Arrow Electronics Joins Siemens’ MindSphere Partner Program to Extend its Industrial IoT Offering

Arrow Electronics announced today that it has joined the MindSphere Partner Program, Siemens’ program for industrial IoT solution and technology providers.

MindSphere is the cloud-based, open IoT operating system from Siemens that connects products, plants, systems and machines, enabling businesses to harness the wealth of data generated by the IoT with advanced analytics. As a MindSphere Platinum Partner, Arrow has multiple technical staff trained by Siemens through the MindSphere technical curriculum, a variety of MindSphere applications in development, and a joint go-to-market agreement to assist customers in achieving substantial business value through IoT technology generally and MindSphere specifically.

Arrow’s broad portfolio of products, services and expertise enables it to address every layer of an IoT solution stack, ranging from electronic components to IT solutions. Arrow provides coverage from the edge to end-of-life, including: sensors, connectivity, cloud, analytics, security, IT infrastructure, and asset disposition. IoT solutions providers can benefit from these and other services delivered by Arrow, such as remote management and monitoring, design and integration, as well as the digital transformation solutions offered by Arrow subsidiary eInfochips.

As a member of the Siemens MindSphere Partner Program, Arrow can offer market-ready solutions including Retrofit – which enables companies to integrate old industrial equipment with the new – smart city and end-to-end asset tracking. These, together with analytics services, help to keep the barriers to starting a new project low.

Aiden Mitchell, vice president of IoT global solutions, Arrow Electronics, said, “This arrangement with Siemens enables us to offer our customers leading industrial IoT solutions to solve their digital transformation challenges across their manufacturing enterprises. Arrow is well positioned to initiate and orchestrate all stages of industrial IoT projects, including hardware, software and technical – as well as business – services.”

Paul Kaeley, senior vice president, global partner ecosystem, Siemens PLM Software, said, “Arrow’s vision of IoT, “From Sensor to Sunset,” fits perfectly with the transformative business opportunities of introducing Siemens’ MindSphere IoT operating system into client environments. This offers complete solutions enabling businesses to deploy and manage secure pre-connected intelligent sensors and high-end devices throughout their entire lifecycle globally.”

Arrow will have a presence in the MindSphere Lounge at the Hanover Fair (Hall 9) where it will showcase the breadth of the company’s Industrial IoT offering.

Detailed information about Arrow’s operations can be found by visiting www.arrow.com

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RS Components adds Intel Neural Compute Stick 2 for deep learing

Described as a small and fanless computer-vision and deep-neural-network (DNN) accelerator, the Intel Neural Compute Stick delivers easy access to low-power, high-performance deep-learning capabilities for embedded IoT applications. It is now available from RS Components.

It is used by data scientists and academics, as well as developers and engineers looking at integrating computer-vision and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities into Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The stick, in the convenient USB form factor, enables deep learning prototyping on a laptop or device with a USB interface.

Like its predecessor product – the Intel Movidius Neural Compute Stick, which was launched in 2017 – the Intel NCS 2 is based on the Intel Movidius Vision Processing Unit (VPU). It additionally deploys the latest version, the Intel Movidius Myriad X VPU which has a dedicated hardware accelerator for DNN inference.

The Intel NCS 2 can be combined with the Intel Distribution of Open VINO toolkit as a versatile prototyping and development tool with support for deep learning, computer vision and hardware acceleration to enable applications that have human-like vision capabilities. The combination of the Intel NCS 2 and the Intel Distribution of OpenVINO toolkit enables a fast development-to-deployment cycle, from prototyping trained DNNs on the compute stick to the easy porting of DNNs to an Intel Movidius VPU-based embedded device or system with minimal code changes required, if any. The Intel NCS 2 also provides support for the popular open-source Caffe and TensorFlow DNN software libraries.

The Intel Neural Compute Stick 2 is shipping now from RS in the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions.

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https://uk.rs-online.com/web/

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Rutronik offers small, integrated Bluetooth and RF antenna SiP modules

System in package (SiP) modules from Insight SiP, the ISP1507-AL, are described as one of the smallest, fully integrated devices on the market. The module is for implementing Bluetooth Low Energy and ANT+ RF connections.

Available from Rutronik24, the ISP1507-AL is based on the nRF52810 multiprotocol system on chip (SoC) from Nordic Semiconductor. Its size and levels of integration make it particularly suitable for mesh relay nodes and price-sensitive IoT applications, says the distributor.

Insight SiP is a French technology company that specialises in radio frequency (RF) circuit miniaturisation, SiP technology and antenna in package (AiP) products. The ISP1507-AL use an Arm Cortex M4 floating point processor, which enables it to do fast calculations and manage all 13 I/Os, as well as analogue and digital peripherals. Its small dimensions (it measures 8.0 x 8.0 x 1.0mm), coupled with its range of functions mean the ISP1507-AL BLE module can be used where fast processing and low power consumption is needed. Target applications include IoT, industrial sensors, wearables, beacons, and home automation.

The ISP1507-AL BLE module features 192kbyte flash memory, 24kbyte RAM, and two integrated crystals (32MHZ and 32kHz) to enable high performance operations. In many cases, the ISP1507-AL SiP can eliminate the need for an additional microprocessor or additional memory, says Rutronik.

The SiP also includes an antenna and various interfaces, including SPI, I2C, UART, and ADC.

The ISP1507-AL BLE module supports Bluetooth 5.0, ANT+, and other mesh protocols. The optional NFC antenna allows touch-to-pair functionality.

Nordic’s software stacks can also be used for ISP1507-AL module. In addition, the ISP1507-AL SiP is pin-compatible to the related modules, including the ISP1507-AX and the ISP1807-LR, which will be available in early 2019.

Insight SiP provides turn-key design services and creative packaging for customers who need highly integrated systems to meet the space requirements for wireless and portable devices. The company has expertise in custom multi-die RF circuit miniaturisation, SiP and AiP designs and provides ready-to-use RF modules for Bluetooth Low Energy applications, such as telecomms and mobile computing, portable consumer devices, healthcare, automotive, connected cars, industrial, and the IoT. The company has headquarters in the south of France, and sales offices in the US, Japan, and a worldwide distribution network.

https://www.rutronik24.com

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RS Components ships Microchip’s AVR Google Cloud development board

Distributor RS Components has announced the availability of Microchip’s AVR microcontroller IoT development board for Google Cloud. It is designed to enable engineers to achieve the fast prototyping of cloud-connected devices within minutes, adds the company.

Microchip’s AVR-IoT WG development board integrates the ATmega4808 AVR-based microcontroller, with a secure-element IC and a fully certified Wi-Fi network controller. The board works in conjunction with Google Cloud IoT Core, which offers an artificial intelligence and machine learning-based infrastructure in which is collects, processes and analyses data.

Developers can add cloud connectivity to a device via a free online portal at http://www.AVR-IoT.com. Microchip’s AVR devices are supported in the MPLAB X integrated development environment (IDE), meaning that once an IoT device is connected to Google Cloud, engineers can develop and debug their application in the cloud using rapid development tools such as Microchip’s MPLAB Code Configurator (MCC) or Atmel Start.

The AVR-IoT development board’s ATmega4808 processor is an eight-bit microcontroller that features core independent peripherals (CIPs) designed to deliver low power consumption. Sensing and actuation features make the board suitable fro real-time sensing and control applications.

An ATECC608A crypto-authentication IC delivers a trusted and protected identity for secure authentication of devices for the board. The crypto-authentication IC is delivered pre-registered on Google Cloud IoT Core and is ready for use with zero touch provisioning, claims Microchip. There is also a fully certified IEEE802.11-b/g/n IoT network controller, the ATWINC1510, which connects via an SPI.

Developers can use the board to create cloud-connected applications without requiring expertise in communications protocols, security or hardware compatibility, explains RS Components. In addition, they do not have to deal with security vulnerabilities or face the challenges generated with the use of large software frameworks and real time operating systems (RTOS).

The AVR-IoT WG development board (AC164160) is shipping from RS in the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions.

http://www.rs-online.com

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