Sigfox’s Australia and New Zealand Sigfox network operator, Thinxtra, has introduced the Xkit, an Arduino-based Sigfox development platform saying it comes with a suite of features and accessories that will enable anyone with minimal hardware experience to set up an IoT solution.
“It is perfect for start-ups, design houses, universities and schools, the kit has everything needed to hit the ground running using the globally available Sigfox network,” Thinxtra said.
The shield comes supplied with an Arduino Uno R3 board clone, STM Nucleo development board, Freescale development board, and Microchip development kit. It can also be plugged into Raspberry Pi, PC and Mac computers.
Thinxtra say it also provides “a complete step-by-step guides to use the Xkit with well known IoT platforms: Amazon Web Services IoT, Microsoft Azure and IBM Bluemix.”
It is available in three versions: RCZ1 for European networks; RCZ2 – US, Mexico and Brazil; RCZ4 – Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Latin America.
Renald Gallis, VP marketing and ecosystem at Thinxtra, said Thinxtra’s Australian R&D had developed the cheapest and most complete development kit on the global Sigfox market thanks to its capability in Hong Kong. “This is one of the first product to showcase our capabilities of our local R&D to better serve the ANZ market with low cost solutions,” he said.
“We realised early in the game that the best way to support the ecosystem is by creating a truly low cost, versatile and powerful development kit. … The simplicity is further enhanced via our easy four-step set up process, which allows users to register online and get immediate access to a year of free Sigfox connectivity.”
The Xkit will be presented and demonstrated by Thinxtra’s IoT business develop manager, Kade Miller at a meeting in Melbourne on 2 May, organised by Kyodo, a mentorship program for IoT and data tech based startup businesses.
