There are many available platforms that developers can download and use. They vary greatly in functionality and development support. To get an idea of available platforms for IoT and M2M, you can go to http://postscapes.com/internet-of-things-platforms and review the registered platforms. You can then go to their corresponding web pages to learn more about what each platform can do.
Unfortunately, there's neither a way to easily compare platforms nor a comprehensive way to classify their features. In this chapter, we will use the Clayster IoT platform. It will help us with a lot of important tasks, which you will see in this chapter and the next. This will enable you to better assess what IoT platform to use and what to expect when you select one for your IoT projects.