Blues is thrilled to announce a partnership with Arduino, a leader in easy-to-use hardware and software. At the heart of this partnership is our shared vision of unlocking new intelligent applications by developing developer-centric products.
This partnership started with the Notecarrier R, a product built to make it easy to integrate Notecard into an Arduino Portenta or MKR board solution.
But we didn’t stop there.
Today, we launched the Wireless for PLC, a powerful expansion that brings the Notecard’s plug-and-play wireless connectivity to the Opta PLC ecosystem.
Before we get into why we engineered the Wireless for PLC and why it’s set to revolutionize industrial automation…
We invite you to learn more about our partnership while exploring Wireless for PLC by joining Blues and Arduino for a fireside chat on Wednesday, June 12, at 1pm ET. Register Now
Now, let’s explore Wireless for PLC.
Solving the IT to OT Disconnect with Wireless Connectivity
Together, Blues and Arduino set out to solve a critical challenge stifling the progression of industrial intelligence, building automation, and more — The disconnect between operational technology (OT) teams and information technology (IT) teams that all too often blocks brilliant OT applications from reaching production.
While these two departments often work harmoniously due to differing priorities and responsibilities, they usually find themselves in juxtaposed positions.
IT departments are tasked with managing, maintaining, and, above all, safeguarding enterprises’ technological infrastructure and systems. The success of these departments is measured by system uptime, SLA compliance, response time to threats, the overall number of security incidents, and more.
Contrast this with OTs primary responsibilities, and the disconnect is abundantly clear — OT is primarily focused on enhanced industrial efficiency, process optimization, and control system management — all of which often require connectivity and systems that fall under the purview of IT.
These competing priorities often stifle OT’s ability to innovate as they need to navigate intensive IT compliance and approval processes.
So, what’s the solution? How do we unlock OT innovation while satisfying IT’s requirements?
The answer is wireless connectivity over public networks like cellular or LoRa, and with the launch of the Wireless for PLC, that’s precisely what we’ve done.
From Lotus Notes to Blues: Empowering Teams Through Connectivity
In the early days of productivity software, products like Lotus Notes, Microsoft Access, and FrontPage sparked a revolution by offering teams and organizations methods of communication without having to rely on their own internal IT department. They had the freedom to set up their own technology and databases internally without waiting for IT to do it. This empowerment allowed marketing, operations, and product teams to take control of their systems and push progress at a rapid pace.
Lotus Notes, created by Ray Ozzie, Founder & CEO of Blues, empowered teams to collaborate and innovate without the constraints of traditional IT departments. Notes combined email, calendaring, document sharing, and custom application development as an integrated platform, allowing teams to centralize their communication and streamline their business processes. This all-in-one approach eliminated the need for disparate platforms and reduced reliance on IT for essential productivity tools.
Today, Blues and Arduino are leading a similar revolution, but rather than empowering human-to-human connections, wireless is empowering permissionless machine-to-machine cloud connectivity.
Local networks like Bluetooth, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi are the domain of IT departments, prioritizing security and reliability above all else. These networks are critical infrastructure, connecting devices and systems within an organization and enabling data flow between them. However, this centralized control often comes at the cost of agility and the progress necessary to remain relevant and competitive.
If the revolution in productivity software taught us anything, emboldening teams to innovate on their own terms can lead to breakthroughs that transform entire industries. As wireless connectivity ushers in a new era of machine-to-cloud communication, OT can regain ownership of their technology and push their IIoT projects forward.
Cellular Connectivity: The Key to OT Autonomy and Agility
By leveraging wireless technologies like cellular, OT teams can deploy cloud-connected PLCs like the Arduino Opta without relying heavily on IT-controlled local networks like ethernet or Wi-Fi for their connectivity.
Armed with secure wireless connectivity, OT teams can rapidly bring PLCs and sensors online to demonstrate the value of their IIoT use cases without requiring IT involvement. This newfound autonomy gives them the ability to quickly implement Proofs-of-Concept (PoCs) and pilots, allowing them to iterate, refine, and optimize their IIoT solutions before scaling them enterprise-wide.
Moreover, wireless connectivity extends the reach of IIoT to hard-to-wire environments, such as remote sites, moving equipment, and temporary installations. OT teams can deploy wireless solutions independently in these scenarios, enabling them to collect more valuable data and further optimize operations in previously inaccessible areas.
However, enabling IIoT connectivity over networks like cellular is hardly trivial; in fact, such technologies are known for being incredibly complex and requiring years of R&D — that is, until the Wireless for PLC.
Introducing the Wireless for PLC
To restore autonomy to industrial OT and product teams, Blues and Arduino, a household name in the maker and professional community, joined forces to create the Wireless for PLC. This powerful expansion brings Notecard’s turnkey, pre-provisioned, and encrypted connectivity to the Arduino Opta micro-PLC.
The Arduino Opta micro-PLC brought the easy-to-use, intuitive programming experience Arduino is known for to the PLC market.
Now, with the Wireless for PLC, we’re taking it a few steps further by offering Opta developers a seamless, compatible route to integrate Notecard’s plug-and-play wireless capabilities with the Arduino Opta micro-PLC.
The Wireless for PLC is offered in the Cell+WiFi configuration. With pre-provisioned connectivity and a simple, low-code JSON interface, the Wireless for PLC reduces development time from years to months while bypassing the need to rely on local networks and gain IT’s approval.
The result?
OT teams can now focus on developing powerful applications and driving operational efficiency rather than grappling with complex network configurations, security protocols, and bureaucracy.
In addition to turnkey connectivity, the Wireless for PLC prioritizes security, featuring industry-leading encryption and authentication through an integrated secure element ensuring data security between PLC and cloud while giving both OT and IT teams peace of mind.
Furthermore, the module’s onboard backup power supply enables power outage detection alerts, giving OT teams an out-of-the-box way to detect and address downtime rapidly.
With the launch of the Wireless for PLC, we’ve brought the world of PLCs into a new hassle-free era of cloud connectivity.
Take the Next Step Toward Cloud-Connected Industrial Automation
Now, with the easy and flexible Opta PLC Combined with Wireless for PLC’s streamlined device-to-cloud wireless connectivity, OT teams have a direct path to intelligent PLC systems.
If you’d like to be among the first to build with the Wireless for PLC, join our waitlist today.
Want to learn more about Blues and Arduino’s partnership while discovering what’s possible with the Wireless for PLC? Join us for a fireside chat.
