AWS Announces IoT ExpressLink, Partners with SparkFun and u-blox for MicroMod Starter Kit Bundle
Designed to take the complexity out of secure IoT connectivity, AWS IoT ExpressLink has launched in preview — with a handy starter kit.
SparkFun, u-blox, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the fruit of their partnership: The AWS IoT ExpressLink SARA-R5 Starter Kit, designed to get users started with secure connected projects on the MicroMod ecosystem and new AWS IoT ExpressLink platform.
"The specialized SARA-R5 module on the board supports the AWS IoT ExpressLink AT command set," SparkFun's Chris McCarty explains, "which aims to make the app developer’s life easy. Built around AWS IoT ExpressLink, the Starter Kit offers AWS IoT Core access with a pre-activated SIM card for global use already inserted in the slot."
Announced during the company's annual re:Invent convention, AWS IoT ExpressLink — currently available in public preview — is designed to offer a standardized connectivity software across a range of hardware modules, including those from u-blox as well as Espressif and Infineon, with integration into 200 of Amazon's AWS IoT services including AWS IoT Core.
Key to the platform is a pre-provisioning of the connectivity modules, which arrive with security credentials already loaded and ready for offload — making it quicker and easier, Amazon claims, to take existing projects and transform them for the Internet of Things (IoT).
SparkFun's kit includes a MicroMod Asset Tracker Carrier board, a MicroMod Update Tool, a MicroMod ESP32 Processor Board, and a u-blox Thingstream eUICC SIM card, plus a suitable LTE antenna. Compatibility, however, is limited to ExpressLink: The module has been programmed to specifically support the AWS IoT ExpressLink command set, and won't recognize standard AT commands.
The kit is up for pre-order for $185, but comes with a warning: Just under 200 will be built, with a maximum of five units per customer. "We do not currently have plans to build more in the near future," McCarty explains. "So, if you are able to get your hands on the kit, you will be one of the select few to start building with it before anyone else."
More information is available on the SparkFun product page, while source code samples are available on the AWS GitHub repository under the permissive MIT-0 license. Additional details on AWS IoT ExpressLink, meanwhile, are available on the AWS website.