Basic Concepts and Terms

Here are some of the main concepts and terms of the Axonize system:

• Application
• Tenant
• Sub-tenant
• Master Application
• Product
• Device
• Event/Reading
• Alarm
• Dashboard

Application

An Application is a project managed on the Axonize platform. Each Application that you create can be used as a standalone portal for monitoring and controlling your IoT Devices.

You can create as many Applications as needed, which can also belong to multiple users. Each Device belongs to a specific Application. Each Application can have a separate login page and its own tailored settings, such as language, custom design and more.

For example, smart building, smart retail, smart warehouse, smart parking, smart lighting, air quality and so on.

Axonize provides a variety of default, ready-made Applications that you can use as a basis for creating your own Applications. In addition, Axonize provides a wide variety of configuration options for customizing this Application, and any other Application that you create.

Each user is uniquely identified by their email address. A user with the same email can belong to multiple Applications and is considered a different user for each, meaning that this user has his/her own password, Client ID/Client Secret, mobile phone number and so on. The information shown in the Axonize Portal relates to this user/email address as two different users.

Product

A Product is a type of Device, such as a type of elevator, car, lock, heat sensor and so on. In Axonize, a Product enables the grouping of Devices according to their type.

Each Product defines the properties that are assigned to each Device with the same Product type. For example, all the properties of the same type of heat sensor model.

Each Product belongs to a specific Tenant, Sub-tenant or Application.

Device

A Device is a connected external entity from which events are received. A Device is a specific instance of a Product, such as a specific elevator, car, lock, sensor with its own serial number , etc. It can even be a person.

Each Device belongs to a specific Tenant, Sub-tenant or Application.

Two types of Devices are supported:

• Real Devices – These are real-world entities that send events to the Axonize Server. There are two types of real devices.
• Physical IoT Devices – on which the Axonize Device SDK can be installed, such as an HVAC, lighting, proximity sensor, thermometer, pressure gauge, lock and so on. Events are sent by these Devices to the Axonize Server using the Axonize Device SDK installed on the Device.
• Other Devices- represent every other kind of entity that might send events to the Axonize system, meaning each type of entity on which the Axonize Device SDK cannot be installed. For example, all non-IoT devices; a person, another computer system, a device without an Internet connection and so on. These entities can send the events to the Axonize Server in their own format. Axonize then converts them to the proprietary Axonize data format.
• Virtual Devices – These fake entities generate and periodically send predefined random events from inside the Axonize Server for application testing and/or demo purposes only.

Event/Reading

An Event/Reading is data received by the Axonize Server from a Device. A reading consists of the reading name, reading type, reading value and reading timestamp. For example, a reading from a scale, the temperature from an air-conditioning system, the action of turning on a light, the periodic status of a light (open or closed) and so on.

Alarm

An ‘AlarmInstance’ is a notification that appears after a rule criterion has been met. An ‘AlarmInstance’ is triggered by logical conditions applied to the events/readings of Devices. Alarms are characterized by their severity (major, minor, critical or warning) and timestamp.

Dashboard

A Dashboard is an at-a-glance customized view that you can create to enable the monitoring and operation of your Devices. You can create multiple Dashboards and select and configure the widgets that each contains.

Tenant

A Tenant is a representation of an organization. It is an instance of Axonize’s services, and infrastructure that an organization receives when the organization creates a relationship with Axonize.

Each Tenant has its own domain:

• A Tenant may create multiple Applications and multiple Sub-tenants.
• The Applications of a Tenant (and Sub-tenant) can share various settings (such as language, cultural settings, phone prefixes and so on). Configuring a Tenant can affect all the Applications belonging to this Tenant, and all the Applications belonging to all of its Sub-tenants.
• Each Tenant has a single Master Application.
• A Tenant can create an Application. An Application can belong to one or more Users. The Users of a Tenant’s Applications are assigned to the Tenant. Users are not assigned directly to Tenants.

Sub-tenant

A Sub-tenant is a single instance of the Axonize software that serves one customer account:

• A Sub-tenant belongs to a single Tenant.
• A Sub-tenant may create multiple Applications and multiple sub-tenants.
• Some settings may be applied to a Sub-tenant in order to affect all the Applications belonging to this Sub-tenant.

Master Application

A Master Application is the Application that enables the management of all/any of the Applications within a Tenant, and all of its Sub-tenants. Each Tenant has a single Master Application. A Master Application does not have a parent Application.