BOULDER, CO, Jan 11, 2017 – In 2017, SparkFun Electronics will begin carrying the Arduino suite of IoT boards, marking the first time the company has sold new products from Arduino in three years. Starting in Q1, SparkFun will carry the Arduino Yun Industrial and Arduino Tian, with releases of the Arduino STAR Otto and Arduino Primo boards planned later in the year. The partnership follows the reunion of Arduino LLC and Arduino SRL, the two independent companies who announced reconciliation in October 2016.
“We congratulate our partners, Arduino, on their future as a leader in the industry, and we look forward to working together to deliver exciting products to the marketplace that support our customers’ work in IoT. The Arduino Yun Industrial and Tian are just the first of many new additions to SparkFun’s Arduino ecosystem,” said Glenn Samala, SparkFun Electronics CEO.
The new Arduino product line represents SparkFun’s push to equip its community with the latest technology to support the Internet of Things and internet-connected projects. In addition to SparkFun’s array of ESP boards, sensors, LCDs and LEDs for IoT, the four Arduino boards expand SparkFun’s offering to customers looking to contribute to the global Internet of Things. IHS forecasts 30.7 billion IoT devices will be in use by 2020, up from 15.4 billion devices in 2016. By 2025, that number will grow to 75.4 billion connected devices, and with the increased availability of consumer-level hardware, many of these devices will be installed by homeowners, hobbyists, makers, educators and students around the world.
“We’re happy to work with SparkFun, making our boards widely available to IoT developers in this fast growing and exciting industry,” said Federico Musto, Arduino CEO. “The vast capabilities, affordability and ease-of-use of our boards and software helps developers go from prototype to product, making it possible to deliver innovative IoT and IIoT offerings.”
The Arduino Yun Industrial and Arduino Tian have on-board microcontrollers that work within the easy-to-use Arduino Integrated Development Environment (Arduino IDE); they also include a more powerful microprocessor that can run embedded Linux. With the added power of the open source embedded OpenWrt operating system, a simplified Linux distribution commonly used on embedded devices that route network traffic, the result is a powerful IoT device or gateway that can run advanced applications locally and connect to the cloud.
When used together, the Arduino Yun Industrial carrier board and LGA Wi-Fi module comprise a system that builds on the Arduino Yun’s capabilities, but in a smaller form-factor. The two-part design helps customers with direct IoT product integration or advanced prototyping. The carrier board holds the Yun Industrial Wi-Fi module, which is an LGA board not much bigger than a postage stamp. If comes pre-certified so it can operate in various regulatory domains (e.g., FCC in the U.S.). The Arduino Tian represents a more powerful iteration of the Arduino Yun. It is based on the Qualcomm Atheros AR9342 processor, hosts a faster microcontroller and includes Bluetooth functionality, in addition to Wi-Fi and Ethernet.
The Arduino Primo and the Arduino STAR Otto, announced May 2016, are both currently in development with a planned release later this year. The Arduino Primo, dubbed the “IoT connectivity board,” includes Bluetooth, NFC and Wi-FI capabilities. The Arduino STAR Otto has Wi-Fi connectivity and incorporates advanced features such a touch screen display, camera port and audio in/out.
Both Arduino Holding and SparkFun look forward to further exploring a partnership around the Internet of Things, and the potential to provide a joint product ecosystem around IoT for the open source community.
To learn more about the Arduino products available from SparkFun visit https://www.sparkfun.com/categories/103.
About SparkFun Electronics
Founded in 2003, SparkFun shares its passion by providing parts, knowledge, and innovation for those looking to explore the world of embedded electronics. It helps anyone discover their inner inventor and enables individuals to create their own electronics projects. SparkFun currently offers more than 2,100 products, ranging from simple components, like capacitors and resistors, to GPS units, Bluetooth modules, and comprehensive inventor kits; additionally, SparkFun has developed nearly 400 tutorials to inspire and support others in their exploration of electronics.
For more information, visit http://www.sparkfun.com.
About Arduino
Arduino is the world’s leading open-source software and hardware ecosystem. The Company offers IoT developers and Makers of all ages the ability to build smart, connected and interactive devices using affordable technologies.
Please check them out at http://www.arduino.org.