and automation across sites, regions, and industries. At this year’s Ignite, we’re highlighting some great new partner innovations: NVIDIA is working with Microsoft to enable factory digital twins using the OpenUSD standard Siemens is enabling adaptive production through AI- and digital-twin-powered solutions supported by the integration of Siemens Industrial Edge with Azure IoT Operations Litmus Edge integrates with Azure IoT Operations via the Akri framework to automatically discover industrial devices, enable secure data flows, and support Arc-enabled deployment. Rockwell Automation is streamlining edge-to-cloud integration with its FactoryTalk Optix platform by delivering contextualized, AI-ready data seamlessly within Microsoft Azure IoT Operations architectures. Sight Machine is driving advanced analytics for quality and efficiency across multi-site operations. Through initiatives like Akri, Co-Innovate, and Co-Sell Readiness, our ecosystem is developing managed applications, packaged solutions, and marketplace offerings that accelerate deployment and unlock new revenue streams. These collaborations show how Azure IoT Operations is not just a platform, but a growth engine for industrial transformation. The Path Forward With these advancements, we’re helping organizations bring AI to the physical world by turning data into intelligence and intelligence into action. Customers like Chevron and Husqvarna are scaling beyond initial pilots, expanding their deployments from single-site to multi-site rollouts, unlocking new use cases from predictive maintenance to worker safety, and proving how adaptive cloud architectures deliver measurable impact across global operations. By connecting assets, empowering partners, and delivering open, scalable platform solutions, Microsoft is helping industries achieve resilient, adaptive operations that drive measurable business value. The digital and physical worlds are coming together with solutions that are secure, observable, AI-ready, and built to scale from a single site to global operations. Together, we’re creating a smarter, more connected future. Learn More Learn more about Azure IoT Hub and Azure IoT Operations here: Azure IoT – Internet of Things Platform | Microsoft Azure Learn more about new IoT Hub public preview features here: Azure IoT Hub documentation Discover Partner Solutions: Learn how Litmus and Sight Machine are advancing industrial analytics and integration with Azure IoT Operations. Explore Rockwell Automation and Siemens for more on adaptive cloud architectures and shop floor intelligence. Going to Ignite? If you’re at Ignite this week, you can learn more about how Microsoft enables Industrial Transformation at the following sessions: The New Industrial Frontier Reshaping Digital Operations with AI from Cloud and Edge Or come visit us on the show floor at the Azure Arc Expert Meet Up Focus Area in the Cloud and AI Platforms neighborhood
