Over the years, we’ve launched several WiFi and cellular solutions in the market and witnessed how WiFi and cellular connectivity could be applied to bring machines, equipment and assets online. While they remain the two most ubiquitous connectivity technologies for IoT applications, cellular has emerged as the default choice for most enterprise use cases and deployments.
There are many reasons for this:
- Wi-Fi devices have to be connected manually to the network by the user compared to cellular connectivity which “just works”
- Cellular coverage is simply more reliable for deployments in the field
- Device and network security still remain a sticking point for WiFi-connected products
WiFi has its own sweet spot within enterprise IoT: at Particle, we’ve seen many enterprises successfully going to market with low-power, WiFi-connected products. Aura Air, for example, is a start-up that provides air purification solutions to reduce the presence of coronavirus through its sterilization process for indoor spaces. They’ve built their air purification solution using the Particle Platform – leveraging our P1 WiFi module – and have quickly scaled their operations worldwide with notable customers including Coca-Cola, Hilton, and Greystar.
When we sat down with our WiFi customers, we found security particularly prohibitive for mass market deployments: WiFi-connected products are commonly deployed today with little security protection at the device and firmware level, making them susceptible to security vulnerabilities. This becomes all the more concerning, considering the evolving and escalating landscape of IoT cyber-attacks and threats.
When barriers remain, our work is not done. Today, we’re excited to launch our next-generation embedded WiFi module, P2, powered by the Particle Platform.
Designed with enterprise-grade capabilities for mass production
As the successor to the P1, we are confident that the P2 will expand deployment of IoT devices to new enterprise markets with unprecedented Wi-Fi network performance and reliability, built-in security advancements, and supply secure guaranteed availability. Specifically, enterprise customers can benefit from:
- Expanded RF capabilities and unparalleled performance with dual-band WiFi connectivity 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz/5GHz) and low-power Bluetooth support
- Best-in-class device and network security with OTP for key management, secure boot, crypto accelerator, encrypted flash memory, ARM Trustzone support along with Particle’s maintained embedded operating system accounting for encrypted device communication and regular security patches and upgrades
- Powerful processing utilizing the latest ARM Cortex M23 CPU, 200 MHz technology
- Ultra-low power consumption with features like sleep and hibernate modes enabling long-term battery-powered applications
- Supply Security and uninterrupted deployments with the P2 being built with only Supply Secure components and serving as the drop-in replacement for the P1 (API-compatible and footprint-compatible)
- Faster time to market with pre-certifications (FCC, IC, CE) and out-of-the-box development and deployment tools
Get Started Now
You can place orders for the P2 here or talk to our experts who can help you get your connected WiFi product to market here.
We are also making our Device OS 5 Developer Preview branch available starting today – P1 users can begin migrating their code and testing on the new P2 WiFi module now. Over time, we plan on introducing more features into Particle’s Device OS 5 that will help you get to market faster and develop powerful applications. Stay tuned!