From Digi: "Sum of Smarts: Security, Reliability, Certifications & ROI"

Digi XBee3’s smart security, reliability and certifications all add up to the very smartest return on your investment. While you’re speeding your product to market with your mind at ease, you’re also delivering more funds to the bottom line. Products built with Digi XBee3 can be released sooner and will run more smoothly, creating revenue earlier while greatly reducing costs over the long-term. Here’s how it all adds up in your favor:

Smart Security

Digi XBee3 offers comprehensive security with flexible options to match your application’s needs. Digi TrustFence™ is a suite of security features that provides system protection, authentication and data privacy inside every Digi XBee3.

• Secure Boot ensures that only properly signed and authorized firmware will run on your modules. Any attempt to load non-approved firmware will fail immediately since firmware is checked both during initial installation and at every runtime.
• Authentication services are available for both data and device identity to ensure that only your actual devices can send their real data into your system, with rouge devices or modified data locked out by default. Secure Connections encrypt your data in transit and ensure data integrity over the air.
• Electronic security must always be combined with physical security so that physical access to a single device can’t supply access to your entire network. Digi XBee3’s Protected Ports harden and control access to I/O ports preventing local intrusion and keeping your security keys and private information locked down even when your device can’t be.
• That physical protection doesn’t stop on the outside. By implementing Secured Storage, Digi XBee3 performs file system level encryption so that sensitive information stays private no matter what. The security landscape is constantly changing, so Digi’s security team constantly evaluates new risks and can quickly supply authorized firmware updates to address any emerging concerns. Digi XBee3’s built-in smart security speeds development, protects deployments and ensures your organization can stay focused on what it does best.

Smart Reliability

Great IoT solutions are always available, always up-to-date and always accurate. Digi XBee3 delivers the whole package, with predictable high-quality manufacturing you can depend on, and long product lifecycles all from a stable partner. Smart Reliability is designed into Digi XBee3 on many levels. Modules communicate reliably right out of the box to help speed the evaluation process as well as providing a known reliable state to fall back on throughout development.

• Standards-Based – Standard physical and electrical pinouts and a common command set mean that your code and designs work reliably even when supporting multiple protocols. It also means that Digi XBee3 will operate reliably on a variety of development boards available from third-party vendors in addition to the standard reference models provided by Digi International.
• Mesh Networking – Connection reliability features are provided for all Digi XBee3 variants. Mesh protocols such as DigiMesh and ZigBee offer reliable ad-hoc network creation in a self-healing mesh, so that no unit ever becomes a single point of failure.
• Digi SureLink™ – Cellular connections stay dependable with automatic retries, connection monitoring and cloud-level alerts so your staff is informed of any outages in the network before your customers are even aware. All Digi XBee3 modules come with a full one-year warranty from a company that’s 
• provided reliable, award-winning communications equipment for over 30 years.

Smart Certifications

Digi XBee3 modules carry international end-device certifications to permit implementation around the globe, often without any further efforts. This can save months of time, tens of thousands in expenditures and help lock down delivery dates. In many cases, Digi XBee3 can be properly included in a product simply by following labeling guidelines, with no additional testing or confirmation required. This will have a direct impact on the bottom line and help maintain focus on building great product rather than struggling to satisfy regulators.

Smart ROI

Let’s do the math. Smart Security + Smart Reliability + Smart Certifications equals the Smartest ROI. Having each of these features built in to Digi XBee3 lowers your non-recurring engineering (NRE) costs while speeding time to market. Faster to market means faster to revenue. You’ll be spending less to get to market sooner. Smart Reliability protects your investment in the field, improving service while reducing or eliminating maintenance expenses. Smart Security deploys quickly and prevents unwanted disruptions, keeping customers happy and revenue flowing unimpeded. Smart Programmability can eliminate unneeded external components and dramatically reduce data costs. Smart Power management allows smaller and less costly batteries to do the work of larger more expensive ones. It also extends battery replacement cycles, lowering ongoing maintenance expenses. You can see why we call Digi XBee3 smart!

Use Case

Here’s an example showing how all of this comes together:

Modern vehicles use electronic networks to communicate between components inside your car. For example, a speed sensor near the transmission sends digitized data over the car’s onboard network to an electronic speedometer display—mechanical connections are a thing of the past. Nearly everything in the car communicates with data, from the gas pedal to the windows. All this data is available through standardized ports, though the format and features vary by manufacturer and model.

A technology startup wants to connect car owners with all the electronic data being generated by their vehicle. They specify a cellular-connected product that sends data from the vehicle’s standard OBD-II port to the cloud. The data must be kept secure in transit, with cloud server access keys stored on the device. Their investors need to see revenue as quickly as possible, therefore development must be fast, and certification delays should be eliminated to meet the schedule and budget. The device should be unobtrusive so components need to be small. Depending upon region and carrier, different cellular modules will be required, so common physical and electronic footprints are mandatory. The automotive environment is challenging; therefore high reliability is essential to product success. Watch this video for more Digi XBee3 Cellular use cases explained:

Digi XBee3 Cellular is the perfect fit. It is already end-device certified so governmental and carrier approval is in place, saving perhaps 3 months on the development schedule. The Digi XBee3 standard command set and API frames, along with its supporting libraries speed up the code-writing and debugging process tremendously. Digi TrustFence security is built right in, including both the SSL/TLS encryption and the secure storage required for protecting cloud authentication keys on the device itself. The common device footprint makes swapping protocols a breeze. Changing an LTE Cat 1 solution to 3G or NB-IoT is as simple as plugging in a new module. The Smart Size and flexible antenna options all help keep the device itself unobtrusive, a plus for customer satisfaction. The whole solution is backed up by Digi’s ongoing reliability and security monitoring efforts, as well as the company’s long product life cycles that protect against component obsolescence. Now drivers can read vehicle diagnostics and also gain access to customizing button-press audio feedback, improving engine tuning or even creating their own remote ignition system. This startup is on its way to getting the best return on their innovation investment–because Digi XBee3 summed up to being the Smartest solution.

Source: https://www.digi.com/blog/xbee/sum-of-smarts-security-reliability-certifications-roi/