Microsoft is ramping up its internet of things play, forming ‘strategic relationships' with nine Australia partners to drive IoT adoption.

The vendor has partnered with BizData, CDM, Empired, Ignia, Mexia, Oakton, MOQDigital, Ramp and Readify and says it will be investing in the partners to ensure success in the rapidly growing IoT market.

All nine partners are already working in the IoT space including smart buildings, remote monitoring and predictive analytics, with clients in vertical markets including manufacturing, retail, health and defence.

Microsoft Australia says it will be offering technical and sales courses to ensure the partners are leveraged through the end-to-end process of the sales cycle.

Microsoft will also initiate a connected partner specialist community to allow access to Microsoft specialist teams and Innovation Centres to assist with the development of partner business models to grow their IoT offerings.

Lee Hickin, Microsoft Australia IoT business group lead, says the unveiling of strategic IoT partners ‘marks a pivotal moment in innovation'.

“Microsoft's IoT partners were selected because they had shown at an early stage that they understood the depth of the transformation that is being wrought by the acceleration of IoT, and by the level of engagement they have in providing IoT solutions for clients,” Hickin says.

He says the partners involved are able to make the business adjustments necessary to take advantage of the shift in enterprise requirements and industrial IoT and through their understanding of Microsoft are able to ‘identify, initiate and manage innovation to ensure that it is deployed through solutions built for scale and agility down the track'.

“For our part, Microsoft is making a heavy investment in the partners to ensure success in the rapidly growing IoT market, which is in addition to our recently announced launch of Azure IoT Suite, which enables rapid scalability through preconfigured solutions and delivery through the Microsoft partner network,” Hickin says.

“The partners are already delivering real IoT projects with clients which are delivering on an end-to-end solution.

“Some have hired data scientists to work on big data analytics while others have purchased device companies to bring connectivity of devices into the business offering,” he says.

“But mostly they have had the forethought to understand that the trajectory of IoT solutions is up, it's here to stay and it's changing the world as we know it.

Says Hickin: “It's a moment in history that's worth acknowledging.