The XiO Cloud® service is an IoT (Internet of Things) based platform for remotely provisioning, monitoring, and managing Crestron® devices across an enterprise or an entire client base. Built on the Microsoft® Azure® software platform and utilizing Microsoft's industry‑leading Azure IoT Hub technology, XiO Cloud enables installers and IT managers to deploy and manage thousands of devices in the time it previously took to manage just one. Unlike other virtual machine‑based cloud solutions, Azure services provide unlimited scalability to suit the ever‑growing needs of an enterprise.
XiO Cloud supports a direct device-to-cloud connection via the Azure IoT Hub without requiring any additional hardware. The service allows for direct integration with Crestron's global manufacturing and logistics network, allowing devices to be configured before they are shipped to the installation site.
Where other cloud management solutions are focused on a narrow set of devices and functions, XiO Cloud brings the efficiency of cloud management to dozens of device models—ranging from configured UC solutions to custom‑programmed control systems—all in a single interface. Support for new devices is made available via firmware updates. For a list of devices that are currently supported by the service, refer to the "Supported Devices" section.
Licensing
The room-based licensing model is similar to a traditional hardware purchase model: purchase a specified number of room licenses, and the XiO Cloud service will run the number of rooms purchased. All room-based licenses are billed monthly.
- To start with room-based licensing, purchase one SW‑XIOC‑EM Endpoint Management license for each room in the account. The Endpoint Management license provides management and configuration functionality for all devices in a single room, including configuring supported third-party devices within the XiO Cloud environment.
- Additional licenses can be purchased to enable extra licensed functionality for the account:
- The SW‑XIOC‑S Support license provides support and monitoring functionality for all devices in a single room, including supported third‑party device monitoring within the XiO Cloud environment
- The SW‑XIOC‑API REST API license provides access to the XiO Cloud REST API for rooms within an account. A REST API license must be purchased for each room in the account to use this functionality.
- All purchased room-based licenses are added to a customer's license pool and can be added to, removed from, or transferred between rooms directly from the configuration user interface.
Third-Party Device Integration
XiO Cloud provides three different methods for configuring and monitoring supported third‑party devices within the service:
- Supported third-party devices that use the Crestron Connected® communications protocol can be claimed to the XiO Cloud service directly without requiring a Crestron control processor.
- Supported third-party devices within Crestron-integrated rooms can be monitored using the Crestron Drivers framework, including projectors and displays, cable and satellite boxes, streaming media players, Blu‑ray Disc® players, video conferencing devices, and others. A 3‑Series®, 4‑Series™, or Crestron Virtual Control (VC‑4) control system can function as the gateway, requiring only that third-party devices are added to a user program running on the control processor. After claiming the control processor to the XiO Cloud service, the devices will appear automatically and need only to be claimed to a licensed room to start monitoring.
- Supported third-party devices external to a Crestron system can be monitored using the standalone Crestron XiO Cloud Gateway software. Crestron XiO Cloud Gateway software provides the following monitoring capabilities:
- Monitor Ethernet devices over Ping
- Monitor Ethernet service availability over TCP port monitoring
- Monitor switcher devices, digital signal processors, and power controllers over SNMP
- Monitor all devices over an Ethernet API using the Crestron Drivers framework
- Power on and power off commands can be executed for all third-party devices that support this functionality.
