Scaling creates its own set of operational challenges that weren’t visible during initial deployments. What starts as manageable manual processes becomes overwhelming. The same team that efficiently managed hundreds of devices now faces an exponentially more complex operational reality. 

Common Scaling Fleet Management Challenges 

If you’re reading this, you’re likely experiencing a critical inflection point in your business. This is the scale challenge, and it’s more common than you might think. Every successful equipment manufacturer faces this moment. Here are the five scaling challenges that probably keep you awake at night:

1. Device Configuration & Update Management

With 10,000 devices spread across different time zones, network conditions, and customer environments, you can no longer update your fleet manually over a weekend.  

Manual update and configuration processes leave devices offline for extended periods, increase error rates, and can leave portions of the fleet running outdated configurations. 

That’s assuming nothing goes wrong mid-update when you discover that your devices don’t automatically roll back and you have to retrieve and manually update each one.

2. Monitoring & Diagnostics

Your monitoring dashboard that provided visibility into your fleet’s health is now a wall of alerts, metrics, and noise. With 10,000 devices generating telemetry data 24/7, you’re collecting more information than your team can process.  

This influx of data means critical alerts are buried in routine notifications, causing your field engineers to struggle to prioritize. Your actionable insights become an endless stream of data that nobody has time to analyze. 

3. Network & Connectivity Management

How hard can it be to connect your devices to the cloud using a modem and SIM? At scale, your DIY approach means connection timeouts are becoming frequent, cellular data bills skyrocket, and you’re regularly hitting network traffic limitations.  

Without intelligent load balancing, traffic shaping, and connection management designed for scale, you face frequent connectivity issues, increased latency, and higher infrastructure costs.

4. Security and Access Control

Every connected device is a potential entry point for security threats, and you now have 10,000 of them deployed across customer environments you don’t control. Certificate management, access control policies, and security monitoring that worked for smaller deployments become unmanageable.  

The reality is that a security incident in your fleet could potentially impact thousands of devices across hundreds of locations. The blast radius of any security issue has grown exponentially, and your tools for managing that risk need to scale too. 

5. Operational Overhead & Human Resources 

The math doesn’t lie; a 1% failure rate means 10 problematic devices at 1,000-unit scale, but 100 problematic devices at 10,000-unit scale. Your support team went from handling occasional issues to managing continuous problems. 

Perhaps most frustrating of all, your engineers, the ones who should be working on your next-generation products are instead buried in operational firefighting. The hidden operational costs of managing 10,000+ devices without proper tooling threaten the ROI of your entire IoT initiative.  

Reframe These Challenges as Opportunities 

This might all sound daunting, but large-scale deployments generate unprecedented amounts of operational data, creating opportunities for insights that don’t exist in smaller systems. Take a moment to celebrate your success and consider the opportunity you now have to optimize your business, leaving competitors behind. Patterns emerge across thousands of devices that can reveal optimization opportunities, predict maintenance needs, and identify configuration improvements. 

Intelligent fleet management transforms this volume of data from operational overhead into a competitive advantage. Automated categorization systems can instantly group devices based on performance characteristics, environmental conditions, or usage patterns. Real-time anomaly detection identifies optimization opportunities and prevents issues before they impact customers. 

Introducing Batch Jobs, Smart Fleets, and Fleets to Exclude 

Blues products have been built from day one with enterprise-scale fleets in mind. Customers have been leveraging comprehensive fleet management capabilities like automated OTA firmware updates that work seamlessly across entire deployments, intelligent data routing that can filter and multicast events to multiple cloud platforms, and configurable alerts with watchdog events that automatically monitor device health without requiring constant human oversight.  

The platform’s security model eliminates certificate management challenges through factory-provisioned security and environment variables that cascade from project to fleet to device levels, while role-based team management and programmatic API access ensure your growing operations team can manage exponentially larger fleets without linear increases in operational overhead.  

Whether you’re routing encrypted data to an external cloud or managing firmware across mixed cellular, WiFi, and satellite connectivity, Blues products have been architected to handle the complexity that emerges when successful IoT deployments hit true enterprise scale. 

If you thought this list was exhaustive, it’s not; we’re constantly upgrading our fleet management capabilities to transform how you manage connected devices at scale. Here are three new features, Batch Jobs, Smart Fleets, and Fleets to Exclude, and how you can use them: 

Scale Action Management 

Remember that weekend firmware update that now takes your entire team weeks to coordinate across 10,000 devices? Batch Jobs eliminate this by turning complex, multi-device operations into repeatable, automated workflows. 

Instead of manually coordinating updates across hundreds of customer sites, you can prepare large-scale operations in advance and execute them systematically across your entire fleet. Whether you’re provisioning new devices, updating configurations, or deploying critical security patches, Batch Jobs handle the coordination for you. 

And, you get detailed reports on job success or failure without having to oversee the entire process manually. That critical security patch you were dreading to deploy is now a controlled, reportable operation that runs while your team focuses on building your next product generation. 

Automated Device Categorization 

That overwhelming wall of alerts and metrics drowning your monitoring dashboard? Smart Fleets transform data into intelligence by automatically organizing your devices based on what matters to your business. 

Instead of your team watching endless streams of telemetry data looking for patterns, Smart Fleets continuously evaluates incoming device data against configurable rules you define. Devices can automatically be grouped according to performance metrics, environmental conditions, connectivity status, or any combination of factors relevant to your operation. 

Here’s where it gets powerful: Smart Fleets excel at anomaly detection, automatically identifying devices exhibiting unusual behavior. Those temperature sensors reporting readings above threshold levels? They can automatically be grouped for modified operating procedures. Devices showing connectivity issues? They’re flagged for proactive maintenance before they become customer complaints. 

With Smart Fleets, your field team can focus on addressing real issues. Your engineering team stops drowning in data and starts seeing clear patterns. The mountain of telemetry data becomes a strategic advantage instead of an operational burden. 

Data Quality Optimization 

Fleets to Exclude provides essential data quality control by allowing admins to filter out information from problematic devices before it reaches downstream systems. When devices are experiencing known issues like sensor malfunctions or connectivity problems, this capability prevents their corrupted data from interfering with analytics, alerting, and diagnostics processes. This ensures business decisions are based on clean, reliable data from properly functioning devices. 

When devices are experiencing sensor malfunctions, connectivity problems, or other known issues, this capability prevents their corrupted data from interfering with your analytics, alerting, and diagnostics processes. Your business decisions are based on clean, reliable data from properly functioning devices, and your executives can trust the insights coming from your connected products. 

Once You’ve Mastered Operations at Scale…Keep Scaling Confidently 

These efficiency gains compound over time. Faster issue identification improves customer experiences. Proactive maintenance reduces warranty claims and field service costs. Data-driven insights enable product improvements and new service offerings. Your operations team evolves from a cost center to a revenue enabler. 

The economic benefits extend beyond cost savings. Companies demonstrating sophisticated operational capabilities and security guarantees can pursue larger contracts with confidence, expand into new markets without operational overhead increases, and invest saved costs in product innovation and customer experience improvements. 

Build Future-Ready Fleet Management 

The challenges you experience at scale aren’t a barrier to overcome; they’re an opportunity to implement operational excellence that creates lasting competitive advantages. The companies that thrive are those that prepare to scale and choose infrastructure technology designed to support their growth. 

Batch Jobs, Smart Fleets, and Fleets to Exclude represent the next evolution in IoT device management, enabling fleet owners to harness the power of scale rather than just manage the complexity. These fleet management capabilities transform scaling from an operational challenge into a strategic advantage, making it possible to manage tens or hundreds of thousands of connected devices efficiently. 

Are you ready to level up your fleet management capabilities? Get in touch with our team to learn more about how Blues can support your business’s growth. 

Additional Resources: 

• Learn how to implement Smart Fleets in your Notehub account 
• Learn how to use Batch Jobs to provision devices and generate reports 
• The Smart Manufacturing Revolution: Moving from Reactive to Predictive Maintenance 

The post Fleet Management at Scale: When Your 1,000-Device Deployment Becomes 10,000 appeared first on Blues.

Are concerns about the impact on your workforce holding you back from transitioning to a smart factory?  

Your maintenance team’s expertise has always been the backbone of your manufacturing equipment’s upkeep and longevity. But right now, many of them are watching artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) transform their workplace and wondering where that leaves them. We get it, a recent surveys show 30% of workers fear technology might eliminate their roles within three years, while 39% worry they won’t get the training they need to keep up with all this change.  

First, it’s important to acknowledge the truth: Automation will reshape and eliminate some maintenance roles, just as technology has throughout history. However, history shows that it will also create new jobs and opportunities for teams eager to embrace digital transformation. Rather than resist this transformation, forward-thinking organizations are focusing on how to evolve their workforce alongside these technologies. 

Embedded intelligence and IIoT: Bringing power to the people 

For some maintenance professionals, the initial fear about smart factory transformation is about maintaining their sense of value and professional identity. While automation will eliminate many routine tasks, technology is transforming traditional “soft skills” like communication and teamwork into “power skills”, making these distinctly human capabilities more crucial in an AI-driven workplace. 

These skills include strategic thinking to prevent problems before they occur, ethical judgment to make tough calls about safety and resources, and the ability to communicate complex technical information clearly across teams.  

To thrive in IIoT-integrated manufacturing, maintenance professionals need to develop key technical capabilities that complement their power skills. These are skills like data literacy to interpret sensor readings and maintenance predictions, foundational knowledge of predictive machinery to understand when to trust or question automated recommendations, practical experience with digital twin technology for remote diagnostics and training, and a solid understanding of IoT systems to ensure reliable connectivity and accurate data collection. 

This upskilling requires commitment from both leadership and employees. Reports show that companies are planning to invest 9% of their collective reskilling efforts specifically in big data capabilities.  

Professionals need training that goes beyond just learning new software, they need opportunities to develop and practice their power skills. Let’s explore what’s possible when maintenance professionals develop their skills to operate on a smart factory floor.  

They become strategic decision-makers 

Remember when your maintenance team spent hours logging temperature readings and jotting down equipment data? Manual data entry used to consume maintenance professionals’ time, but in a smart factory, automation can handle those routine tasks. With IIoT integrated systems, IoT devices handle the manual work, streaming real-time data straight to your team’s dashboard. When IIoT devices collect better data more efficiently, your maintenance team can flex their expertise in entirely new ways. 

Picture this: your team gets an alert flagging temperature patterns outside the normal range in several motors. Instead of rushing to check each one manually, they’re now analyzing this data alongside vibration readings and power consumption trends. They’re applying their years of experience to decide which alerts need immediate attention and which ones they can monitor. 

This is where technical knowledge meets critical thinking skills in a way that intelligent machines alone can’t match. This powerful blend of technical insight and human judgment helps them make smarter decisions about when to schedule maintenance or simply adjust operations to extend equipment life. 

Their workplace becomes safer 

Making smarter decisions is important, but making safe decisions is essential. That’s where digital twin technology adds another powerful layer to your maintenance team’s capabilities. A digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical system, such as a machine, a process or even an entire factory. Using real-time sensor data, these digital replicas accurately mirror the current state, behavior and performance of their physical counterparts.  

Take the example of a chemical processing plant. When troubleshooting a problem with a high-temperature processing unit, instead of immediately suiting up to investigate an issue, maintenance professionals can now examine a detailed virtual replica of the equipment from every angle, analyze thermal sensor data, and pinpoint potential problems from a safe distance. When physical inspection is required, they’re empowered by precise data about what they’ll find and AI-validated predictions about equipment status. 

They grow their skills  

The educational potential of digital twin technology extends far beyond basic safety improvements. New technicians can now practice complex maintenance procedures in a virtual environment before touching physical equipment.  

For example, they might simulate the replacement of a critical pump component, using the digital twin to visualize internal parts and practice the procedure while receiving real-time feedback on their technique. This requires both technical proficiency with simulation software and problem-solving skills to handle unexpected scenarios that arise during training. 

Maintenance professionals can also use these tools to transfer their knowledge more effectively. For example, an experienced technician can use a digital twin to show new team members how equipment sounds indicate problems, using acoustic sensor data to visualize these subtle changes. This knowledge transfer helps newer team members develop both technical understanding and intuitive recognition of potential issues. 

They maximize the value of their work 

With predictive maintenance, your team are strategic partners in resource management. When an organization utilizes predictive maintenance, technicians combine real-time sensor data with their understanding of the equipment to make decisions about which equipment needs attention.  

While the system automatically checks inventory and can trigger parts orders, it’s your maintenance professionals who make the difference. They’re using their critical thinking skills to validate these automated decisions, considering things algorithms might miss, like that upcoming scheduled maintenance window or those equipment upgrades you’re planning next quarter.  

A traditional maintenance approach based on time-based service intervals might flag a bearing for replacement based purely on age, but your team’s analysis of the sensor data provided by intelligent devices shows it’s still performing perfectly. That’s saving unnecessary maintenance costs and shows how human expertise can work together with smart factories to keep your operation reliable and efficient. 

Empowering tomorrow’s maintenance team today 

As intelligent machines work in the background to automate routine tasks, they create new opportunities for skilled professionals who can combine their hands-on experience with data-driven insights to make better decisions about equipment health and maintenance timing.  

Digital transformation is about embracing a new mindset where human expertise and IIoT capabilities enhance each other. By achieving this vision, your maintenance team are industry leading. Connect with our team to begin your digital transformation journey. 

Additional Resources 

• Find out how Blues transformed American Crane’s operations 
• Download our guide to the sign’s your industrial equipment is ready for digital transformation 
• Get access to your devices data and fuel your factories AI processes 

The post IIoT Integration: How Digital Transformation Empowers Maintenance Professionals appeared first on Blues.

The ESP32 has become a go-to platform for engineers, makers, and businesses building connected devices. Its compelling combination of dual-core performance, integrated WiFi and Bluetooth, affordable price point, and rich GPIO options makes it ideal for rapid prototyping. However, for many teams, what begins as a promising proof of concept quickly encounters a familiar roadblock: reliable connectivity in real-world deployments. 

Cellular networks are global, reliable, and increasingly efficient data transmission. For ESP32 solutions venturing beyond controlled environments, cellular should be the natural evolution. Yet for many organizations, integrating cellular connectivity has historically been more trouble than it’s worth. 

Why does cellular integration have to be so complex? And what would seamless ESP32 cellular connectivity actually look like? 

Why ESP32 + Cellular is a Winning Combination 

The popularity of the ESP32 isn’t hard to understand. It balances power, cost, and flexibility, with dual-core performance, integrated radios, and support for familiar development frameworks like Arduino and ESP-IDF. Making the ESP32 the top choice for everything from custom hardware startups to Fortune 500 R&D teams. 

However, WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy excel primarily in controlled environments. Once you move beyond the lab, their limitations become apparent. Many IoT deployments require connectivity in challenging locations: agricultural fields, oil rigs, power stations, cargo trucks, and remote monitoring sites. These environments rarely offer reliable local networks or consistent power infrastructure. 

Cellular connectivity directly addresses these challenges. It provides: 

• Global coverage: Operate across countries and continents without infrastructure dependencies 
• Carrier-grade reliability: Benefit from decades of telecommunications infrastructure investment 
• Rural and urban reach: Access data in locations where WiFi simply isn’t available 
• Predictable performance: Leverage standardized protocols and service level agreements 

Pairing of ESP32 with cellular connectivity offers an ideal solution: an affordable, low-power compute platform with always-on global data access. In practice, however, this is where complexity traditionally begins. 

What’s Historically Made Cellular So Difficult? 

While cellular may solve the connectivity challenge, it often creates new ones. For product and engineering teams, integrating cellular can come with unexpected delays, hidden costs, and architectural complexity that slows down even the most agile development cycles. 

It usually starts with the modem. Most cellular modules require working directly with AT commands, a decades-old interface language that’s unintuitive, inconsistent across vendors, and painful to debug. Writing and maintaining firmware to handle modem state, retries, error handling, and power management can quickly consume weeks of engineering time. 

Next, you need to provision your fleet. Carrier contracts, SIM management, region-specific data plans, and compliance requirements vary widely depending on where you plan to deploy. Testing in one geography doesn’t guarantee performance in another which makes managing fleets of devices across carriers a logistical headache. 

Power consumption is another common concern for devices that are deployed remotely. Cellular radios draw significantly more power than WiFi or BLE modules. For battery-powered products, a poorly integrated modem can cut device life from months to days. 

And finally, there’s the cloud platform where you gain access to your data. Piping data from device to cloud requires a reliable and secure data flow. You’ll need to manage encryption, message queuing, device identity, and remote updates, all before you ever see a byte of data. 

For teams working on time-sensitive roadmaps or operating with lean technical resources, this traditional approach is often a non-starter. 

A Smarter Path to Cellular-Enabled ESP32 Deployments 

What if cellular integration didn’t require navigating modem commands, carrier relationships, and custom firmware development? 

This is where Blues transforms the equation. Our plug-and-play cellular solution is purpose-built for platforms like the ESP32, handling everything from SIM provisioning to cloud data routing. This allows your team to focus on delivering product value rather than building connectivity infrastructure. 

Modern cellular integration for ESP32 should provide: 

• Seamless Development Integration: Drop-in compatibility with Arduino IDE and familiar APIs that abstract cellular complexity while maintaining control over device behavior. 
• Global Connectivity Out-of-the-Box: Built-in SIM and worldwide data plans that eliminate carrier negotiations and regional deployment complications. 
• Intelligent Power Management: Hardware and software designed for battery-powered applications, with automatic sleep/wake cycles that extend device life without compromising connectivity. 
• Secure Cloud Routing: Encrypted data transmission to your preferred cloud platform without requiring additional networking stack development. 
• Fleet Management Capabilities: Over-the-air updates, remote configuration, and device monitoring that scales from prototype to production deployment. 

For product managers and engineering leaders, the business value of using a ready-made cellular solution is clear: faster time to market, reduced development risk, and predictable deployment costs.  

With Blues there are no AT commands, no vendor lock-in, just a straightforward path from prototype to production. 

It’s Time to Rethink Cellular for ESP32 

If you’re building connected devices on the ESP32 and plan to deploy beyond controlled environments, cellular should be a strategic priority. But that doesn’t mean you need to accept the pain that traditionally comes with it. 

Modern cellular solutions designed for embedded systems are changing the development landscape. By abstracting complexity and offering predictable performance, Blues allows your team to focus on what matters: delivering value, moving fast, and scaling with confidence. 

Whether you’re launching a new product or evolving an existing one, choosing the right connectivity path can mean the difference between a stalled prototype and a deployed solution. Ready to transform your ESP32 products from WiFi limited to globally connected? Contact our team to see how Blues can accelerate your product development. 

Additional Resources 

• Get started with Blues development kits 
• Explore technical documentation for getting started with Blues
• Download our guide: Build or Buy: The True Cost of Developing Wireless Connected Devices 

The post From WiFi Limitations to Global Connectivity: How Blues Simplifies Cellular IoT for Your ESP32 Products appeared first on Blues.

That’s exactly what Lift AI accomplished when they remotely transformed their nationwide elevator management platform. Lift AI operates devices installed in elevator shafts, continuously monitors performance and detects anomalies to enable predictive maintenance for building owners and maintenance companies. 

When Lift AI needed to completely replace the firmware stack on thousands of deployed devices, transforming them from CircuitPython-based systems to production-grade Zephyr RTOS, they turned to Croxel for what would become a remote “brain transplant” for their fleet. 

Croxel, a Blues-accredited partner, specializes in complex embedded systems transformations, particularly in scenarios where traditional approaches fall short. They focus on architectural migrations that require deep technical expertise, making them the perfect partner to help Lift AI transform its devices. 

The Challenge: Complete Platform Transformation at Scale 

What happens when “it’s not you, it’s me” becomes “it’s not me, it’s the entire technology stack”? Lift AI’s original CircuitPython-based platform had served them well during rapid development and deployment phases. However, as their fleet grew and customer demands evolved, they needed a more robust, scalable foundation. The goal was to transition to Zephyr RTOS for improved performance, enhanced power efficiency, and deterministic operation. 

The constraints were significant: Lift AI has devices installed in active elevator shafts, getting physical access would disrupt the service of those elevators and be expensive. Since elevator monitoring is critical for safety and maintenance, the transformation had to occur without interrupting data flow from these devices. 

This wasn’t a typical firmware update. It required replacing the entire technology stack, the runtime environment, memory architecture, hardware interfaces, and communication protocols, all while maintaining compatibility with existing cloud infrastructure. 

Future Proof Hardware Design: Blues Notecard 

Sometimes the best decisions are the ones you don’t know you’re making. Lift AI had integrated Blues Notecards into their devices, an intelligent connectivity module that provided the infrastructure needed for the remote transformation: 

• Secure cellular connectivity for delivering the new firmware 
• Independent operation from the host processor, creating an air gap 
• Maintained communication throughout the transition 
• Automatic failover capabilities if issues arose 

“We chose Blues early on because we knew connectivity would be critical, but we never imagined it would enable us to completely transform our platform remotely,” said Rob Wurth, CEO of Lift AI. “Being able to do a full remote brain transplant of all of our devices saved us countless dollars in new hardware as well as the engineering time it would have taken to physically replace every device.” 

Finding the Right Partner: Croxel’s Specialized Expertise 

Lift AI successfully deployed their fleet of devices that utilized Blues Notecards. Here’s where Croxel came in to provide experience with CircuitPython, Zephyr RTOS, Blues and building critical systems that made the transformation possible. 

Working with a partner gave Lift AI access to technical expertise they didn’t have and reduced the risk of experiencing common pitfalls. Allowing Lift AI to focus on their core business of elevator management. 

Albert Garvett, CEO and Co-Founder at Croxel shared, “When Lift AI approached us with this unprecedented challenge, they weren’t just looking for firmware developers. They needed partners who could envision and execute what many would consider impossible.’”

Here’s what Croxel enabled for the Lift AI fleet:  

• Every device in Lift AI’s fleet successfully migrated to Zephyr RTOS remotely 
• Zero downtime during the transition 
• Enhanced platform capabilities including improved response times and power efficiency 
• Hundreds of thousands of dollars saved by avoiding technician visits 
• Future-proofed architecture ready for continued evolution 

Redefining Fleet Management 

Lift AI and Croxel demonstrate that IoT devices in the field aren’t locked into their original technology choices. By choosing future-proof foundational technologies, even fundamental architectural changes can be deployed remotely. 

Here’s some additional benefits of remote fleet management: 

• Investment Protection: IoT companies make a significant investment in physical hardware, provisioning and deploying devices to the field. Instead of replacement, this hardware’s lifespan can be extended through platform evolution. 
• Technology Adaptation: Technology is evolving rapidly, as are regulations around connected devices. Companies who can update their devices remotely can remain cutting edge, competitive and compliant. 
• Operational Efficiency: Remote transformation capabilities reduce the risks and costs associated with physically swapping out your devices, including the cost of downtime.  

This represents a shift from viewing connectivity as an endpoint to treating it as one component of an intelligent system that can evolve over time. 

The Future is Transformable 

The project establishes a new paradigm: Smart fleets that can fundamentally transform without physical intervention. Companies that understand this capability can adapt to technological changes faster than competitors locked into static platforms. 

Ready to explore remote fleet transformation? Join our Fireside Chat with the team at Croxel, where we will discuss how they transformed Lift AI’s fleet without touching any hardware, on Wednesday, August 6th at 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST. 

The session will cover how Blues Notecard enables platform evolution, security essentials for remote updates, and strategies for maximizing hardware investments. 

Register now to learn the approach that made Lift AI’s transformation possible. 

The post Protect Your Hardware Investment: How Lift AI Remotely Transformed Their Platform with Blues and Croxel appeared first on Blues.

But understanding the value of a ready-made solution is only half the equation. The other half? Understanding exactly what that solution costs and how it scales with your business. 

Blues pricing is built on a simple principle: you should only pay for what you use, and your costs should be predictable from prototype to production. No monthly minimums for small deployments. No complex tiers that change based on arbitrary thresholds. Just transparent, usage-based pricing that grows with your business. 

We believe that you shouldn’t need a finance degree to predict your connectivity costs, and you definitely shouldn’t face pricing cliffs that make scaling feel like a punishment. 

Let’s break down exactly how Blues pricing works in practice, with real numbers and real scenarios. 

Essentials vs Enterprise: From Development to Scale 

Every month, the first 5,000 Events you use are free. While you develop your connected product, this means that there is no monthly subscription charge, and your prototype can send up to approximately 166 Events per day before you begin to pay for data usage. 

For small to medium businesses with fewer than 500 devices deployed, our 10-year data inclusion and no monthly minimums eliminate the subscription complexity that often makes IoT projects economically unfeasible. You can launch with predictable costs by managing your cadence of data egresses, only pay for what you use, and scale at your own pace without hitting pricing cliffs. 

For enterprises, our Enterprise Service Agreement rewards you with a greater discount, the greater the commitment you make. By only charging for the number of Events you use, you can easily predict your usage and benefit from volume discounts on both data and hardware 

The Math That Matters: Blues Pricing Examples 

Let’s put real numbers down and take a look at four scenarios that break down Blues costs. There are only three things we charge you for:  

• Notecard devices with 10-year connectivity: Device cost and included data: Between $9.75 and $72 
• Event processing: $0.000750 per event, after 5,000 free per month 
• Enterprise Support, Standard Support is free for all users 

Scenario 1 – Essentials Customers, Low Volume 

In Scenario 1, our customer has 100 devices deployed in the field which include Notecard Cellular, they are waking up to transmit data once every hour. This customer is on the Essentials Plan 

• One-off hardware cost = $45 per Notecard = $4,500 
• Data cost  
  • Each Event costs $0.000750 
  • If you have 100 devices consuming 24 Events per day, in a 30-day month, you will consume 72,000 Events 
  • At the beginning of each month, if your account is less than 5,000 Events, we’ll top it up to 5,000 for free. So, the total number of Events you need to pay for is 67,000 Events  
  • 67,000 Events cost = $50.25 per month 

Total cost in the first year = Approx $5,103 

Total cost after the first year = Approx $603 

Scenario 2 – Essentials Customers, High Volume 

In Scenario 2, our customer has 400 devices deployed in the field, including Notecard Cellular. They are waking up to transmit data once every minute. This customer is on the Essentials Plan, but due to the volume of devices, they also have an Enterprise support package. 

• One-off hardware cost = $45 per Notecard = $18,000 
• Support cost = $10,200 per year 
• Data cost 
  • Each Event costs $0.000750 
  • If you have 400 devices consuming 1,440 Events per day, in a 30-day month, you will consume 17,280,000 Events 
  • At the beginning of each month, if your account is less than 5,000 Events, we’ll top it up to 5,000 for free. So, the total number of Events you need to pay for is 17,275,000 Events  
  • 17,275,000 Events cost = $12,956.25 per month 

Total cost in the first year = Approx $183,675 

Total cost after the first year = Approx $165,675 

However, this cost is dramatically reduced if you commit to an Enterprise Service Agreement. In this scenario, the customer knows they will have these 400 devices deployed for 1 year using 207,300,000 events. Under an ESA, you would receive a 57.4% discount, making each event $0.0003197. The total cloud cost each year would be approximately $66,273.81. And, the discount increases the more Events you commit to. If this customer commits to 3 years, they will receive over 70% discount on their cloud costs! 

Scenario 3 – Enterprise Customers, Low Volume 

In Scenario 3, our customer has been prototyping with Blues and plans to deploy 1,000 devices on day one with Notecard Cellular. They know these devices will transmit once an hour and be deployed for at least 3 years, so they sign an Enterprise Service Agreement.  

• One-off hardware cost = $45 per Notecard = $45,000 
• Support cost = $10,200 per year 
• Data cost 
  • If you have 1,000 devices consuming 24 Events per day, in a 30-day month, you will consume 720,000 Events 
  • Over three years, you would need 25,920,000 Events 
  • When you commit to over 25 million events over the course of the ESA, you receive a 50% discount on Event cost. Events now cost $0.0003750 per Event. 
  • 25,920,000 Events cost = $9,720 

Total Cost in the first year = Approx $58,440 

Total cost in the second year = $13,440 

Total cost in the third year = $13,440 

Scenario 4 – Enterprise Customers, High Volume 

In Scenario 3, our customer has been prototyping with Blues and plans to deploy 1,000 devices on day one with Notecard Cellular. They know these devices will transmit once every five minutes and be deployed for at least 2 years, so they sign an Enterprise Service Agreement. 

• One-off hardware cost = $45 per Notecard = $45,000 
• Support cost = $10,200 per year 
• Data cost 
  • If you have 1,000 devices consuming 288 Events per day, in a 30-day month, you will consume 8,640,000 Events 
  • Over two years, you would need 207,360,000 Events 
  • When you commit to over 200 million events over the course of the ESA, you receive a 57.4% discount on Event cost. Events now cost $0.0003197 per Event. 
  • 207,360,000 Events cost = $66,293 

Total Cost in the first year = Approx $88,346 

Total cost in the second year = $43,346 

The Bottom Line: Pricing That Powers Growth 

Whether you’re deploying 100 devices or 10,000, Blues pricing is designed to support your growth at every stage. From the free 5,000 Events per month that let you prototype without subscription fees, to Enterprise Service Agreements that reward commitment with discounts up to 70%, our model aligns our success with yours. 

Remember the hidden costs we outlined in our “Build or Buy” analysis? Field provisioning at $1,000-3,750 per day. Security infrastructure that requires becoming your own security company. Cloud platform management, regulatory compliance, fulfillment complexity, and the opportunity cost of your engineering team’s expertise. 

Our pricing isn’t just about the cost per Event or the hardware price; it’s about eliminating all those hidden costs while providing transparent, predictable pricing that scales with your success. When your competitors are still building, and paying for, their DIY connectivity infrastructure, you’re already shipping products and capturing market share. 

Ready to see the complete financial analysis? Download our comprehensive guide ‘Build or Buy: The True Cost of Developing Wireless Connected Devices‘ and contact our team for a custom ROI analysis based on your specific deployment requirements.” 

Additional Resources 

• Download our guide: Build or Buy: The True Cost of Developing Wireless Connected Devices 
• Discover the case study: How American Crane & Equipment Corporation is cutting cost by 10x with Blues 
• Read the blog: Build or Buy: The Costs Behind IoT Connectivity 

The post Blues Pricing: Simple, Transparent, and Built for Growth appeared first on Blues.

If you’re in IoT product development, you’ve either said these words or heard them in every budget meeting. It’s a natural instinct. When you see the upfront cost of ready-made solutions, the DIY approach seems financially attractive. When it comes to connecting your devices to the cloud, how hard can it be to build your own cellular connectivity, manage your own SIM cards, and create a cloud platform? 

The reality? Building enterprise-grade IoT connectivity in-house can quickly reach $200,000 in development costs alone. More critically, every dollar spent reinventing connectivity is a dollar not invested in your competitive differentiation. Using your own modem and SIM might be cheaper up front, but Blues’ no subscription policy and volume discounts make it a more economical solution in the long term. 

The New BOM: Understanding True IoT Costs 

Traditional Bill of Materials (BOM) calculations focus on component costs, but they miss the complete picture. Think of your BOM like calculating restaurant costs by only considering ingredient prices. You’re missing rent, labor, utilities, insurance, and everything else that keeps the doors open. 

The “New BOM” for IoT devices includes six critical categories that DIY approaches must address:

1. Provisioning and Deployment – Getting devices working in the field

Field provisioning typically costs between $1,000-3,750 per day when you factor in technician time, travel, accommodations, and configuration work. Your skilled engineers spend days in the field instead of improving your core product. That’s a double cost of both their daily rate and lost innovation opportunity.

2. Security and Remote Updates – Protecting devices and keeping them current

DIY security for IoT devices requires building and maintaining your own security infrastructure. Essentially, becoming your own security company. You need skilled security experts, regular vulnerability assessments, threat monitoring, and rapid response capabilities. 

Blues leverages carrier-grade security infrastructure that handles the heavy lifting. Our hardware-based security includes STSAFE Secure Elements with ECC cryptography and NIST P-384 curves, while “off-the-internet” communications use VPN connections with TLS encryption. You get enterprise-grade security without building or maintaining the expertise internally.

3. Cloud platform management – Infrastructure for device communication

Building your own IoT cloud platform requires selecting providers, designing architecture, implementing protocols, and ongoing maintenance to communicate with your devices and access your data. Blues fundamentally changes this equation. Our Notehub cloud platform enables bi-directional communication with your device. We don’t charge a monthly subscription fee; customers are charged based on the number of Events that flow into Notehub, excluding platform events like geolocation or administrative data, so you only pay for what you use.

4. Testing and certification – Regulatory compliance across markets

Regulatory certification can be a complex maze that varies by region and network. FCC, CE, PTCRB, each require specialized testing with premium laboratory fees. Failed tests can lead to extended certification delays, costing months of market entry time. 

Blues Notecards manage all the processes to secure the data on your devices. With comprehensive certifications already secured, you’re not just buying connectivity, you’re buying guaranteed regulatory compliance across global markets.

5. Fulfillment and logistics – Getting products to customers

Getting your devices into your customers’ hands includes more than shipping the product. You need warehouse space, dedicated staff, sophisticated logistics systems, and activation processes for firmware and security protocols. International expansion adds taxation and tariffs that can add $30-40 in fees to a $100 device, squeezing margins even further. 

Blues simplifies fulfillment by eliminating complex activation steps during the process. Notecards come pre-configured, so you avoid the manual configuration, carrier negotiations, and technical setup that typically happen during fulfillment, reducing complexity and costs.

6. Employee time – The hidden cost of internal expertise

Your engineering team’s expertise is your most valuable asset, but DIY connectivity forces them to become telecommunications experts instead of focusing on your product’s unique value. From building prototypes that require manual SIM configuration to providing ongoing customer support for carrier-related issues, every hour spent on connectivity infrastructure is time not invested in innovation that differentiates your product. 

Blues handles the carrier relationships and connectivity troubleshooting so your team can focus on what creates actual value for customers. Instead of your engineers debugging network settings or your support team fielding connectivity calls, you get dedicated expertise that solves problems faster while keeping your internal resources focused on core product development. 

Build or Buy: The Best Choice for Your Business 

The “build vs. buy” decision for IoT connectivity isn’t only about upfront costs or even the cost of hardware and data; it’s about total economic impact over the product lifecycle. When you account for the hidden costs of DIY connectivity, Blues doesn’t just compete on price; it fundamentally changes the economics of connected product development. 

Your engineering team’s expertise is your most valuable asset. Spending it on reinventing connectivity infrastructure is like a software company building their own data centers instead of using cloud services. It’s technically possible, but economically inefficient. 

Blues handles the connectivity complexity so your team can focus on building great products. Whether you’re a startup bringing your first connected device to market or an enterprise scaling global deployments, the economics work in your favor. So, while your competitors spend 18 months building connectivity infrastructure, you’re shipping products and capturing market share. 

Ready to see the complete financial analysis? Download our comprehensive guide ‘Build or Buy: The True Cost of Developing Wireless Connected Devices‘ and contact our team for a custom ROI analysis based on your specific deployment requirements.” 

Additional Resources 

• Download our guide: Build or Buy: The True Cost of Developing Wireless Connected Devices 
• Discover the case study: How American Crane & Equipment Corporation is cutting cost by 10x with Blues 
• Read the blog: From One-Time Sales to Ongoing Success: The Manufacturer’s Guide to Equipment-as-a-Service 

The post Build or Buy: The Costs Behind IoT Connectivity appeared first on Blues.

Getting Started at Blues: A Message from Our New CEO, Ian Small

I’m Ian Small, and as you may have read in this press release, I’ve recently come aboard Blues as CEO. So, this is a great opportunity to start engaging directly with you – our customers and prospective customers – about what’s happening in the market, the journey you’re on, and how we’re working to help you go even further and even faster.

Ray Ozzie and I were first introduced a couple of years ago by one of Blues’ investors. Since then, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about Ray’s vision for Blues and discussing how our customers are building connected products, embedded intelligence and smart technology. We’ve also spent a lot of time aligning on how advances in AI are going to further enable Blues and our customers to transform their businesses. The stars aligned following Blues’ most recent funding round, and I’m absolutely delighted to be joining Ray and the whole crew as the newest member of the Blues team.

In my first getting-to-know-you meeting at Blues, I was asked what motivates me. Throughout my time in Silicon Valley, it’s been the chance to invent the future. But at Blues, inspired by Ray’s vision, we’re doing something even more meaningful: we are partnering with our customers to invent their future. In early reference calls with customers before I joined (hello again to those I spoke with!), I heard how Blues had helped them overcome challenges in cloud-connecting their products, but what really set the hook for me was finding out how they were creating intelligent new services to change their businesses, and their P&Ls using the data previously trapped in their products.

From the outside, Blues may look like a technology company. But in reality, Blues is a transformation machine. Each customer is using Blues to transform their product category, their line of business, perhaps their entire industry. Tapping our knowledge to develop new services. Integrating our technology to accelerate their future. Leveraging our expertise to navigate their path to production. And ultimately, delivering real, measurable business results.

As I look to the months ahead:

• I see many customers bringing Blues-equipped products to market for the first time, completing their transformation journey from idea to impact. I look forward to working with each of you to make sure your product rollout is successful.
• I see those of you working from prototype stage to production pilot, advancing your transformation journey from hypothesis to proof point. I look forward to working with each of you to ensure your pilot is delivering the value that you expect, and to help you navigate that next big step to product launch.
• And I see some of you just starting your journey. Blues is here to help you get your ideas off the whiteboard and into the market, faster and more cost-effectively than you think possible. Whether you’re a developer, a product owner, or a business leader, please feel free to contact us for a fresh perspective.

“Complexity kills,” Ray reminded himself years ago as he grappled with the challenges of bringing widespread radiation monitoring online near Fukushima – the project that ultimately inspired the founding of Blues. So, he set about eradicating that complexity. Today, Blues delivers an easy-to-implement, flexible, reliable, and secure solution that helps each of you create new business value by augmenting your physical products with new intelligent services.

I think back to my first job in Silicon Valley at Apple, where one of the rallying cries was “Changing the world – one person at a time.” Now that I’m here at Blues, I’m certainly happy to still be changing the world. More than that, I’m incredibly energized by the opportunity to work with you all to help you transform your products, develop new intelligent services, disrupt your industries, and together, change the world – one product at a time.

The post Getting Started at Blues: A Message from Our New CEO, Ian Small appeared first on Blues.

This reimagination of the retail space is why we’re seeing a resurgence in brick-and-mortar. After years of digital domination, consumers (particularly Millennials and Gen Z) are seeking meaningful in-person interactions and community connections. Retailers are cashing in, they’re seeing shoppers stick around 40% longer and boosting sales by up to 30%. Behind nearly every successful experiential retail space? Embedded intelligence. 

What’s experiential retail all about?  

Think of experiential retail as shopping’s glow-up. It’s what happens when stores evolve beyond just being places to buy stuff and become destinations where you actually want to spend time. At its heart, experiential retail transforms traditional shopping into a dynamic journey that prioritizes customer experience over transactions. Instead of lifeless shelves stacked with products, these spaces offer memorable moments that forge real connections between you and brands.  

Physical stores now offer unique experiences that can’t be replicated online, whether through interactive displays that respond to touch, immersive storytelling that brings products to life, community activities that create belonging, or multi-sensory engagement that appeals to all five senses.  

Embedded intelligence serves as the invisible foundation powering this retail trend. By seamlessly blending digital innovation with physical shopping environments, they’re creating connected experiences that feel both magical and organic. Let’s explore how this technology is changing the game for retailers and creating moments that customers can’t wait to share. 

Personalization: Making every customer feel like a VIP 

Shoppers expect experiences as unique as they are. Personalization in experiential retail means creating unique interactions for each customer. It might be customized product recommendations that anticipate needs before they’re expressed, personalized promotions based on purchase history, or staff-assisted shopping that feels like having a personal stylist who genuinely cares about helping you look your best. 

Imagine walking into your favorite store and receiving a gentle notification that the jacket you’ve been eyeing online is available in your size. Embedded intelligence creates connections that feel personal rather than programmatic. 

How embedded intelligence makes personalization possible 

The beauty embedded intelligence is that it makes true personalization achievable at scale, but only when built on a foundation of robust connectivity. Those smart gadgets throughout retail environments: sensors, beacons, and intelligent shelving systems are constantly collecting real-time data and need to transmit it instantly. Cellular, WiFi, and other connectivity options create the invisible highways that carry this crucial information exactly where it needs to go. 

When a customer enters a store equipped with smart devices, the system can recognize their preferences, analyze their shopping history, and deliver relevant information directly to their mobile device or to store associates. Without seamless connectivity, those data points would be stranded on individual devices. But with reliable connectivity linking every node in the network, those isolated data points transform into a cohesive, personalized experience. 

Omnichannel integration: Connecting every touchpoint 

Great retail experiences don’t exist in isolation. They’re part of a continuous story that follows customers wherever they engage with a brand. Today’s consumers might begin researching a product on their phone while commuting, check inventory at a local store during lunch, visit to experience the product in person after work, and ultimately purchase through an app while standing in the physical space (or at a later date). 

Omnichannel integration transforms these discrete interactions into a cohesive experience, ensuring that each touchpoint enriches the overall brand story and deepens the emotional connection rather than feeling like separate encounters. This connectivity enables innovations like endless aisle kiosks that bring the entire catalog into a compact physical footprint, smart checkout systems that remember payment preferences, and location-aware mobile apps that enhance in-store navigation while maintaining connection to customers’ digital profiles. 

Cloud-based synchronization ensures customer data flows securely across touchpoints, making personalized recommendations and seamless transactions possible regardless of where the customer chooses to engage. The result? Retail journeys that feel intuitive rather than fragmented, with each interaction building naturally upon the last. 

How embedded intelligence makes omnichannel integration possible 

What customers experience as a smooth, intuitive retail journey is actually a remarkable feat of connected intelligence, countless data packets finding their way through a physical obstacle course to create seamless experiences. When we talk about breaking down silos between channels, what we’re really talking about is building connectivity bridges that are so reliable, so resilient to physical challenges, that customers never have to think about them at all. 

But here’s something many retailers and product designers overlook: retail environments are surprisingly hostile to connectivity. Concrete walls, metal shelving units, densely packed clothing racks, and constantly changing store layouts create connectivity dead zones that can cripple even the most sophisticated IoT systems. What works perfectly in the lab often falls apart when deployed in an actual store filled with physical barriers and interference. 

Retailers embracing embedded intelligence need connectivity solutions specifically designed to overcome these physical challenges. Bluetooth beacons, RFID tags, and smart sensors create a digital bridge between online and offline worlds, but that bridge is built on dependable connectivity that can navigate through or around retail infrastructure barriers. 

Interactive technology: bringing products to life 

The days of passive product displays are behind us. Today’s most engaging retail environments invite active participation through technology that responds, adapts, and engages. 

Digital innovations like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and smart mirrors transform static displays into dynamic experiences where customers can visualize products in context, virtually try items before purchase, and receive tailored recommendations that feel like having a knowledgeable friend offering advice. 

Smart shelves equipped with electronic shelf labels (ESLs) automatically update pricing, trigger restocking notifications, and provide instant product information, eliminating frustrating friction points in the customer journey. Digital signage delivers dynamic content based on contextual factors like time of day, inventory levels, or even weather conditions, ensuring that information is always relevant and timely. 

Interactive kiosks and displays respond to customer presence, offering wayfinding assistance, detailed product information, or promotional offers at that critical moment of decision. These technologies create a responsive environment that feels attentive to customer needs without requiring constant human intervention. 

How embedded intelligence makes interactive technology possible 

Interactive retail technologies present a unique connectivity challenge that goes beyond what’s needed for personalization or omnichannel systems. Here’s why: interactive elements require real-time, bidirectional data flow with virtually zero latency. When a customer waves at a motion-sensing display or touches an interactive screen, that split-second delay between action and response makes the difference between “wow, that’s responsive!” and “is this thing working?” 

The sheer data volume puts enormous pressure on connectivity infrastructure. A single smart mirror running augmented reality clothing try-ons processes hundreds of megabytes in real-time, analyzing body movements, rendering graphics, and communicating with inventory systems simultaneously. A store with multiple interactive technologies can easily saturate standard connectivity solutions, especially during peak hours. 

Even power availability complicates matters. Many retail spaces weren’t designed with dozens of power-hungry interactive displays in mind. This often means these devices need to operate with power efficiency in mind, which directly impacts their connectivity options. A solution that works for an always-plugged-in system might drain batteries too quickly in a portable interactive device. 

The most successful interactive implementations use connectivity solutions specifically engineered for these demanding environments, technologies that can maintain reliable connections despite physical barriers, handle massive data throughput without bottlenecks, and respond instantly to customer interactions. Often this means deliberately layering connectivity options, with Cellular and WiFi working together to ensure there’s always a reliable path for data flow. 

When retailers get interactive technology connectivity right, the results are transformative. These seamless interactions don’t just impress customers; they make technology an intuitive extension of the physical environment rather than an obvious layer sitting on top of it. 

Creating connections that matter 

Connection is the heart of embedded intelligence for retail. We’ve explored some of the ways customers crave meaningful connections that go beyond transactions, and how smart developers are making embedded intelligence that satisfies them.  

Ready to get to work reimagining your retail space? Our comprehensive white paper: “Cultural Transformation: How Social and Consumer Trends Are Driving IoT Innovation in Retail,” unpacks more of the customer behaviors driving the future of retail IoT. Download it today to learn how your organization can leverage embedded intelligence to create unforgettable retail experiences that keep customers coming back. 

Additional Resources 

• Build or Buy: Discover the true cost of developing cloud connected devices 

• Finding the Right Partner to Bring Your Product to Marketing 

• Get started building your prototype with Blues: Purchase a Dev Kit 

The post What Shoppers Really Want: Embedded Intelligence for Experiential Retail appeared first on Blues.

Why Satellite Matters for Fleet Management 

The transportation industry has been stuck in the connectivity dark ages. Fleet operators are losing visibility of their vehicles at an alarming rate; 44% report losing track of vehicles monthly, resulting in revenue losses exceeding $1 million annually for logistics companies.  

What makes transportation unique is its mobile nature across diverse geographies. Unlike fixed applications, vehicles regularly traverse rural highways, mountain passes, international borders, and urban canyons. This mobility creates distinctive challenges: cross-border roaming complications that trigger unpredictable costs, regulatory compliance requirements that differ by jurisdiction, and cargo monitoring needs that can’t tolerate connectivity gaps. 

As your customers travel into more diverse operating environments, they’re demanding products with built-in resilience against these connectivity failures. The market is clearly signaling that connectivity must evolve to be a continuous experience that persists across all environments. 

The convergence of satellite and cellular connectivity technologies creates a new technical foundation that transportation product designers need to understand. With standardized hardware interfaces, intelligent network-switching, and unified data management, converged connectivity is rapidly becoming the expected standard in transportation rather than a premium option. This shift opens up new opportunities more reliable connectivity, but it also means current designs without satellite capabilities risk becoming obsolete.  

Five critical satellite technology developments that will shape your product strategy 

This inside scoop should guide product developers as they plan how to adapt to advances in satellite technology. Lucky for you, we’ve got the roadmap you need to future-proof your products. Let’s unpack some of the advancements in satellite connectivity that are accelerating innovation in transportation IoT. 

LEO constellations reshape hardware design (2025-2033) 

For transportation companies operating across diverse geographies, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations are eliminating the concept of coverage “blind spots.” The rapid deployment of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations is reshaping connectivity possibilities for IoT and embedded devices. Recent forecasts project an average of over 3,700 satellites launched annually between 2024 and 2033; that’s approximately 10 satellites per day! It’s particularly important to note that just four commercial broadband non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) mega-constellations (Starlink, Kuiper, G60, and GuoWang) will account for 65% of the satellites deployed in this period. 

The rapid increase in satellite launches creates both opportunities and challenges for hardware manufacturers. Companies making satellite connection (non-terrestrial network) chips and modems are becoming more important as device makers integrate satellite connectivity into their products. Two approaches are emerging: using specialized components in phones to process satellite signals or upgrading satellites to communicate using standards that work with regular phones. The satellite-upgrading approach faces regulatory hurdles about signal usage, leaving room for the chip-first solution to advance quickly because it’s easier to bring to market. For connected device manufacturers, you will need to consider how to include versatile radio components that can connect with these expanding networks while maintaining power efficiency and cost effectiveness.

5G meets satellite in new chipsets (2025 and beyond) 

The integration of 5G with satellite networks aims to provide 5G connectivity directly from space. We’re already seeing concrete progress, with companies like AST SpaceMobile establishing 5G voice and data connections from standard unmodified smartphones directly to LEO satellites, while Starlink plans to introduce voice and data capabilities for existing LTE phones in 2025. 

For device manufacturers, this combination means redesigning antennas and chipset architectures. The main challenges will be creating components that can seamlessly switch between ground-based and satellite networks, handle different latency profiles, and optimize power usage. Converged connectivity products offer a chance to build more integrated hardware that uses both cellular and satellite connectivity within a single system. 

Miniaturization enables new form factors (2025 and beyond) 

The trend toward smaller, more efficient satellite components is changing how connectivity hardware integrates into vehicles. The miniaturization of satellites, often referred to as “nanosatellites” or “cubesats,” is making them cheaper to produce, faster to develop, and less costly to launch than traditional satellites, democratizing access to space for a wider range of organizations. 

This trend toward minaturization applies to ground equipment too. New modular designs, like Notecard Cellular, serve as basic building blocks that fit easily into many types of IoT devices. Connection standards like the M.2 edge connector are becoming common across both cellular and satellite modules, making hardware design simpler. For product designers, this creates opportunities to build smaller, more energy-efficient devices with multiple connection options without adding much size, weight, or cost. When paired with advances in 3D printing and materials science, these compact components allow for new device shapes and uses that weren’t possible before. 

Edge computing moves to orbit (2026) 

The concept of edge computing is extending beyond terrestrial networks into space, giving fleet operators new options for managing the massive data volumes generated by connected vehicles. Companies like KaleidEO are planning to launch satellites equipped with edge computing capabilities by 2026. These satellites will be able to process data directly in orbit, significantly reducing latency and bandwidth usage while enabling more efficient data handling for applications such as Earth observation and environmental monitoring. 

Similarly, a converged connectivity system might use cellular networks for data-heavy tasks when possible, and satellite connections for important but less data heavy tasks when cellular isn’t available. Product designers should think about how this edge computing in space could enable new ways to process data, compress information, and selectively send only what’s needed. 

AI rewrites networking protocols (2026) 

Artificial Intelligence is now being built into satellite systems, creating new options for intelligent networking and improving communication protocols. AI and machine learning are used in both space systems and ground stations, helping with autonomous operations, improved situational awareness, and faster decision-making. For fleet managers, this allows for smarter data routing, network control, and the ability to predict maintenance needs before problems occur. 

Looking ahead, we can expect generative AI to influence satellite technology. Promising uses include designing better satellites, AI adjusts features like shape, size, and setup to match mission needs to create lighter and less expensive designs. AI can also improve image analysis, signal processing, and finding unusual patterns by pulling important information from complex data. For IoT product developers, this means creating systems that can work with AI-powered networks and potentially change how they send data to take advantage of AI-enhanced routing and processing abilities. 

Mapping the future of your connected fleets  

The innovations we’ve explored, from LEO constellations to AI-driven networking, are the high-octane fuel powering the next five years of IoT development. The manufacturers who integrate hybrid connectivity solutions into their development won’t just navigate the coming technological shifts; they’ll lead the fleet!  

Don’t let your connected products run out of gas before they even hit the open road. Download our comprehensive white paper on hybrid connectivity for fleet management and get the roadmap to the technical foundations driving your next generation of products. 

Additional Resources 

• Custom vs Hyperscale: Untangling the EVSE Connectivity Dilemma  

• Fueling the Future of AI with Optimized Data Streams 

• Find an example project to accelerate your transportation product 

The post Satellite Connectivity Forecast: 5 Trends Product Managers Need to Know appeared first on Blues.