Avnet Simplifies IoT Connectivity for Developers via the Monarch LTE-M Development Kit
New offering includes technology from Microsoft and Verizon to shorten time to market.
Avnet makes development of IoT devices more efficient with the new Monarch LTE-M Development Kit.
By providing developers with a complete set of components, software and services from NXP Semiconductors, Sequans, Microsoft, Verizon and Avnet, the kit speeds time to market for the development of IoT solutions using LTE-M connectivity. The kit is powered by the Sequans Monarch LTE-M modem, NXP’s LPC55S69 MCU microcontroller, Verizon’s SIM and ThingSpace IoT platform, Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and Avnet’s end-to-end engineering services.
LTE-M connectivity is a crucial feature for today’s IoT devices. Its wide availability, bandwidth and speed are ideal for the always-on, reliable data connectivity that IoT applications demand, such as remote monitoring, asset tracking and smart city/smart home applications. The Monarch LTE-M Development Kit has been designed to meet the needs of developers looking to incorporate LTE-M connectivity in their IoT devices, ensuring they can rely on Avnet’s end-to-end ecosystem to bring their projects from idea to design and design to production.
“Connecting to the IoT requires more than a cellular signal,” said Jim Beneke, vice president, Products & Emerging Technologies, Avnet. “Developers need the components, software and support to maximize reliability, simplify development and reduce overall time to market. Having a solution that provides all this ensures they have more resources to focus on the applications themselves and create IoT solutions that deliver real business value. Our new development kit combines everything today’s developer needs to do just that.”
The connectivity in the kit is provided by the Sequans Monarch Go LTE-M modem. The modem is certified for end use on the Verizon network, eliminating the need for certification testing and significantly improving time to market. Verizon’s ThingSpace IoT platform is also incorporated in the kit, simplifying device deployment on the Verizon LTE-M network and ensuring data integrity with reliable network connectivity.
“There is no doubt this LTE-M development kit includes the best-in-class technologies of recognized industry leaders,” said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO. “Combining our Monarch Go platform that is already certified by Verizon with the MCU power of NXP and cloud services of Microsoft and Avnet results in an offering that enables IoT developers to prototype and deploy their devices faster than ever before possible.”
Tom Pannell, senior director of Wireless Marketing for Edge Processing at NXP Semiconductors, said: “Cellular connectivity is, of course, just one part of an overall IoT design and only one of the considerations for developing a secure, battery-operated device. As part of this new collaborative LTE-M solution, our LPC55S69 plays a key role in optimizing overall performance, giving developers options for fine-tuning power consumption and adding the security algorithms needed to protect data and the network. This new collaboration with Sequans and Avnet further extends NXP’s growing portfolio of edge-connected solutions and exemplifies our broader goal of making it easier for developers to design and deploy wireless solutions.”
The Monarch LTE-M Development Kit bundles the Monarch Go Arduino Shield with an NXP LPC55S69-EVK board and includes example code showing how it all works together to create cellular-connected edge device-to-cloud connectivity. The kit’s evaluation board features an NXP LPC55S69 MCU, a secure microcontroller which balances high performance and power efficiency while incorporating TrustZone-M for enhanced security. Avnet is also offering the Monarch Go Arduino Shield as an accessory item for developers who may want to enable other Arduino-compatible MCU boards with LTE Cat-M1 connectivity.
Embedded developers can build upon the provided out-of-box cloud connectivity and dashboard examples using Microsoft’s Azure IoT Central and Avnet’s IoTConnect cloud platforms. From monitoring sensor data from the NXP MCU board to sending commands remotely via the Verizon network, these cloud-based examples will accelerate application development and time to market.
The Monarch LTE-M Development Kit is available for $99 and the Monarch Go Arduino Shield is available for $69.95. More information can be found here.