In this next section, we'll describe the Amazon Internet of Things Service and talk about how and why we should use it. What is the Amazon Internet of Things Service? By definition, AWS IoT is a managed cloud platform that lets connected devices easily and securely interact with cloud applications and other devices. AWS IoT can support billions of devices and trillions of messages and can process and route those messages to AWS endpoints and to other devices reliably and securely. So, what does that mean? Let's take a closer look at the Amazon IoT Service.

As mentioned, the Internet of Things is growing, but how are we using it today? Smart buildings regulate energy consumption based on data collected by sensors. People are using wearables to track fitness and stay connected. Cars can report faults or usage data. We have all kinds of smart devices for the home: from appliances, to lighting, to thermostats, and even digital personal assistants like the Amazon Echo. Sensors are used in agriculture for monitoring equipment and even reporting on how much a farm is producing. And who knows what the future may bring? The possibilities are endless.

There are many challenges for developers creating things for the cloud. Writing code that will work on a multitude of platforms, scaling from an implementation of just a few devices to thousands or millions requires supporting infrastructure. Security is crucial when devices are connected to the internet and can act on the physical world. Great caution must be used in granting permissions to people and controlling the scope of what the physical devices can do. Also, there is the managing, monitoring, and updating of devices. And finally, there is the valuable data that your devices are collecting. It needs to be analyzed and acted upon. As a managed service, Amazon IoT helps solve these challenges and helps developers focus on building applications and delivering more features and allows companies to focus on building things without being concerned about the underlying infrastructure.

Now let's go over some of the highlights of the Amazon IoT Managed Service. Like most of the Amazon services, this is a pay-per-use model where you pay per message published and per message sent. It supports a wide variety of platforms. You can connect securely and manage devices using various networks and protocols. Developers can use rules to extract and filter data from devices and use custom rules to act upon the data. You can use SDK kits to create applications to consistently interact with your devices at any time even if the devices are only connected intermittently.