AI appliances and improved connectivity for IoT on March 2, 2021, 11:43 The big picture: If ever there was a technology that failed to live up to its initial hype, the Internet of Things (IoT) would have to be it. After more than a decade of unfulfilled pledges that promised how companies, cities and institutions were going to connect office lighting systems, 30-year-old manufacturing equipment, parking spaces and, well, everything to the Internet, there’s not much to show for the collective efforts. If there's a real chance of changing the current state of IoT, Microsoft debuted an impressive host of IoT-related technologies at this year’s Ignite conference that show what's the path forward, including a family of Arm-powered intelligent sensor appliances. In addition, the company announced the general availability a number of critical, but previously overlooked capabilities that arguably forced them to move a few steps backward before they could move everything forward.