Microsoft Corp. today announced the public preview of a new service that’s designed to help enterprises easily build large-scale “internet of things” systems.

The software giant said Microsoft IoT Central, which is powered by its Azure cloud, is a software-as-a-service offering that’s meant to connect physical internet of things devices to “back-end services” such as asset utilization, customer engagement, energy management and predictive maintenance. With the service, customers can gain insights into their devices through analytics services in order to make proactive decisions regarding them.

Microsoft already offers another Azure-powered internet of things service, called the Azure IoT Suite. That has been up and running since 2015, but Sam George, director of Azure IoT at Microsoft, said in a blog post that although it provides more flexibility, it comes at the cost of significantly more customization. As a result, some customers have spent up to a year to get proofs-of-concept up and running, whereas the new IoT Central service can reduce setup times to as little as five minutes.

IoT Central employs what’s called a “low-code” approach that involves minimal software coding to get rid of the initial setup complexities inherent with the older service.

“Microsoft IoT Central allows companies worldwide to build production-grade IoT applications in hours—without having to manage all the necessary back-end infrastructure or learn new skills,” George wrote. “In short, Microsoft IoT Central enables everyone to benefit from IoT.”

IoT Central also boasts a solid security infrastructure, with privacy features such as role-based access and Azure Active Directory permissions. The service can also integrated with business software such as Microsoft Dynamics, SAP and Salesforce, George said.

IoT Central, which was announced in April, is available in preview now, with general availability scheduled for sometime next year.

Image: Microsoft