ARM, a semiconductor supplier, and STMicroelectronics today announced that ST has joined the ARM mbed Project. The agreement will give developers using ST’s STM32 microcontroller range, based on the ARM Cortex-M-based processor series free access to the mbed software, development tools and online collaboration platform, enabling them to realize their own visions for the new wave of intelligent electronics products.

ARM mbed is a collaborative industry project to nurture the Internet of Things (IoT) and meet the needs of a new professional developer audience. It delivers free tools and fundamental open-source hardware and software building blocks for the rapid development of innovative ARM-based devices. The project also enables the easy integration of connectivity, sensor and cloud-service software components and the tools and support for a dynamic, collaborative developer and partner ecosystem.

ST’s STM32 microcontroller range starts at just $0.32 and the MCUs address the full spectrum of applications from simple products to entire platform solutions. Combined with the mbed platform, this offers software portability, diverse connectivity options and a rapid development approach for a full range of IoT applications.

“The mbed project is bringing together leading technology companies to create a step change in productivity for embedded device development,” said Simon Ford, director, IoT Platforms, ARM. “We have learned from the web and smartphone revolutions that by building an open-source software platform with reusable software components and free development and collaboration tools, we can enable the creation of IoT and smart devices on a previously unimagined scale.”

“By joining the mbed project, ST is enabling developers across diverse markets to quickly prototype and create new products based on leading-edge STM32 microcontrollers,” said Daniel Colonna, Microcontrollers Marketing Director at ST. “The support for mbed will be launched in Q1 with a brand new line of STM32 microcontroller development boards to provide a consistent way to develop with devices across the STM32 portfolio at hardware and software levels.”

The first mbed-enabled STM32 development boards will be launched in February 2014, and support for other boards and targets will follow.