Canonical to offer powerful ARM 64-bit IoT developer environment

Today, Canonical announced that it will create an ARM 64 developer environment based on Ubuntu Core and on the DragonBoard™ 410c by Arrow Electronics, which features the 64-bit Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 410 quad-core processor, a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated. This will be the very first ARM-based 64-bit development board and SoC available for Ubuntu Core, offering makers and Internet of Things (IoT) innovators an affordable, powerful yet flexible development environment, which can scale from ARM-based servers to embedded solutions. This offering builds on the DragonBoard 410c positioning as a standardised development board for the ARM ecosystem under the umbrella of Linaro’s open source 96Boards program.

Canonical also announced that it will make the Dragonboard 410c its reference platform for Ubuntu Core on ARM 64-bit. This means that future updates of the OS will be available for the DragonBoard 410c, making a stable development environment. The combination makes it an ideal platform for developers looking for a flexible way to develop a wide variety of applications – everything from prototyping, next-generation robots, medical devices, building automation, digital signage, and much more.

“We are thrilled that Canonical is working to expand the Dragonboard ecosystem by providing an affordable, accessible and flexible way via snappy Ubuntu Core for developers to create new IoT solutions using the low-cost, high-performance DragonBoard 410c as a reference platform in an ARM 64-bit environment,” said Tia Cassett, senior director, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

The Dragonboard 410c is the size of a credit card; originally designed to galvanise and inspire IoT developers and innovators by providing a high performance, affordable platform to form the basis of a host of scalable IoT solutions. This ‘democratisation’ of the business of IoT is designed to breathe life into great ‘things’ ideas that otherwise, without the proper funding, or access to technology, may never come to fruition. The ‘c’ in 410c stands for ‘community’ – giving developers the tools to work on prototypes without the cost, and provide a smooth path to commercialization through production ready off-the-shelf or custom system-on-modules based on the Snapdragon 410 processor.

Jon Melamut, VP Commercial Devices Operations, Canonical said: “Adopting the DragonBoard 410c as our ARM 64-bit reference platform is proof of our commitment to the open platform community surrounding the board. Via snappy Ubuntu Core and the DragonBoard 410c, developers will have an affordable, accessible and flexible way to create new IoT solutions”.

‘snappy’ Ubuntu Core offers makers a non-compromised environment where they can build applications that fully leverage the power of the processor while providing a safe haven where multiple apps can easily and securely run on the same device. The combination of the two products creates a powerful developer environment for makers and professionals. Both companies will collaborate to help the developer community build the next generation of internet connected things.

The Ubuntu Core image for the Snapdragon 410 will be available for download on the 96Boards.org website, where documentation and support will be centralised to support developers starting projects on Ubuntu Core and Snapdragon 410. The DragonBoard 410c is available for the purchase price of $75 at www.arrow.com/dragonboard410c.