Arrow IoT kits use AWS to secure connected devices

  • December 22, 2020
  • Steve Rogerson

Security starter kits from Arrow Electronics use AWS Greengrass and IoT Core to help device companies build and deliver secure connected devices.

The Colorado-based company says it is helping its customers understand, navigate and implement emerging security standards with developer kits that provide open-source references from edge to cloud.

The kits integrate various wireless options and single-board computers (SBCs) with the Optiga TPM2.0 and Trust M security products from Infineon Technologies.

“Customers seek simplicity when it comes to securing their IoT devices and infrastructure,” said Juergen Rebel, senior vice president at Infineon Technologies. “End-to-end security is key. Partnering with Arrow allowed Infineon to offer customers this simplicity in the form of an easy-to-use reference based on our Optiga security chip family. The end-to-end solution supports all cloud architectures and provides versatility at the endpoint and in edge compute environments.”

The kits provide companies seeking to add security to their products with a straightforward security implementation path with root-of-trust capabilities. Connecting to cloud services is simplified with AWS IoT Greengrass and AWS IoT Core integrations.

“Over the past five years, we’ve seen an exponential growth in connected devices that sense, monitor and control things from smart homes and buildings to manufacturing equipment and everything in between, yet it is conservatively estimated that 70 per cent of these devices have little or no security implemented in them,” said Arrow Electronics’ vice president of IoT Aiden Mitchell. “Arrow’s security starter kit provides customers with ready-to-use examples that take the guesswork out of implementing the most vital security features in their end node and gateway products.”

To address these challenges, Arrow has worked closely with several technology suppliers to create a set of products that leverage existing evaluation kits and SBCs, coupled with security to implement features that directly map to current security standards, including Etsi TS 103 645, NISTIR 8259A and ISO 27001.

The low-power wireless evaluation kits feature the Silicon Labs Giant Gecko 11 and LTE Cat M, and the ST Microelectronics STM32WB55 BLE Nucleo Pack evaluation kits. There are also two 96board-compliant SBCs, based on the STM32MP157 and NXP i.MX 8X processors, to perform more robust gateway functions.

“With the boom in connected devices and associated hacking and cloning threats, security is a real concern and a de-facto feature that customers are looking for when it comes to selecting a technology platform,” said Hakim Jaafar, wireless marketing director at ST Microelectronics. “To speed up product development, all STM32 wireless products come with a secure HW IP and offer services like anti-hacking and anti-cloning, which frees customers to focus on their core application development.”

The end nodes and gateways are designed to support the rapid evaluation and implementation of the built-in security features supported by the Optiga TPM2.0 and Trust M.

These kits were created using Free RTOS or Yocto Linux and work out of the box with AWS IoT Core and/or IoT Greengrass, such that users can connect to the cloud and begin software evaluation immediately. Users can also develop their own implementations if they prefer to use other cloud options.

With 2019 sales of $29bn, Arrow Electronics guides innovation for over 175,000 technology manufacturers and service providers.