»The Internet of Things is not a concept; it is a network, the true technology-enabled network of all networks.« – Edewede Oriwoh
It’s hard to think of anything more vague than the term Internet of Things. It can mean anything from concrete trends, pieces of tech to a network of physical devices, home appliances, vehicles, and other items, embedded with software, sensors and network connectivity - which enable these objects to connect and exchange data. The Internet of Things promises a complete new era of network monitoring, where the number of things that are connected to the network and the amount of data they generate will grow exponentially.
We are convinced that IoT will have a huge impact on the way we experience IT - and the way you’ll need to monitor your IT infrastructure. This is the first part of our IoT series, which looks at how we can make use of PRTG Network Monitor in different aspects of our lives.
Let's talk about how you might use an intersection to connect PRTG to all of your ‘Things’: Ledunia – a ESP8266 development board, including a full TCP/IP stack, which you can use for rapid prototyping of any IoT application. In the last two years, the market exploded with the availability of a variety of dev boards. You can choose from microcontroller-based boards, System on Chip (SOC) boards, Single-board Computers (SBC) and purpose-built boards with support for Smart Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
We believe that Ledunia is the best solution out there; and here’s why:
Ledunia is based on the proven ESP8266 microchip technology, but with a twist. The chip is just the beginning: we’ve added pin headers, memory, neopixel LEDs and a standard USB plug, so it’s easy to take Ledunia with you, wherever you go. It is comparable to the Arduino platform and fully compatible with the Arduino IDE, so you can take advantage of existing Arduino tools, sketches and projects as the basis for your new ideas.
However, Ledunia is not just another nodeMCU clone. It executes much faster than Arduino and has many more features and resources on board, giving you a wider range of development possibilities. It also speaks, MicroPython, Lua, JavaScript, Java and Java Processing and Basic - plus has Wi-Fi on board to provide 1-wire resources, GPIO, PWM, ADC, i2c, SPI and more. There are a number of fast, easy and flexible ways to implement Ledunia – see the setup page for some ideas. Ledunia was designed as a development board for rapid prototyping; that’s why it uses a USB plug rather than a micro USB port. You can connect directly to your PC or Mac without having to use a separate cable. The USB plug is covered by Microsoft's digital signature authentication and you don’t need an external programmer like an FTDI - it’s already onboard!
Ledunia was developed by Christian Zeh, a Paessler colleague, and is the result of Paessler's innovation culture. We are very proud of the positive feedback received so far. Kickstarter shared their Ledunia success story and we’re always on the lookout for more.
How would you use Ledunia?
If you already use Ledunia, or have some ideas for how you might use it at home, or at work, tell us. Leave us a comment below this article or on Facebook. We’re giving away numerous Ledunia boards for your creativity! Don’t feel too creative, but would still like to get your hands on Ledunia? You can buy it on Amazon!
And if you don’t use PRTG yet, but want to see what happens when you upload your Ledunia data into it, then take a look at our PRTG freeware.