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Partner Profile: Blues (formerly Blues Wireless)

Category: IoT Connectivity / Hardware-as-a-Service Founder: Ray Ozzie (Software visionary, creator of Lotus Notes, former Microsoft Chief Software Architect). Origin: Recommended by Skylo (May 2026). Website: blues.com

Overview

Blues is an IoT infrastructure company focused on eliminating the complexity of cellular and satellite connectivity. Their approach is software-centric ("The Notecard"), treating hardware as a secure co-processor that handles all radio and security layers through a JSON API.

Strategic Importance for TuVaca

Blues offers an accelerated path for the Leader Node (Cowbell) backhaul by integrating Skylo (NTN), LTE-M, and WiFi into a single "Lego-like" module.

Key Technical Assets:

  • Notecard for Skylo: $89 module with bundled 10-year data (LTE-M/NB-IoT + 10KB Sat).
  • JSON-in, JSON-out: No AT commands. Simple I2C/UART communication.
  • Blues Mojo (More Joules): A high-precision Coulomb counter accessory for real-time energy consumption awareness in the field.
  • Outboard DFU: Ability to update the host MCU firmware over the satellite/cellular link via the Notecard.

The "Sovereignty" Trade-off

  • The Advantage: Extreme speed-to-market. Bypasses the current instability/complexity of raw 3GPP NTN firmware stacks.
  • The Risk (Lock-in): Data must pass through Notehub.io (Blues Cloud). This creates a dependency on a third-party US-based SaaS platform, which may conflict with the "Sovereign Digital Twin" goals of JAAB Tech.

Interaction History

  • 2026-05-08: Initial research and alignment with "Anibal" strategic pivot.
  • Next Week: Meeting scheduled with Blues team (via Skylo referral).

📋 Questions for the Upcoming Meeting

1. Data Sovereignty & Infrastructure

  • Private Notehub: Do you offer a "Self-Hosted" or "Air-Gapped" version of Notehub for projects requiring total data sovereignty (e.g., government-backed livestock traceability)?
  • Direct-to-Cloud: Is there a path to bypass Notehub entirely and send encrypted JSON payloads directly from the Notecard to our own AWS/Azure/Local endpoint?

2. Energy & Hardware (Mojo)

  • Stand-alone Mojo: Can the Mojo (Coulomb counter) be used with a standard Nordic nRF52/nRF91 host without a Notecard, or is the card.power API mandatory for reading the data?
  • Consumption Benchmarks: What is the real-world battery impact of the Skylo search-and-sync cycle on the Notecard for Skylo compared to a standard NB-IoT cycle?

3. Economics & Scale

  • Volume Pricing: What is the pricing roadmap for the Notecard for Skylo at quantities of 5,000+ (Leader Node scale)?
  • PCBA/Chip-down: Do you offer the Notecard logic as a reference design or "chip-down" license to reduce height and weight for animal wearables?

4. Technical Implementation

  • Zephyr Integration: Do you have an official Zephyr RTOS driver or module for the Notecard API, or is it purely custom I2C?
  • Satellite Latency: What is the typical end-to-end latency for a 100-byte "Note" sent via Skylo NTN through Notehub?