Leading-edge cellular IoT devices, powered by the Particle platform-as-as-service: Now available

Develop and commercialize connected cellular products faster with Particle's B SoM hardware.

The Particle Team article author avatarThe Particle TeamSeptember 27, 2022

Building custom IoT products come with a set of unique challenges that are unique to every company. Learning how to solve business and customer problems through IoT products is hard enough, but taking on the task of designing and managing cellular-connected products from scratch is enormously tricky and resource-intensive. 

Frustrating but integral processes like carrier relationships, certifications, connectivity management, hardware redesigns, future-proofing, and integrations across the stack slow development and kill projects. In fact, 75% of IoT projects fail because of these blockers.

All IoT Platforms Are Not Equal

An IoT vendor that manages these processes can simplify an otherwise complex and long journey, and of course, many IoT platforms have risen in the past decade to meet this need. These vendors allow builders to focus on their products and applications, rather than getting distracted by complications of cellular connectivity. 

They offer ready-to-connect hardware solutions, which are either:

  • easy-to-use and cheap development kits with software tools & resources designed only for hobbyist projects that don’t scale

OR

  • heavy-duty modules and gateways without the tools and support to explore IoT and develop proof-of-concepts

Unfortunately, these solutions rarely work well together. Instead of bridging the gap between IoT prototyping and production, these solutions increase the messiness of cellular IoT by spreading work across an ever-expanding set of devices and tools. 

The One Platform To Take You From Prototype to Production Quickly & Reliably

Powered by the Particle Platform-as-a-Service, our new B SoM devices are the only hardware solutions on the market that provide product leaders with everything they need to get started and deploy at scale, maturing with the evolution of your IoT journey. 

Explore the viability of your IoT project with the Boron developer kit.

The Boron development kit, our newest cellular-enabled prototyping solution, is designed to make IoT evaluation and development more accessible and easier than ever. Equipped with the u-blox SARA-R510S-01B LTE modem and LTE CAT M1 module, the Boron features:

  • Breadboard-friendly prototyping by leveraging the open source feather form factor, making it plug-play compatible with hundreds of accessories, peripherals, and sensors
  • Built-in battery charging circuitry to easily connect a Li-Po and deploy local networks in minutes.
  • 20 mixed signal GPIOs to easily interface with sensors, actuators, and other electronics

Get started on the Boron dev kit, and access the Particle Platform-as-a-Service with a fully-featured development sandbox that includes cellular data and support for up to 100 devices. Leverage our easy-to-use developer tools & resources including CLIs, IDEs, APIs, SDKs, tested firmware libraries, programming frameworks, reference guides, and tutorials for unparalleled development.

Scale to commercial readiness by migrating to the B SoM

The B SoM is designed to allow you to easily transition from prototype to production when building large-scale IoT products – built for long-term deployments out in the field and optimized for mass production and scale. Based on the Nordic nRF52840 microcontroller, the B SoM, about the size of a postage stamp, is an enterprise-grade system-on-module, featuring:

  • M.2 form factor for flexible component placement & cost-effective, minimal hardware integration
  • Fully-certified design (FCC / CE / IC / GCF) out of the box to support industrial deployments
  • Embedded EtherSIM automatically selects the best LTE network in North America across 100+ carriers and resists vibration, corrosion, and mechanical failure due to its inbuilt nature. Deploying outside North America? We’ve got you covered with the supply secure B524 SoM that connects automatically to the best LTE CAT 1 network globally.

Simply port your firmware using the hardware abstraction layer on our Device OS and transition seamlessly from the Boron to the B SoM without the need to develop from scratch. Leverage features like intelligent OTA updates for fleets of 10,000+ devices and a messaging system that scales to billions of events per month to meet your growing needs, relying on the robust and reliable Particle IoT Platform-as-a-Service. We’ve taken a decade of experience supporting innovators from prototype to production and building lessons learned and best practices into our cellular devices. IoT hardware is only as good as the platform it lives on, and the Particle Platform-as-a-Service delivers everything you need for every stage of your cellular IoT journey.

You can place orders for the Boron dev kit and B SoM here, or talk to our growth consultants who can help you get your connected cellular product to market here.

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