Last week the Blues team had the pleasure of sponsoring one of our favorite events of the year, The Things Conference in Amsterdam.
While widely known as the premiere LoRaWAN event (which only makes sense, considering the event hosts are The Things Industries), this year felt different. It felt as though both attendees and vendors alike are realizing the importance of wireless harmonization - the idea that product builders should be able to choose the right Radio Access Technology at the point of deployment, and not up-front.
This played out through numerous 1:1 conversations with booth visitors and the wide array of sponsors who don't limit themselves to LoRaWAN, but instead branch out into Wi-Fi, cellular, and even satellite for IoT communications.
Of course, this approach fits nicely into our recent launch of:
- Notecard Cell+WiFi (providing dual cellular and Wi-Fi on a single board).
- Notecard LoRa (provision-free access to public LoRaWAN gateways).
- Notecard WiFi (a low-cost Wi-Fi solution).
The star of the Blues booth was undoubtedly the Notecard LoRa. People appreciate the ability to utilize a LoRaWAN network when needed, but also swap out for cellular or Wi-Fi, depending on the deployment.
In terms of the event itself, the Blues booth was a sight to behold (there were multiple reports that our booth was the most striking!):
Likewise the extended Blues team participated in numerous presentations during the conference. This included our founder and CEO, Ray Ozzie, who joined the CEO and co-founder of The Things Industries, Wienke Giezeman, in a "Fireside Chat with Wienke and Ray":
Our President and CRO, Jim Hassman, leveraged his AI background to give an engaging talk on "Interconnected Intelligence: When IoT meets AI" to a packed house:
Our VP of Developer Experience, Brandon Satrom, got hands-on with the new line of Notecards in a workshop on "Building Hybrid Connected Solutions with Blues":
Brandon also participated in a panel on the appropriately named, "What is going on in cellular IoT?":
The rest of us? Well, suffice it to say we held fort at the booth and talked some eager customers through the benefits of wireless connectivity with Blues!
We also featured the low-power capabilities of the Notecard in a demo that connected an idling Notecard + Notecarrier A to a current meter called the Current Ranger. Yes, the Notecard really does idle at ~8µA@5V!
We wrapped up our week with a somewhat mortifying experience on the swing atop the Sir Adam hotel!
Thanks to those of you who took the time to join as at The Things Conference - and we look forward to seeing you in-person again next time. 💙
