Amazon is throwing its hat into the IoT ring with a new service for developers through its Amazon Web Services division. The beta service, named AWS IoT, was introduced during the company’s annual AWS conference in Las Vegas. It is designed for developers looking to link Internet-connected devices — from smoke alarms and other household appliances to smartwatches and fitness trackers — with other hardware devices and applications housed on remote servers. The idea is that devices would communicate with each other and take commands from computers.

“Everything that used to be hardware is now software,” said Amazon CTO Werner Vogels, suggesting that AWS could provide IoT services for everything from connected toothbrushes to helmet sensors. The company aims to become the central hub for others’ cloud computing needs.

According to The Wall Street Journal, “Amazon will charge companies a fee of $5 to $8 for every million messages sent to devices using the new service.”

While tech companies including IBM, Microsoft and Salesforce have been developing similar IoT cloud services, adoption has been slow, due largely to privacy concerns and “challenges in corralling all of the data IoT systems can produce,” notes WSJ.

One IoT vision involves “a fully connected home where wirelessly opening a door lock could prompt lights, air-conditioning or coffee pots to turn on,” explains WSJ. Amazon is already heading in that direction with its Echo smart speaker that features voice assistant Alexa, and the company’s new Wi-Fi-enabled Dash buttons that can be positioned throughout the house to assist with reordering supplies when necessary.

“AWS IoT makes it easy to use AWS services like AWS Lambda, Amazon Kinesis, Amazon S3, Amazon Machine Learning, and Amazon DynamoDB,” claims Amazon, “to build IoT applications that gather, process, analyze and act on data generated by connected devices, without having to manage any infrastructure.”

For details regarding Amazon’s plans for connecting and managing devices, as well as securing and analyzing data, visit the AWS IoT site.

Related:
AWS Launches Amazon IoT, a Cloud Service for Internet of Things Data, VentureBeat, 10/8/15
Amazon Jumps into Internet of Things Frenzy with New Cloud Platform for Devices Like Cars, Forbes, 10/8/15
Amazon Launches AWS IoT — a Platform for Building, Managing and Analyzing the Internet of Things, TechCrunch, 10/8/15