In new partnership with Canonical, Microsoft and Amazon will publish their Internet of Things APIs on Ubuntu Core
Canonical partners with Amazon, Microsoft, and others on Internet of Things — Summary:Ubuntu Linux aims to become the glue that holds the Internet of Things together with its new partnerships.
Context & Ripple Effects
This deal slots into a busy stretch for Canonical: months earlier it landed IBM's LinuxONE mainframes running Ubuntu, giving the distro an enterprise credibility boost beyond servers. Now Canonical is pushing the same play downstream into devices — if Microsoft and Amazon publish their IoT interfaces on Ubuntu Core, the OS becomes the neutral substrate both clouds write against.
The timing matters because both partners were mid-build-out of their own IoT stacks: Microsoft had just signed its IoT alliance with Jasper, and Amazon would follow within the year by launching its own AWS IoT cloud platform in beta. Publishing APIs through Ubuntu Core means each cloud is betting device makers will adopt a shared Linux base rather than proprietary firmware.
First-order effects
- Device manufacturers gain one OS image that carries both Azure and AWS connectivity, cutting the per-vendor porting work that fragmented embedded Linux previously demanded.
- Canonical converts Ubuntu Core from an experiment into the reference integration point for the two largest US cloud vendors' IoT toolchains, with
Second-order effects
- With their APIs riding a common OS, Azure and AWS shift competition from device support breadth to cloud-side services — the race Microsoft continues with IoT Central and edge partnerships like Cisco's.
- Rivals without an Ubuntu Core presence face a de facto standard forming around them, pressuring them toward the industry-wide standards route that produced the Open Connectivity Foundation.
Third-order effects
- If clouds keep publishing through a shared Linux substrate rather than locking devices to their own firmware, the durable moat moves up-stack from device control to cloud services — interoperability at the bottom, differentiation at the top.
- A common device OS also lowers the barrier to the cross-industry standards bodies and edge-integration deals that defined IoT's next phase, making vendor-neutral plumbing the expected baseline.
The trend: Cloud providers are converging on a shared open-source OS layer for connected devices, moving IoT competition away from device lock-in and toward cloud services.