VanillaPlus Magazine June-July 2012 Edition

PROFIT FROM A WORLD OF CONNECTED DEVICES

J U N E - J U LY 2 0 1 2

M2M Now: ISSN 2046-5882

VOLUME 2

ISSUE 3

4-PAGE REVIEW OF

M

TALKING HEADS

Telit’s CEO consolidates new M2M position with portfolio expansion and acquisitions TELEHEALTH ISSUE: Telehealth needs nursing to fruition + Secure M2M technology for a healthier and safer life

THE C-LEVEL INTERVIEW Can M2M stop Europe’s lights going out?

M2M & THE ENVIRONMENT It makes business sense to use M2M to go ‘green’

RESEARCH REPORT M Smart Igloos, Connected Trees and Me - What are they on at Ericsson Research?

M M2M

technology prevents HIV for thousands of Mozambique infants

ALSO INSIDE! Global Alliance of 7 Tier One ‘Co-Operators’ • The Contract Hot List • Educate the Market to want Smart Meters• ‘Fragmented’ M2M market starts to mature; New Orleans Review • The Latest Contract, Market, People & Product News • News & Videos at www.m2mnow.biz

Enabling connected services We have over 10 years of experience in providing premium M2M solutions for business and life critical applications.

For more information, please contact salesconnexion@telenor.com or visit telenorconnexion.com

CONTENTS

Check Out Our Website!

www.m2mnow.biz CONTENTS

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3

COMMENT – by the Editor, Jeremy Cowan 4

TALKING HEADS

M2M market maturity? Not yet, but I can hear it coming

MARKET NEWS

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Seven Tier One network operators form an M2M alliance. But where’s AT&T?

PRODUCT NEWS

6

New COMPRION OTA test system; NetComm Wireless partners with Grid Net on 3G

COMPANY NEWS

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u-blox buys Cognovo; Sierra Wireless bags Sagemcom M2M; ABB wins Tropos

15

CONTRACT NEWS

INTERNATIONAL CTIA WIRELESS 2012 REVIEW

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Telefonica wins a big G4S deal; Vodafone celebrates a US government supply first

THE CONTRACT HOT LIST & CONTRACT NEWS

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The industry’s only Contract Listing; Plus Telit helps Sequoia save lives in Africa

RESEARCH ANALYSIS

10

Whatever they’re on at Ericsson Research in Sweden we could all do with some

PEOPLE NEWS

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ACCESS Co. Ltd; Beecham Research & M2M Now; Red Bend; and Laird Technologies

TALKING HEADS

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CEO, Oozi Cats describes Telit’s expanding portfolio and new role in M2M

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INTERNATIONAL CTIA WIRELESS 2012 REVIEW

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‘Fragmented’ M2M market starts to mature amid New Orleans’ wireless sophistication

C-LEVEL INTERVIEW

C-LEVEL INTERVIEW

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Can M2M stop Europe’s lights going out? Maingate’s CEO, Baard Eilertsen tells it straight

EXPERT OPINION: MANAGED SERVICES

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Datatrade. Never heard of them? We think you’ll be hearing them a lot more soon

EXPERT OPINION: M2M & THE ENVIRONMENT

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Ryan Keefe explains how using M2M to go ‘green’ makes business sense

EXPERT OPINION: TELEHEALTH

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We all need secure M2M technology for a healthier, safer life, says Manfed Kube

E-HEALTH REPORT

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Steve Rogerson finds that Telehealth needs nursing to fruition

SMART METERING FORUM REVIEW

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You have to educate the market to want smart meters, and then improve their roll-out

REAR VIEW MIRROR

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Lisa Arrowsmith offers an analyst perspective of In-Home electricity Displays

Cover Photo: Oozi Cats, CEO and founder of Telit Wireless Solutions. Telit Wireless Solutions is a brand of Telit Communications PLC (AIM: TCM), an enabler of machine-tomachine (M2M) communications worldwide providing wireless module technology, M2M managed services and value added services, including connectivity.

Exclusively dedicated to M2M with more than 12 years of experience in the market, the company constantly enhances its technology leadership with six R&D centres across the globe. Telit offers an extensive portfolio of the highest quality cellular, short-range RF, and GNSS modules, available in over 80 countries. By supplying scalable products that are interchangeable across families, technologies and generations, Telit is able to keep development costs low and protect customers' design investments. www.telit.com

S D DEVICE ONNECTE RLD OF C 2046-5882 ROM A WO M2M Now: ISSN PROFIT F U LY 2 0 1 2 JUNE - J

ISSUE 3 VOLUME

OF 4-PAGE REVIEW

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© WeKnow Media Ltd 2012 M

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SMART METERING FORUM REVIEW

TALKING S tes new HEADcons olida

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, stored, published or in any way reproduced without the prior written consent of the Publisher.

M2M Now is distributed free to selected named individuals worldwide who meet the Publisher's terms of Circulation Control. If you would like to apply for a regular free copy supplied at the Publisher's discretion visit www.m2mnow.biz If you do not qualify for a free subscription, paid subscriptions can be obtained. Subscriptions for 5 issues per year cost £48.00 worldwide (or US$79 / €59) including post and packing. M2M Now magazine is published 5 times a year.

Telit’s CEO with portfolio M2M position acquisitions expansion and ISSUE: TELEHEALTH Telehealth needs nursing to fruition + technology for Secure M2M safer life a healthier and

THE C-LEVEL INTERVIEW

Europe’s Can M2M stop lights going out?

M2M & THE NT ENVIRONME sense s

s It makes busines ‘green’ go to use M2M to

RT M RESEARCH REPO Smart Igloos, Connected Trees are and Me - What n they on at Ericsso ch? h?

Resear Researc

E!

ology M M2M techn for prevents HIV of thousands infants Mozambique

ALSO INSID t Hot List • • The Contrac ‘Co-Operators’ nted’ M2M market of 7 Tier One Meters• ‘Fragme Global Alliance t, Market, to want Smart Latest Contrac Educate the Market Orleans Review • The .biz New www.m2mnow starts to mature; News • News & Videos at t People & Produc

CONTENTS

Send your News to the Editor: j.cowan@m2mnow.biz • www.m2mnow.biz

M2M Now June - July 2012

3

COMMENT

M2M market maturity?

Not yet, but I can hear it coming The industry we call ‘M2M’ communications has been around for more than 20 years, yet many say it has failed so far to achieve maturity. However, there are intriguing signs that this diverse, complex business is getting its collective act together and that we may be at a watershed with underperformance in the valley behind us and peaks of profitable growth, recognised standards, and effective alliances ahead.

M2M must scale and repeat for profit

Jeremy Cowan

In the 18 months since the launch of M2M Now we’ve regularly stressed the importance of economies of scale, repeatable business models (not re-inventing them for every new client), and a profit focus. Without these, no business can truly grow up. When we interviewed him in New Orleans recently (see pages 15-18), Alex Brisbourne, a recognised M2M business leader and the president & COO of KORE Telematics, was adamant that the M2M sector was still immature, and – also interviewed at CTIA – Kanwalinder Singh, of Qualcomm referred to it as “fragmented”. The task now he said, is “making sure everyone gets a return on their investment”. This isn’t just altruism, it’s good sense – business grows faster for everyone in a win-win market.

Greater scale is being achieved among M2M-related businesses every day, as even a glance at the number of acquisitions will tell you (see Company News, page 7). But there’s a growing sense of collaboration, too. In our News Analysis (page 5) we report the latest and perhaps the most globally significant of a series of operator alliances. The latest ‘Co-Operators’ as we have dubbed them are KPN, NTT docomo, Rogers Wireless, SingTel, Telefonica, Telstra and VimpelCom. Given that all of these are Jasper Wireless platform users, the only question is why AT&T is not participating to provide US coverage. The official line is that the US carriers are “still in discussions around the M2M alliances” – watch this space.

Are meaningful standards going to impact on the M2M scene? Call me a cynic (you won’t be the first) but too often fast evolving markets like this seem to remain one step ahead of the standards bodies. I would be delighted to be proved wrong, but I’m still waiting for ATIS & TIA in the US, ETSI in Europe, ARIB and TTC in Japan, CCSA in China, and South Korea’s TTA to demonstrate that they can unify the disparate activities of M2M system vendors, integrators and service providers.

So, have we reached a state of maturity in M2M yet? In the absence of such standards, I’d say not. But all of these steps make me think we’re getting closer. Future business historians may look back at 2012/13 and say that it was M2M’s Tipping Point.

EDITORIAL ADVISORS EDITOR & PUBLISHER Jeremy Cowan Tel: +44 (0) 1420 588638 j.cowan@m2mnow.biz DIGITAL EDITOR Nathalie Bisnar Tel: +44 (0) 1732 808690 n.bisnar@m2mnow.biz BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Cherisse Draper Tel: +44 (0) 1732 897646 c.draper@m2mnow.biz OPERATIONS & EVENTS DIRECTOR Charlie Bisnar Tel: +44 (0) 1732 897641 charlie@vanillaplus.com

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Alexander Bufalino, SVP, Global Marketing, Telit.

Robin DukeWoolley, CEO, Beecham Research

Baard Eilertsen, President & CEO, Maingate

M2M Now is distributed free to selected named individuals worldwide who meet the Publisher's terms of Circulation Control. If you would like to apply for a regular free copy supplied at the Publisher's discretion visit www.m2mnow.biz If you do not qualify for a free subscription, paid subscriptions can be obtained. Subscriptions for 5 issues per year cost £48.00 worldwide (or US$79 / €59) including post and packing.

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M2M Now June - July 2012

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© WeKnow Media Ltd 2012

Tony Jackson, Director, Telecoms, Convergys Smart Revenue Solutions

Gwenn Larsson, Head of Marketing, Telenor Connexion

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Fergus O'Reilly, Chief Solution Expert, SAP Consume to Cash

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, stored, published or in any way reproduced without the prior written consent of the Publisher M2M Now: ISSN 2046-5882

COMMENT

MARKET NEWS

Seven Tier One network operators form an M2M alliance, but where’s AT&T? An alliance of seven tier one mobile and fixed line operators – KPN, NTT docomo, Rogers, SingTel, Telefónica, Telstra and Vimpelcom – has been formed to enhance their M2M businesses.

The group envisages that the significant scale and reach resulting from co-operation these operators will be important in addressing the complex and fragmented nature of the M2M market. Specifically, the alliance covers technological co-operation to enable a “global, unique and seamless solution for the provision of communications to multinational customers requiring M2M devices connectivity”. (See Comment, p4)

For more on this story, including background on the seven M2M ‘Cooperators’, go to: http://bit.ly/NdPi3j

The alliance expects that, as a result of this collaboration, all the participant companies will increase their capability to offer better value propositions to their respective customers in different markets and geographies.

In providing a global product featuring a unique SIM, a united web interface and centralised management of status and usage of M2M devices globally (via the Jasper Wireless Control Center) the global alliance is expected to reduce costs and enhance users’ experience and convenience.

“Standardised global service, with local support is the Holy Grail in M2M and mobile operator alliances are a vital activity to make this a reality.

The Jasper Wireless platform operationalises these kinds of alliances – allowing operators to agree and manage terms while giving the customer exactly what they need to scale their connected device business. Customers can get a single SIM, single API and single point of visibility and control all without the complexity typically associated with working across disparate operators,” said Macario Namie, VP of Marketing, Jasper Wireless.

The goal is to stimulate the sale of M2M communications services across a number of distinct high-potential industries such as consumer electronics, automotive, and energy efficiency, among others. This will, it is said, enable the development of new business models, the creation of new products and services and a reduction in operational costs for these target industries.

The alliance members will continuously cooperate with the aim of enhancing the development of the market dynamics and the enrichment of the customer experiences, with a specific focus on meeting the expectations and requirements of existing and potential global M2M customers.

www.orga-systems.com

Commenting to M2M Now on the announcement, Robin Duke-Woolley, CEO of Beecham Research said, “M2M is increasingly an international business requiring international network coverage, whereas the mobile handset business is essentially a national business with roaming. Our research surveys among M2M users point strongly towards multi-country network coverage being essential for their future needs and therefore essential for the growth of the market. This type of agreement helps to fulfil this need with a single network services platform, thereby promoting a common user experience. This is wholly beneficial to market needs and we strongly welcome this initiative.”

Jamie Moss, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, said, “While interoperability and collaboration as a technical possibility is important, a statement of actual intent by carriers to work together in practice is far more so. It underscores the two most critical features of the M2M market, the need to establish partnership and the need to focus on one’s own core competency for the common benefit of all involved. Other high-profile carrier collaborations created specifically for the sake of the machine-to-machine industry include the strategic alliance between Vodafone and Verizon; and the M2M Service Alliance between Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, TeliaSonera, Everything Everywhere and Sprint.”

“A significant advantage of this partnership, however, is addressing roaming challenges, especially in M2M industries such as automotive and logistics applications (e.g. regional and international logistics track & trace applications),” notes Yiru Zhong, senior industry analyst for ICT practice, Europe at Frost & Sullivan. “The partners will also benefit from scale arguments when negotiating M2M devices, modules, API standardisation and M2M platform roadmap development. Moreover, these M2M telcos will differentiate themselves from other M2M service providers.”

“I would be only cautiously optimistic about this alliance. It sounds like yet another partnership to defragment the ecosystem. However, overcoming roaming challenges are an immediate plus for M2M telcos focusing on M2M connectivity revenue. Yet, without AT&T’s participation in the alliance, which is also a Jasper Wireless customer, the alliance leaves out roaming possibilities in the United States.

The motivation behind this alliance is intriguing,” she adds.

M2M Now June - July 2012

5

PRODUCT NEWS

New over-the-air test system from COMPRION aims to curb expensive UICC services failures A new over-the-air (OTA) test system from Paderborn, Germany-based COMPRION is designed to simulate complex use cases so that communication errors in the set-up are detected before expensive service roll-outs occur. OTA technology enables remote introduction of new universal integrated circuit card (UICC) services and applications without the need to exchange the card. The complexity of the OTA setup, however, compels network operators to test comprehensively (see diagram).

OTA has recently gained importance due to

a variety of developments such as the growing supply of uniform basic cards (instead of personalised UICCs), the increasing use of embedded UICCs in M2M modules, the introduction of multiapplication cards (UICCs with telecom and banking applications) and the work of Global Platform standardising remote application management (RAM).

By using OTA technology, network operators can add or change services (e.g. subscription management or updating roaming agreements) and applications on

the UICC remotely in a fast and costeffective way. This is important, as the UICC is the only secure element through which the network operator keeps direct contact to the end customer.

NetComm Wireless partners with Grid Net to deliver 3G smart grid comms cards NetComm Wireless Ltd, a developer of wireless products, and the wireless smart grid software company, Grid Net, have announced a strategic alliance to deliver 3G connectivity to smart grid devices worldwide.

Grid Net selected NetComm Wireless to design, develop and manufacture Grid Netenabled 3G wireless communications cards for the global smart grid market.

Australia is the first market for Grid Netenabled communications cards, with North

America and the European Union markets soon to follow. Grid Net is the software company that pioneered the cellular smart grid model in 2008 with the first private 4G cellular deployment. The Grid Net Platform, a centrally-managed, highly-distributed smart grid network operating system, enables its utility customers and solution partners to securely and strategically deploy multiple grid applications like Advanced Metering, Demand Response Load Control, Distribution Monitoring & Control, and

Premise Area Networking.

NetComm Wireless is a developer of innovative broadband products sold globally to major telecommunications carriers, core network providers and system integrators. For 30 years NetComm has developed a portfolio of data communication products, and is a global provider of 3G and 4G wireless devices servicing the major telecommunications carrier, M2M and rural broadband markets.

NEWS IN BRIEF I NEWS IN BRIEF I NEWS IN BRIEF I NEWS IN BRIEF I NEWS IN BRIEF I NEWS IN BRIEF I NEWS IN BRIEF

Mobily and Pacific Controls team up to offer M2M smart solutions Etihad Etisalat, a telecoms company in Saudi Arabia trading as Mobily, and Pacific Controls, global provider of ICT-enabled managed services and converged engineering solutions for buildings and infrastructure projects, are partnering to offer machine-to-machine (M2M) energy management solutions for vertical industry sectors in the kingdom.

Mobily and Pacific Controls will join forces to cater to the business needs of sectors such as energy and utilities, government, healthcare, financial, and retail. With Mobily’s infrastructure and skills and Pacific Controls’ experience in energy management, remote monitoring and control through M2M applications,

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M2M Now June - July 2012

customers will be able to cut their operational costs through energy analysis, carbon footprint reduction, measurement & verification, continuous commissioning, fault detection and diagnostics.

Red Bend joins GENIVI Alliance to help car makers manage growing amounts of software Red Bend Software has joined the GENIVI Alliance to collaborate with automotive manufacturers and tier one suppliers on managing the growing amount of software in cars. With more than 1.5 billion Red Bend-enabled devices now in the market, the company deals in managing firmware, applications and software in mobile phones, connected devices and automotive systems.

“While IVI systems bring new opportunities to provide a better driving experience, they also introduce a new layer of software complexity into the car,” said Lori Sylvia, executive vice president of marketing at Red Bend Software. “Joining GENIVI allows Red Bend to collaborate with the automotive industry to develop standards that will assist OEMs in managing and maintaining the accelerating amount of software in cars, both reliably and efficiently.”

www.orga-systems.com

COMPANY NEWS

u-blox buys Cognovo for US$16.5m to serve new M2M markets for high-speed modems u-blox, a Switzerland-based producer of positioning and wireless semiconductors, is to acquire UK-based Cognovo Ltd. for US$16.5 million. Cognovo specialises in software-defined modem (SDM) chip development technology, and is a spin-off from the UK’s ARM Ltd. u-blox (SIX:UBXN) is a fabless semiconductor provider of embedded positioning and wireless communication solutions for the consumer, industrial and automotive markets. The acquisition extends u-blox’s chip design capabilities to create differentiated products for strategic

markets that require 4G communications combined with global positioning.

Cognovo’s SDM technology and development tools are said to quickly translate complex radio modem designs into fully characterised low-power semiconductor chips. The combination of technologies from Cognovo and the recently acquired 4M Wireless will result in a new wireless modem platform based on IP owned by u-blox.

Sierra Wireless to acquire Sagemcom M2M for €44.9m Canada’s Sierra Wireless has entered into an exclusivity agreement for the acquisition of Sagemcom’s machine-to-machine (M2M) business. Sierra Wireless has submitted a binding offer to acquire substantially all of the assets of the business for €44.9 million in cash consideration, plus assumed liabilities. The deal is expected to complete in the third quarter.

Sagemcom, a French high-technology group active in broadband, telecom, energy, and document management, was an early entrant in the M2M market. The company has successfully built a growing M2M franchise that includes 2G and 3G

wireless modules, as well as industryleading rugged terminals for GSM-Railway (GSM-R) applications. Sagemcom M2M offers Sierra Wireless a significantly enhanced market position in key segments, including payment, transportation, and railways, as well as new geographical expansion into Brazil.

ABB acquires Tropos to boost smart grid service support The power and automation technology group, ABB based in Zurich has agreed to acquire Tropos Networks Inc., a Silicon Valley company that develops and markets wireless technologies and products for distribution area communication networks.

The acquisition will expand ABB’s communications systems offering for customers in the power, transportation, mining and public infrastructure sectors, and is expected to close in Q3, 2012.

Tropos’ wireless IP (internet protocol) broadband solutions focus on reliability, security and scalability, key characteristics for essential services in smart grid and other outdoor industrial applications. As power grids and other critical infrastructure become increasingly reliant on automation, demand for cost-effective, reliable and secure communication solutions is growing. Communications play a critical role in realising the efficiency improvements that can be achieved by automation and improved resource allocation.

Jason Cohenour, president and CEO of Sierra Wireless, said, “With a strong market position in key segments, a culture of innovation, and experienced teams based in Paris and Shenzhen (China), Sagemcom M2M is an ideal fit for Sierra Wireless.”

NEWS UPDATE I NEWS UPDATE I NEWS UPDATE I NEWS UPDATE I NEWS UPDATE I NEWS UPDATE I NEWS UPDATE

Oberthur acquires MoreMagic to create secure mobile wallet and an end-to-end NFC offer France’s Oberthur Technologies, a provider of security and identification solutions and services based on smart card technologies, has acquired the Boston, USA-based mobile payments company MoreMagic for an undisclosed sum.

Pankaj Gulati

Joining forces, Oberthur Technologies and MoreMagic will create a suite of mobile commerce and financial services solutions including a secured mobile wallet infrastructure and an end-to-end near field communications (NFC)

offer. This will help mobile operators, financial institutions and other non-telecom service providers to offer innovative services such as peer-to-peer transfers, mobile banking, proximity and remote payments.

acquire Elster’s shares for $82 per share in cash, valuing the business at approximately US$2.3 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2012.

Pankaj Gulati (pictured), CEO of MoreMagic commented, “We now have the ability to deploy end-to-end, secure, turnkey solutions and provide cloud-based services in the mobile financial services space.”

Melrose’s offer to acquire utility control provider values Elster at $2.3bn

Simon Beresford-Wylie, CEO of Elster, said, “Melrose has a proven track record of enhancing the value of the companies it acquires and is committed to supporting Elster’s outstanding employees and management team in executing its plan to capitalise on the growth we see in the sector.”

Utility control provider, Elster Group SE has entered into a definitive agreement with Melrose PLC, under which a wholly-owned subsidiary of Melrose PLC will offer to

For more on all these stories go to: www.m2mnow.biz

www.orga-systems.com

M2M Now June - July 2012

7

CONTRACT NEWS

Telefónica awarded large M2M win by G4S as Visa Europe named preferred mobile payments partner Telefónica, which operates under the O2 brand in the UK, is to extend its partnership with G4S Utility Services (G4S), an international security solutions group and one of the UK’s smart meter operations service providers.

The five-year agreement, includes the provision of up to 1.4 million SIMs, and will provide G4S Utility Services with global SIM connectivity to support the delivery of services in the energy market. The multimillion pound contract is claimed to be one

of the largest ever M2M deals in the UK market but figures have not been released.

At the contract’s peak, Telefónica UK will be rolling out 70,000 SIMs per month to meet G4S Utility Services required roll-out plans.

Meanwhile, Telefónica Digital and Visa Europe are partnering to drive new business opportunities within mobile commerce across Telefónica’s European footprint. The agreement will see both companies coinvest in the development of innovative products and services in areas such as

mobile wallet, contactless payments (near field communications, or NFC), acquirer services for mobile point of sale, and merchant offers.

Mobile commerce is a key focus area of Telefónica’s Digital unit which was formed to drive business opportunities within the digital space. Telefónica has launched a mobile wallet service to customers in the UK and is working to launch mobile wallets across its other operating businesses.

Vodafone is first non-US supplier awarded M2M and mobile services contract by US Government Vodafone Global Enterprise, the business which manages the communications needs of Vodafone’s largest multi-national customers, has become the first non-US mobile network service provider to be granted US Government supplier status under GSA Schedule 70.

The company will be listed as an approved supplier to provide machine-to-machine (M2M), mobile voice and data services to the US Government in eight European

countries: Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the UK. The services provided will include central ordering, spend analytics and customer services.

Department of Justice to buy mobile solutions from Vodafone Global Enterprise.

US Government employees outside the US will now be able to access a range of standardised Vodafone services. It will be easier for US agencies such as The Department of Defense, State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and

NEWS IN BRIEF I NEWS IN BRIEF I NEWS IN BRIEF I NEWS IN BRIEF I NEWS IN BRIEF I NEWS IN BRIEF I NEWS IN BRIEF

LuxSpace and ORBCOMM to provide satellite AIS data for ship tracking A multi-year framework contract with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has been awarded to LuxSpace Sarl, an affiliate of OHB System AG. LuxSpace and its partner US-based ORBCOMM, Inc. will provide EMSA with satellite Automatic Identification System (AIS) data used for ship tracking and other maritime navigational and safety efforts. The contract is for up to

EUR500,000 (US$625,000) for the first year with options for an additional two years, with funding levels yet to be determined.

The contract was the result of a competitive bid among providers of space-based AIS data service. EMSA determined that ORBCOMM and LuxSpace’s AIS service was ‘the most advantageous in regards of quality price ratio’. Headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal, EMSA is one of the largest consolidators of AIS data and is responsible for maritime safety, pollution and security on board ships for the European Union (EU) and its member states.

subject to survey, EV owners with British Gas charging points will be able to monitor their energy consumption and the cost of charging their electric vehicle over the internet.

The roll-out of the Navetas technology began in June as part of an EV charger package. British Gas will install a Navetas Energy Monitor at the incoming electricity mains supply, to monitor total household consumption, as well as electric vehicle charging data.

British Gas selects Navetas for electric vehicle energy measurement initiative Energy management company Navetas has won a contract from British Gas to help roll out a new initiative that will enable selected households to understand how much energy their electric vehicle (EV) consumes.

Using Navetas’ disaggregation technology,

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M2M Now June - July 2012

www.orga-systems.com

THE CONTRACT HOT LIST

M2M Now June - July 2012

It's free to be included in The Contract Hot List (below), which shows the companies announcing recent contract wins or product deployments. If your contract is not listed here just email the details to us now marked "Hot List" <j.cowan@m2mnow.biz> Vendor/Partners ABB / ICA Services AlertMe Axeda Corp / Etherios ClearConnex, Inc Heal the Bay ILS Technology KORE Telematics KORE Telematics LuxSpace / ORBCOMM Navetas NetComm Wireless Ltd Novatel Wireless O2 UK (Telefonica) Orange Business Services Pacific Controls RACO Wireless Sequoia Technology / Telit SkyWave Mobile Comms.

TaKaDu Telit Wireless Solutions Telit Wireless Solutions Transense Technologies plc Vodafone Global Enterprise Wyless, Inc

Client, Country Robinson Brothers, UK British Gas, UK Salesforce, Global Exosite, USA City of Santa Monica, USA ITOCHU Techno-Solutions (CTC), Japan ILS Technology, USA Huawei, China European Maritime Safety Agency British Gas, UK GridNet, Tiesse SpA, Italy G4S Utility Services, UK flaik, USA Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Saudi Arabia Apriva ISS, USA Clinton Foundation & Ministry of Health Kemilinks International, Singapore Thames Water, UK BigBelly Solar, USA (pictured) Nimble Wireless, USA Bridgestone Brazil US Government NEC Corporation, Japan

Product/Service (Duration & Value) Awarded Energy harvesting enables remote temperature measurements without power supply 7.2012 Online and smartphone-enabled Remote Heating Control service now available 7.2012 Real-time data from connected machines automatically populating the CRM system 5.2012 Embedded device management platform integrated with One Platform PaaS 6.2012 QR codes put on rubbish bins for beach goers to scan when they need emptying 6.2012 Partner to accelerate M2M solutions delivery for the Japanese market 6.2012 Connect M2M data with enterprise IT systems throughout the workflow process 5.2012 Quickstart Program enables companies to speed TTM for new M2M solutions 6.2012 Multi-year framework agreement to provide satellite AIS data for ship tracking 6.2012 Supplying EV owners with energy consumption and charging cost monitors 7.2012 Deal to deliver 3G connectivity to smart grid devices worldwide 7.2012 Telemetry device maker chooses M2M enabler modules for Levanto routers 6.2012 5-year deal to provide 1.4m M2M SIMs and global connectivity for energy services 7.2012 flaik tags embedded with SIMs as a safety device as well as personal tracker 6.2012 Sign deal to offer M2M Energy Management for vertical industry sectors 7.2012 To support Apriva's Point of Sale (POS) customers that use 2G payment terminals 6.2012 Wireless systems enabling rural clinics in Mozambique to test mothers for HIV 6.2012 1st deployment of IsatData Pro for asset tracking, monitoring and remote telemetry 6.2012 London-wide infrastructure monitoring installed to locate most prolific leakage 7.2012 M2M modules enable connectivity for solar-powered compactors and waste bins 6.2012 Embedded modules enabling cellular comms for fleet & asset tracking apps 7.2012 Follow-on order for RFID iProbe commercial tyre inspection tools 4.2012 First non-US mobile network service provider granted government supplier status 6.2012 Form a strategic alliance to explore end-to-end M2M service opportunities 4.2012

Key: AIS = Automatic Identification System EV = Electric Vehicle M2M = Machine-to-Machine PaaS = Platform as a Service RFID = Radio Frequency Identification

Telit M2M modules enable connectivity for BigBelly solar-powered compactors and waste bins

SIM = Subscriber Identity Module TTM = Time-to-Market

CONTRACT NEWS

Sequoia and Telit’s M2M service prevents HIV infection for thousands of African children Based in the UK, Sequoia Technology, an M2M company, and its long-time technology partner Telit Wireless Solutions, has developed a way for rural medical clinics in Africa to wirelessly receive HIV test results for expectant mothers within days of testing, a first for many rural villages. This has allowed mothers with HIV-positive results to begin anti-retroviral drugs much earlier in their pregnancies, reducing the chances of transferring the virus to their

Many clinics have no mail service, landlines or access by car

newborns from 40% to less than 1%.

Nearly half of babies born in Mozambique with HIV die in the first two years of life.

Funded by the Clinton Foundation and Mozambique’s Ministry of Health, the HIV Early Infant Diagnosis Project saved an estimated 20,000 babies from infection in the first six months of its launch. The successful programme is now being expanded to nine other African nations.

Sequoia Technology developed a small, inexpensive printer incorporating short message service (SMS) wireless protocol used for mobile phone text messaging.

Utilising the GC864-Quad V2 wireless modules from Telit Wireless Solutions, the SMS printers are connected to a complex GSM cellular gateway that allows lab results to be wirelessly and securely sent to printers installed at the rural clinics. The GC864 modules are one of the smallest GSM/GPRS quad-band modules with industrial connectors in the market.

www.orga-systems.com

HIV test results can be discussed more quickly with mothers

"There’s very little infrastructure in Africa – most of these clinics cannot be reached by car, have no mail service and no landlines,” said Nick Lidington, managing director, Sequoia Technology. "The challenge was to use the only mode of communication you can reliably say is everywhere in Africa – the cellular network.”

"The printer kit and gateway software we developed has received interest from health ministers throughout the continent,” Lidington added. "It can be applied to obtaining lab results for other diseases as well, such as malaria and tuberculosis, so life-saving treatments can begin much sooner.”

M2M Now June - July 2012

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RESEARCH ANALYSIS

Smart Igloos, Connected Trees and Me What are they on at Ericsson Research?

M2M Now was given unrivalled access recently to some serious brainpower at Ericsson Research in Stockholm, and the presentations covered temperature sensors in a homemade igloo, handshakes that exchange business cards and a tree that ‘sees’ you coming.

(Search ‘tree’ at www.m2mnow.biz). As Jeremy Cowan finds, you couldn’t make this stuff up!

Ericsson Research has lifted the lid on some of its extra-ordinary (I use the word carefully) research in a variety of communications sectors. Alone among the machine-to-machine communications media, M2M Now was there to hear what research results are coming down the pike.

Jon Gamble: Ericsson's medical bag contains blood pressure and pulse meter, and connected devices for testing blood sugar and lung capacity.

Erik Kruse, strategic marketing manager & networked society evangelist at Ericsson Networked Society Lab is an expert in consumer demands. The company, he says, sees three key technologies for the future; mobility, broadband and the cloud. “An ‘Interaction Infrastructure’ will be at the heart of healthcare, education, security & safety, commerce, government, media, utilities, and transport & logistics. Around that we need to see how we can establish trust and integrity and share knowledge.”

Smart igloo Jari Arkko, internet architecture expert at Ericsson Research momentarily baffled visiting media when he began to describe a recent experiment on ‘smart igloos’. His department built an Eskimo-style snow house in a remote valley in the Swiss Alps earlier this year (see Front Cover). This was not the mad escape from work that it might appear.

“For us,” says Arkko, “the question was, can we apply smart home principles to an igloo? It wasn’t just fun, it helped us establish practical, weather-proof solutions, test low-cost devices, as well as low-power and intermittent communications. We used generic technologies such as mobile broadband and IPv6.

“We put (wired) sensors in the igloo walls to assess temperature fluctuations, and in the snowpack on which the igloo was built to measure the temperature at varying depths and any changes that might forewarn us of avalanches. We connected it through a Delay Tolerant Network communicating with the cloud,” adds Arkko.

The conclusion? Well, Arkko says, “Generic technologies work well for ‘diverse’ (Is that a euphemism for ‘wild’?Ed.) applications like this.

Mobile broadband, IP, cloud and web technologies are good foundations for the new Networked Society. And low power, low cost networking is in our focus.”

Amazon healthcare video To see a video of Ericsson’s work delivering connected healthcare and education to villages in the Amazon basin, go to: http://bit.ly/Ki8NTJ

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Again, there is method in their madness. One application discussed by its proponent, Jan Hederen, strategy manager within Ericsson’s Networks division, is that furniture, doors and entire rooms can be connected so that carers and family can be aware of movements (or otherwise) of elderly people in sheltered accommodation.

Without ever watching them it is possible to detect and monitor their movements around an apartment, preserving their independent living while checking on their safety and wellbeing.

The electromagnetic field in humans is similarly being turned to technological advantage by Ericsson. A device carried in a pocket can be connected through the human body with other devices to play music through electromagnetically-connected headsets, to open doors using a password stored in the device, or to exchange business cards or playlists with another connected person simply through a handshake (see: www.ericsson.com/networkedsociety)

m-Health In Croatia, Ericsson has found a state that is embracing the possibilities of providing better healthcare through GSM connections. As Jon Gamble, Ericsson’s spokesman says, “There are 500 million chronically sick people in the world. They consume 80% of all healthcare budgets. What we’re doing is more than sending photos of conditions to doctors in appointments.

Croatia is very interested in using fixed and mobile network infrastructure to support hospital services.”

The company has developed a doctor’s or nurse’s bag containing a blood pressure and pulse meter, and devices for measuring blood sugar levels and lung capacity. Some can be used by carers, others by patients themselves (for example, a connected monitor can measure your heart rate while out you’re walking the dog). All the devices are designed to send their data by Bluetooth to a mobile handset which acts as a router sending data to the carers.

The one thing the healthcare device doesn’t do is answer the thorny question of ‘Who is the customer?’. “That’s a very good question,” says Gamble. “In our view it’s the operator, but operators need to work with technical solution providers of this kit, and with governments.”

Tree hugging Ericsson’s "Twittering Tree" senses changes in the electromagnetic field around it as people pass, and sends Tweets that reflect its mood directly to its Twitter account, @ConnectedTree. The tree also reacts to people's presence and movements by playing music, speaking and turning on and off lights.

M2M Now June - July 2012

www.orga-systems.com

PEOPLE NEWS

ACCESS DLNA Ambassador Joerg Eggink wins DLNA’s Outstanding Contribution Award ACCESS Co. Ltd, of Oberhausen, Germany, a global provider of advanced software technologies to the mobile, beyond-PC and digital TV markets, reports that Joerg Eggink, ACCESS’ Global Product Director for Connected Home, has been awarded a DLNA Outstanding Contribution Award.

The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) presents annual awards to individuals who have advanced its mission of seamless connectivity for digital homes around the world. Joerg Eggink is a member of the DLNA Marketing Committee and a

DLNA Ambassador.

“We believe that DLNA is the leading standard for home interoperability and we will support this by delivering solutions which incorporate the standard’s latest specifications. I’m delighted to receive this award from DLNA and look forward to working with them in the future,” said Eggink.

ACCESS’s newest DLNA technology component solution, NetFront™ Living

Connect 3.0 supports the recent DLNA Premium Video specification which Joerg Eggink answers market requirements for secure sharing of high quality, premium commercial video. NetFront Living Connect has been deployed recently on Samsung’s Optical Smart Hub, Pantech’s waterproof Android tablet and is available as a consumer application for PC, Android and iOS.

Beecham Research CEO, Robin Duke-Woolley joins M2M Now’s Editorial Advisory Board M2M Now is delighted to report that Robin Duke-Woolley, founder and CEO of Beecham Robin DukeResearch Ltd, one of the Woolley world’s leading M2M research companies, has agreed to join M2M Now‘s Editorial Advisory Board. Robin (pictured) has over 35 years’ experience in the telecom and IT sector, firstly in

commercial roles covering sales, marketing and general management, and then in analysis, research and consulting. He has been researching the machine-to-machine (M2M) market for over a decade and formed Beecham Research to focus exclusively on the M2M / Internet of Things (IoT) market worldwide.

Jeremy Cowan, M2M Now‘s editorial director and co-founder said, “There are

many rightly renowned researchers covering M2M and the Internet of Things, but few if any command the respect that is afforded to Robin.”

“We are delighted that his depth of technical knowledge and market expertise will now be shared to benefit the M2M community as a whole by further enhancing M2M Now magazine, its online services and upcoming live events.”

Red Bend appoints Regev as EVP of Delivery Waltham, Massachusetts-based Red Bend Software, a provider of mobile software management (MSM) with more than 1.5 billion Red Bend-Enabled™ devices, has appointed Ronen Regev as executive vice president (EVP) of Delivery. Regev will lead the company’s newly expanded worldwide services and support organisation that designs and delivers customised systems using Red Bend’s leading products for

firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updating, device management, software analytics and mobile virtualisation.

Regev has more than 15 years’ experience in defining, designing and delivering customer-focused solutions and support for the industry’s largest telecommunications operators. Before joining the company, Regev was COO at Alvarion and chief

executive officer of Taldor Communications, one of the leading communications and IT integrators in Israel.

Regev holds an MBA from the UK’s Derby University.

Ronen Regev

David Lockwood leaves BT Global Services to become Laird Technologies’ new CEO

David Lockwood

Laird Technologies of St Louis, Missouri – a global company providing components and systems to protect electronic devices from electromagnetic interference and heat,

and enabling connectivity through wireless applications and antenna systems – has appointed David Lockwood, OBE as its new chief executive officer.

Lockwood has experience in international operations gained from GPT (Marconi), BAE Systems, Intense Ltd, a phototonics high-

www.orga-systems.com

tech start-up, and Thales. Most recently in his role as vice president, Global Defence & Security at BT Global Services, he was responsible for the development and delivery of propositions to defence departments, security agencies worldwide and major defence contractors.

M2M Now June - July 2012

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TALKING HEADS

Telit consolidates its new position in M2M with acquisitions and expanding portfolio Just a few years ago Telit’s activity was confined to making and selling modules. But CEO, Oozi Cats’ ambitions for the company have always been much bigger than that and since then Telit has acquired Navman and a division of Motorola, so that today the company has a very different look and feel. Jeremy Cowan asks him about the challenges for M2M, his current strategy and goals for the next 10 years.

M2M Now: The M2M delivery chain frequently involves many organisations. Can you describe Telit’s role in the value chain and in the M2M market as a whole?

Oozi Cats: As you know the M2M value chain involves several partners such as hardware suppliers, hardware integrators, application suppliers, system integrators, connectivity providers, and many others.

Telit as a module manufacturer and vendor is at the beginning of the value chain providing hardware.

Its importance shouldn’t be underestimated as we are thus providing the heart of every wireless M2M application: the communication module. But because our philosophy is supporting our customers through the final ‘go-to-market’ of their M2M application, we strive to accompany them not only in that first step, but throughout their journey along the value chain.

We help them design their application; we conduct tests to shorten their certification processes; we even support them with marketing and sales.

Recently, Telit expanded its portfolio to include valueadded services. With that move, we gained the ability to provide not only hardware but also deliver a range of value-added services to our clients, including connectivity. To that end, we created a new business unit, m2mAIR, and charged it with the task of meeting all customer needs with respect to network-related topics. (Search “m2mAIR” at: www.m2mnow.biz) m2mAIR offerings are the first of their kind with a suite of features, services and functionalities including subscription management, module management, onsite support, SIM cards and rate plans. Because this has caused Telit to move up the value chain, combining module technology with value-added

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M2M Now June - July 2012

services, it has also clearly changed our market position as a whole. At the moment we are among the top three module vendors in the market with respect to worldwide market share, and according to ABI Research we are actually number two in terms of units shipped. By combining our modules with valueadded services we will certainly change and influence our market position in a very positive way.

M2M Now: Oozi, what are these services about?

Can you elaborate?

OC: The offering from m2mAIR, our value-added services programme, is based on three pillars that together form a total, end-to-end customer solution.

The first one is comprised of Telit‘s unique value-added services, initially consisting of module management, Business Support System (BSS) capabilities and support. We provide an innovative SaaS (Software-asa-Service) framework for module management, enabling efficient diagnostics, enhanced troubleshooting capabilities, network performance and other service metrics, on an individual M2M terminal basis. This capability is embedded in the module and does not require any integration with the M2M application itself.

In addition we provide full 24/7 technical support for dedicated Service Level Agreements and on-site support with our field application engineers. The second pillar is an industry-leading Service Delivery Platform built together with Telefónica, which enables provisioning, troubleshooting, and full subscription lifecycle management. As the third pillar, we offer global network coverage and SIM cards in partnership with Telefónica, one of the top three mobile operators in the world, thus creating a paradigm shift with regards to rate plans, usage billing and cost control.

This is really new in the M2M industry. Thanks to the bundling of these service components, we now enable M2M solution providers to focus on their core business applications while getting access to seamless global connectivity.

M2M Now: What significant impacts do you think M2M will have on society in the next few years?

OC: M2M is about the collection and management of data.

When people have more background knowledge and more information available, they are able to make better and wiser decisions. M2M helps not only to collect the data needed for such decisions, but provides data in real time to its users and thus provides them knowhow. This knowledge has an impact on the decisions we are making in our everyday lives and that impacts society.

An example is energy. Due to the economic and environmental situation we are facing there is a clear need to expand the usage of renewable energy, and at the same time educate people to consume less energy. This makes it mandatory for utilities to know where and how much energy is generated and consumed. In addition, they must have the ability to switch on and off different energy sources to avoid network capacity overload, for example solar panels during hot summer days.

With a smart grid based on M2M technology, utilities can monitor in real time generation, transmission capacity, and consumption, and remotely regulate solar panels or wind turbines. Without this data and using this technology a change towards alternative energy sources is impossible. If we go now one step further and provide this data not only to utilities, but also grant consumers access to it, we see a huge impact: studies show that once people know about their energy consumption they reduce it automatically and start saving more energy.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;With a smart grid based on M2M technology, utilities can monitor in real time generation, transmission capacity, and consumption, and remotely regulate solar panels or wind turbines.â&#x20AC;?

Oozi Cats, Telit

This kind of impact is visible everywhere M2M technology is used: M2M health applications monitor patients and send information such as glucose levels, heart activity and medication adherence to a care provider. With M2M connections, physicians, pharmacists and care-givers can now monitor patients as they engage in routine activities such as taking pills or testing blood sugar levels. These devices encourage adherence to a prescribed or

M2M Now June - July 2012

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TALKING HEADS

recommended regimen and lead people to healthier behaviours, helping them avoid costly doctors’ office or hospital visits.

Oozi Cats, founder & CEO of Telit Communications PLC

Or take pay-as-you-drive applications, which are widely adopted in the US. Safe drivers receive better rate plans and thus people are stimulated to change their driving behaviour. Possible societal benefits may include a reduction in overall trips taken which could result in less traffic, fewer accidents, lower car emissions, longer vehicle life, and less road maintenance.

We could continue this list endlessly, but these few examples already show the benefits of M2M for our society. It is really about having the right ideas.

M2M Now: What about emerging markets such as Africa? How will M2M impact life there?

OC: We see that cellular networks, especially in Africa, are very well developed; for example, already it is commonplace for many Africans to use their mobile phones to make payments. Thus this is a very interesting market for M2M applications based on cellular technology. An example that has helped improve the healthcare situation there is the GSM printer created by Sequoia Technology, one of our distributors, and funded by the Clinton Foundation and the Mozambique Ministry of Health.

Rural medical clinics in Africa are able to wirelessly receive expectant mothers’ HIV test results within days of testing, a first for many rural villages. Thanks to knowing their infection status, mothers with HIVpositive results can start on anti-retroviral drugs much earlier in their pregnancies, reducing the chances of transferring the virus to their unborn children from 40% to less than 1%. This shows the huge potential that M2M has in emerging countries counting on a cellular network infrastructure.

M2M Now: You already mentioned the energy segment, Oozi. Is Telit concentrating its efforts on certain industry sectors? And if so, how will you differentiate your offerings?

OC: No, we are serving all markets. But of course we see that there are certain segments which are very fragmented and thus complex, where customers’

needs vary a lot. To address that we decided to adopt a more topic-oriented company structure and have hired since the beginning of this year three different market experts for the energy, telematics, and automotive markets. These experts are developing these markets by expanding our offering according to the specific customer requirements.

For the energy market for example, we are further expanding our Short Range portfolio; the telematics market benefits from the possibility of combining satellite-location with cellular technologies, which we can do well now that we acquired Navman, a company focused on location technology; and for the automotive market we have dedicated certified automotive modules.

In addition, we understand full-well the markets our customers are in, enhancing their ability to create M2M applications through our broad portfolio which covers all relevant wireless technologies. This has always been and will continue being Telit’s key to success.

M2M Now: How different will Telit’s business look in five to ten years?

OC: So, let’s take a look into the crystal ball. Of course we expect the market to grow further and thus our core business will still be the modules. At the same time, software integration into the modules is becoming more and more important. This includes the possibility of over-the-air updates as we already have with FOTA (firmware over-the-air) but enabling easier ways to communicate with the module and programme the applications. Therefore, we are continuously working on new tools like our Telit AppZone which is a programming environment for modules in standard C language.

But what will be even more important for our business in five to ten years will be our new value-added services including connectivity. They will become a major “building block” in Telit's market strategy and an important factor for our continued growth and success. These services enhance our already superior M2M offering; they leverage our existing assets and enable Telit to provide customers a full M2M solution that extends well beyond the current value.

Thank you, Oozi.

About Oozi Cats, founder & CEO of Telit Communications PLC Oozi Cats has 25 years’ experience in creating and leading business ventures. In 2000 Cats founded Telit as an Israeli startup for high level engineering and distribution in the field of wireless communications, dealing predominantly with CDMA handsets.

In 2003 Cats led Telit to acquire a bankrupt GSM/GPRS handset company in Italy and restructured it to become an M2M world leader. In 2005 Cats took Telit Communications PLC public in the LSE on AIM, raising US$40 million. With the funds in place Cats globalised the company from a technology perspective by adding CDMA, EVDO, and UMTS to its GSM/GPRS core competence. In 2006 Cats opened the APAC market by leading Telit to acquire the Korean market leader and also established Telit USA in North Carolina. Telit acquired a short range technology developer in 2008 and is currently mastering ZigBee and Wireless Mesh technologies. In 2011 Cats surprised the M2M world with the acquisition of Motorola’s M2M division, Global Connect, and Navman Location Based Technology, making Telit a global leader in the M2M arena.

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M2M Now June - July 2012

CTIA 2012 REVIEW

International CTIA Wireless 2012:

‘Fragmented’ M2M market starts to mature amid New Orleans wireless sophistication Whether your interests lie in connected consumer devices or enterprise-level M2M communications there was something for everyone at the recent CTIA conference and in the M2M Zone in New Orleans. As a first-time visitor, Jeremy Cowan found plenty to admire in the event, while old stagers were unanimous that this year’s expo was more M2M-influenced than ever.

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Whatever you do, don’t miss the atmosphere of New Orleans’ French Quarter

M2M Now June - July 2012

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CTIA 2012 REVIEW

With a busy schedule of machine-to-machine (M2M) video interviews to shoot at International CTIA Wireless 2012 (May 8-10, 2012), it was important for the team to leave time to visit exhibitor booths as well, to get a true flavour of such an important event in M2M Now’s calendar. We’re glad we did, there was plenty to learn in Louisiana.

M2M: Fragmented and immature At the risk of being misunderstood, I hope Alex Brisbourne, won’t mind me saying he’s been involved in machineto-machine (M2M) services for longer than most. So, as president and COO of KORE Telematics, Inc., the largest non-carrier wireless provider of M2M services in the world, it’s worth paying attention when he says – almost as an aside – that the M2M market has still not reached maturity. This, after all, is his verdict on a market that has been evolving for more than 20 years.

At M2M Now we pay particular attention when such comments are echoed by leading industry figures elsewhere. “Fragmentation of (the M2M sector) is a big issue,” says Kanwalinder Singh, Qualcomm’s highly experienced senior vice president of business development. “It’s about making sure everyone gets a return on their investment.”

Qualcomm’s already succeeded, he says, in working with device OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and network operators. Singh continues, “In new markets we’re now building relations with auto makers and tier one device makers (for infotainment). We’re in a relationship building phase, so that we understand what’s needed and so we create demand for our technologies.” The company’s new searchable website, M2MSearch.com is part of this effort, more of which later.

Jerome Nadel, Option’s chief experience officer (above): Bringing mobile broadband into dynamic new environments

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Global market expansion It comes as no surprise, therefore, that KORE Telematics’ recent focus has been on driving global market expansion, accelerating M2M deployments and shortening time-to-market (TTM). In New Orleans the company announced that more than 50 customers across six continents are now taking advantage of worldwide M2M connectivity offered through KORE

M2M Now June - July 2012

sponsored by

Global Connect™. With integrated cellular and satellite services, organisations and application providers across multiple vertical industries (including supply chain management, healthcare and fleet tracking) are using KORE Global Connect to deliver M2M applications in multiple countries and geographies.

KORE Global Connect features GSM-based, cellular M2M communications services in more than 180 countries as well as satellite services for 100% global coverage. KORE particularly emphasises its Tier One, in-country network connectivity and the ability to be a single point-of-contact for billing, support, logistics and relationship management.

Global reach is of limited use, though, unless a service can quickly generate revenues. So, KORE and ILS Technology are now partnering to accelerate M2M deployments across enterprises. KORE and ILS aim to enable organisations to quickly, seamlessly and costeffectively integrate connected devices with existing enterprise IT systems, providing actionable M2M data and intelligence throughout the workflow processes.

View and analyse M2M data The two companies are combining the power of the KORE PRiSMPro™ connected device platform and the ILS Technology deviceWISE™ M2M application platform to enable customers to access, view and analyse M2M data on existing enterprise IT systems.

These cloud-based platforms give organisations a lowrisk option for managing all aspects of their M2M deployments directly through their existing business processes. And by reducing integration and deployment time and cost, KORE and ILS say they are helping organisations realise the efficiency and business benefits of M2M. “M2M is no longer the preserve of tactical, operational applications within service and support departments. Increasingly, M2M data needs to be made available throughout the enterprise and has strategic implications for ERP, supply chain and business intelligence applications,” says Robin DukeWoolley, founder and CEO of Beecham Research.

“Our most recent research of M2M Service Enablement Services (SES) predicts the need for this type of partnership. Such moves are set to drive the M2M market forward, gaining new value from M2M deployments by speeding up new service revenues, improving operational efficiencies, enhancing customer service and driving cost savings in real time.

KORE and ILS Technology are both leading players in this part of the market with entirely complementary offerings and together will make a formidable partnership,” adds Duke-Woolley.

Impact of acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions continue to have an impact on M2M. Among these, Laird Technologies, Inc., has expanded its presence in the wireless M2M market. A global technology company focused on protecting electronic devices from electromagnetic interference

www.arrow.com

and heat, and enabling connectivity through wireless applications and antenna systems, Laird Technologies, acquired Summit Data Communications in March.

commercial customers through a global network of more than 390 locations in 52 countries.

New searchable M2M database Summit's revenues for the year ended 31 December, 2011 were US$17.2 million, representing a 13% increase over the previous year. Summit’s technologies are said to be aligned with Laird’s strategic focus on systems and services built around solutions that combine hardware and software. Established in 2006, Summit serves more than 75 customers worldwide from its main facility in Akron, Ohio.

“Laird Technologies entered the M2M module business a few years ago and the addition of Summit allows us to further expand our business into new markets,” says Tom Cochran, president of Laird Technologies Wireless Systems Division.

“The acquisition of Summit allows us to develop further our wireless connectivity offering, adding products to our range that allow wireless systems to function efficiently in difficult radio frequency environments like factories and hospitals,” said Nigel Keen, Laird’s executive chairman. In fact, Keen is expected to return to his former role as non-executive chairman shortly, following the appointment of a new CEO (see People News, page 11).

Colorado’s Arrow Electronics, Inc. announced shortly before International CTIA Wireless that it had agreed to acquire the ALTIMATE Group, a subsidiary of DCC plc. ALTIMATE offers a portfolio of hardware, storage, data management, security, and infrastructure solutions and services. Headquartered in France, ALTIMATE has approximately 250 employees. The company’s sales for the year ended March 31, 2011 were $298 million.

Although no mention of M2M was made at the time of the announcement, the fact that industry observers including M2M Now are emphasising the growing importance to M2M network operators and service providers of optimising their data management is unlikely to be coincidental.

Qualcomm Inc., says that vendors have now released more than 100 cellular and connectivity solutions for the emerging Internet of Everything (IoE) / M2M ecosystem based on its chipsets. Designed to support a range of M2M applications, including automotive, smart metering, home security, industrial automation, retail and enterprise, these third party solutions have been catalogued on M2MSearch.com, Qualcomm’s new online database for cellular and connectivity modules.

Its IoE roadmap includes 1X, EV-DO, HSPA and LTE cellular chipsets, all featuring the Gobi® modem technology. These units range from the dual-core Snapdragon®S4 MSM8960 and MDM9x15 chipsets, which target high-end M2M applications with integrated application processing and mobile broadband capabilities, such as automotive infotainment and digital signage. Simpler M2M applications, such as smart metering, home security and industrial automation can utilise the QSC6270 (HSDPA) and QSC1105 (1X/GPRS) chipsets for costeffective integration of cellular capabilities.

Qualcomm has created M2MSearch.com, a searchable database to help developers select the appropriate cellular and connectivity hardware for their M2M devices. The website’s solutions come from more than a dozen vendors. Its modules are now found in smart vehicles, smart meters, electric vehicle charging stations, cardiac monitors, tracking and location products and many other devices.

Qualcomm’s Kanwalinder Singh told M2M Now, “Qualcomm will continue to support the emerging ‘Internet of Everything’ with chipsets and solutions that satisfy the needs of verticals, module and device OEMs and wireless operators. Our chipset roadmap provides our customers with a broad set of powerful technologies to fulfil key M2M requirements.”

4G plug-in router for M2M

ALTIMATE already operates in eight countries across Europe including France, Benelux, Spain, Portugal, and the UK and has a network of 2,500 value-added resellers and system integrators.

The CTIA event also saw BrightSKY launch its simpliFi router based on a Cinterion module. It reportedly deploys in minutes and provides simultaneous highspeed wireless voice and data communications for up to 32 devices.

“We are excited about the opportunities ALTIMATE brings to Arrow. This acquisition complements our existing portfolio of value-added services and enterprise solution offerings, while further strengthening our relationships with critical suppliers throughout the EMEA region,” said Andrew S. Bryant, president, Arrow global enterprise computing solutions.

Cinterion, the global leader in cellular M2M communication solutions and a Gemalto company, says that its flagship PHS8 module has been integrated into the innovative 4G M2M router, simpliFi™ by BrightSKY. The device is designed for both industrial and residential applications in a miniaturised, plug-in form factor.

Arrow Electronics is a global provider of products, services and solutions to industrial and commercial users of electronic components and enterprise computing solutions. Arrow serves as a supply channel partner for more than 120,000 original equipment manufacturers, contract manufacturers and

The Cinterion PHS8 module is small to fit simpliFi’s unique power socket form factor – the router simply plugs into a wall outlet and is ready to use. Cinterion’s HSPA+ 4G technology provides the broadband speeds and high bandwidth necessary for simultaneous voice and WiFi connectivity for multiple devices.

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Cinterion's flagship PHS8 module has been integrated into the 4G M2M router, simpliFi™

by BrightSKY

www.arrow.com

“Healthcare and Wellness management is the single most important potential sector fopr bringing maturity to the M2M market.”

- Alex Brisbourne, KORE Telematics

M2M Now June - July 2012

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CTIA 2012 REVIEW

Bluetooth™-enabled devices can also be connected, allowing for example, medical devices to send carers crucial data in real time, smart meters to costeffectively transmit important information to utilities, or cordless home phones to be used for both voice calls and data communications over mobile networks.

For devices without WiFi, simpliFi includes USB and LAN interfaces to provide cellular connectivity.

XYFI allows up to eight people to connect simultaneously and serves as a true multimedia hub in the vehicle

“There are millions of connected devices today that lack wireless capabilities, relying only on WiFi or DSL for connectivity – from laptops to tablets to medical devices and more,” said Mark Hedstrom, president of BrightSKY, “Our simpliFi device, powered by Cinterion’s HSPA+ technology, provides true ‘plug-n-play’ 4G cellular connectivity for both wired and WiFi devices requiring a broadband connection. And PHS8's futureproof design ensures that simpliFi won't require expensive redesigns as new technology rolls out on global networks."

Simple device connectivity Bringing affordable and simple in-car connectivity to market was also behind news from Option of Leuven, Belgium. Option’s strategy is to supply more than mobile network operators and focus on vertical markets, with the burgeoning connected car market as a first step. It brings together its connectivity and UX expertise as well as automotive sector understanding.

According to the GSMA, the market for connected car applications will be worth US$600 billion by 2020, representing 13% of the $4.5 trillion global connected devices business. Option’s entry in the in-car connectivity market follows the company’s investment in Autonet in 2011, supporting the delivery of the first IP-based telematics control unit for the auto industry.

“Fragmentation of (the M2M sector) is a big issue. It’s about making sure everyone gets a return on their investment.”

In-car connectivity has previously been limited to voice-activated hands-free calling, satnav and minor diagnostics – all targeted at the driver. Option is targeting the after-sales market for in-car connectivity devices with a plug-and-play solution tailored towards passengers and based on its personal hotspot, XYFI. XYFI allows up to eight people to connect simultaneously and serves as a multimedia hub in the vehicle, enabling content sharing and streaming.

Option’s solution combines the XYFI personal hotspot with a tailor-made car adapter and an HTML5 webbased connection portal to aggregate different types of content, ranging from infotainment to professional apps for operators, car manufacturers, rental agencies and even taxis. This enables vertical partners to provide a branded experience and open new revenue streams including rental of the device and purchase of the service and digital content.

- Kanwalinder Singh, “This move into the automotive sector allows us to Qualcomm realise our goal of bringing mobile broadband with a

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M2M Now June - July 2012

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purpose into dynamic new environments,” said Jerome Nadel, chief experience officer, Option. “The new solution comes with a rich media connection portal providing access to social media, geolocalised news, streaming audio and video content and services.

All this can easily be accessed from a smartphone, tablet, gaming device, or laptop. This is the first solution that brings a simple, fun and affordable social mobile infotainment experience to the passengers.”

Peel-and-stick NFC antenna San Diego-based provider of antenna solutions to the M2M market, Taoglas USA, Inc., used the New Orleans event to launch a near field communications (NFC) antenna and tag systems for M2M devices. The FXT.01 NFC tag antenna and FXR.01 NFC reader antenna operate at 13.56MHz and provide a 50ohms solution for NFC readers.

The FXR.01 is an off-the-shelf NFC antenna which measures 54 × 37 x 0.1mm and provides an average NFC tag read distance of 5cm. It is a flexible polymer antenna, with a coaxial cable, which is said to connect easily to the chipset solution. It is also delivered with 3M adhesive and tape for ease of assembly to a plastic (non-metal) enclosure by a simple peel-and-stick method.

“In 2012, it is expected that 1.4 billion cellphones will ship and up to 40% will have an NFC tag. This means that M2M devices can now become NFC readers to cellphones by simply drawing on the NFC technology inside the M2M devices,” said Dermot O’Shea (pictured). Taoglas’s joint managing director told M2M Now, “The Taoglas NFC antenna is an ideal solution for M2M device makers to take advantage of this opportunity and make their devices mobile payment terminals.”

The FXR.01 NFC antenna has an integrated matching circuit designed to provide effective antenna matching. The Q of the antenna and matching circuit combination have been selected to provide a solution where bandwidth and read performance have been optimised for best tag interrogation performance.

A passive NFC tag antenna, the FXT.01, has also been released by the company. This is also a ‘peel-and-stick’ flexible polymer tag solution. The tag design requires no additional matching components. Similar to the FXR.01 antenna, the FXT.01 tag’s dimensions provide interrogation capability up to 5cm away. This standard antenna tag is also manufactured in a flexible polymer material for ease of use and installation.

All in all, this year’s M2M Zone at International CTIA Wireless gave further evidence of an ‘immature’ market that is growing up rapidly. The diversity of product offerings, the number of company acquisitions in the space, and the level of interest among delegates all point to a busy year ahead, in North America and internationally.

www.arrow.com

C-LEVEL VIEW

Can M2M stop Europe’s lights going out?

In a startling interview Baard Eilertsen, chief executive of Maingate, a leading M2M solutions provider, describes to Jeremy Cowan the growing risk of Europe’s lights going out, the threats to utilities from de-regulation, and how M2M may help to save the day.

Baard Eilertsen is CEO of Sweden-based Maingate

M2M Now: Baard, what are the greatest market challenges facing European utilities?

if you have differentiated voltages you have differentiated frequencies.

Baard Eilertsen: I think there are a few. The regulatory alignment that they work in is a tremendous challenge in itself. Because the regulators are now driving towards a more open, common European market.

If you look at the infrastructure, first of all it’s a great investment in just assets and in making this work.

Secondly, by law they have to keep it up and running, to have a secure supply. But now we are on the limit of not being able to secure a supply.

And coming from a traditional, often national-owned situation which utilities have been in in the past, this is actually a completely new set up, from a regulatory perspective that they have to act openly, in a common European market. And that means all utilities will have an equal opportunity to compete in European markets – whether it’s a Swedish utility wanting to have customers in Spain or vice versa.

Another example is smart home solutions. It’s going to be to telco propositions, on top of the infrastructure. It could be anything. When I met 65 top utility people a few weeks back this was top of their minds.

I think this is a great challenge because nobody really understands how this framework will actually work in the end. Because you have over-the-border issues with transmission lines, distribution of power, etc.

It’s bad for the utilities. They don’t really know how it’s going to work. And with the regulatory environment now in place, both on a central level in the EU and a national level, it actually creates a big challenge to the utilities to understand in what direction this is heading.

M2M Now: Do they see a solution to this?

BE: No, they don’t know how to treat this unfamiliar world they are now facing. They do not want to take responsibility for what is up and coming. But they will have great difficulties if they don’t at least act responsibly and open up that dialogue.

On the other hand, there are the regulators. The utilities are less popular than banks in Europe, so nobody listens to them. But people will start to listen to the utilities when we have massive blackouts – because we’re very close to that stage at this moment, having massive blackouts because of the PV feed into the distribution network.

The other challenge, which we see now is how the unregulated business moves in on the utilities’ regulated infrastructure with lightning pace. We’ve seen already that combining the regulator and the unregulated business model does not exist. It gives the utilities a great headache when the unregulated business moves in.

M2M Now: So, how can M2M help?

For example, a private PV (photovoltaic cell) manufacturer sells his systems and solutions to private householders, and that’s good, because you save a lot of energy. Plus some governments give incentives to house owners to put PVs on the roof.

M2M, in its basic form, is of great value. Obviously, you don’t put a SIM card in every single PlayStation, transformer station or at home in every rooftop PV system.

They produce a lot of energy that is fed into the distribution network. The problem is it’s out of control.

The utilities do not have any control over what is fed into their distribution network, the low voltage grid.

They get too much market-generated energy into their low voltage network. That creates a balance problem;

BE: M2M is the perfect tool. Because what you get is this many-to-one situation. You’ve got many sensors out there, but you can always bind these sensors, readings and automation into a central system that can help you take the right decisions at the right time.

But we can combine different communication technologies, integrating a strong bond to benefit both the regulated utilities and the unregulated business. So, M2M is a strong carrier. It’s not the solution in itself, because we need more knowledge.

But we definitely need to build an information infrastructure to handle these challenges.

“Put ‘smart’ in front of it and it’s something new. But nobody really knows what it is.”

Baard Eilertsen, Maingate

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C-LEVEL VIEW

“People will start to listen to the utilities when we have massive blackouts – because we’re very close to that stage.”

And that goes for both challenges. We talked about the challenge of one European common utility market; you need to have meter readings, you need to control the transmission systems going over the borders, from, for example Poland to Germany or vice versa. You have to have responsibilities across borders. M2M technology is so much stronger these days and, when it is connected to a stable, scalable central system that can handle the amount of data needed for the analysis, M2M is one of the key components.

M2M Now: So M2M is going to play a significant part?

BE: Yes, absolutely. That is an extremely good question. Is it the internet of knowledge or internet of information? Currently, we have a closed community talking about the internet of things. We see companies like Ericsson pushing it, but it’s still a technology-driven push, unless we’re able to explain to people what we are creating with it.

When you put everything in a cloud, what you can pull out of it is an immense amount of data. An immense amount of information. With just a little bit of analytics on top of it, all of a sudden you have great knowledge. The market enabler is the knowledge that you get.

BE: Absolutely. But I think we may have to redefine

Baard Eilertsen, the word; ‘M2M’ is a telco expression seldom found in Maingate the utility world. We also have to speak about M2M in a way that people talk. When I meet utilities all they think about is expensive communication solutions built on SIM cards and roaming, and they bring up all these worst case scenarios.

But you explain to them how the technology works, the cost benefits and that roaming is actually something positive, and you tell them how telco roaming prices are also regulated. So they could predict the future cost. You have to talk to them not as a mobile operator, but as the builder of information infrastructure. Then they really understand how to deal with it.

The utility world is full of PLC (power line communication), there are a lot of power cables. For the foreseeable future that’s going to be their business in Central Europe. PLC is going to be their choice of communication method, which is okay because they have to transform themselves. They have to understand that the amount of data they need today is going to grow by hundreds tomorrow, and that two-way interaction will grow even more rapidly, because consumers want more information. That means that, while PLC will be good for certain parts of data, it won’t cover the future need.

M2M Now: Is the internet of things a market enabler or just a business philosophy?

BE: If M2M is a telco expression, the internet of things is even more so, because M2M is machine-generated information to another machine. It’s like smart meters within utilities. Smart grid promotes the new smart energy market. Put ‘smart’ in front of it and it’s something new. But nobody really knows what it is. I have a feeling that the internet of things – if we cannot find the value-add to the customers – is just going to be another expression.

If we put some effort into it and really explain what we mean by the internet of things: Well, we put things on the internet, and we give you access to them.

When we give you access, you get information and you can choose to act, to control, inform, whatever.

M2M Now: Is there still too much of a technology focus? Is this partly what you were saying about it being a telco-driven concept, instead of being about the internet of knowledge?

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M2M Now June - July 2012

M2M Now: You said it’s a ‘little bit of analytics’ on the top. That’s quite a challenging statement; there are a lot of people who say that the biggest problem is in the scale of this data, being able to make any sense of it.

BE: Yes, but if you want to put out 50 billion assets online, you’re not able to hand the information from 50 billion assets, or from 10 million assets or whatever you have out there. Taking again my experience from the utility world, you can’t even imagine how many live sub transformer stations or whatever assets they have out there.

They only need very small analysis data for critical information. It’s not like they need to gather everything that happens in the environment around it, when it’s switched on and off at all times, and everything like that. They need basic data, so that they can do some quick analysis on some control mechanisms or automation.

M2M Now: Can you give me an example of the basic data you’re talking about?

BE: Basic data, for example, from a transformer station at the utility. They need to know what the balancing data is now in the transformer station.

If they have that, they can do a great deal. What’s going into it, what do we receive from other sources.

If they can have that data they’re more than happy.

So, when I say basic analysis you have to start somewhere. Because, as you say, we’ve got to collect a massive amount of data when we have this internet of things up and running and every product is online.

If you want to do advanced analytics on that data, you’re welcome. But then you’re just creating another frustration, because you don’t really understand what you are looking at.

We have smart meters in Sweden. The data they collect remotely, thank God for me, is on a SIM card.

They collect my readings and they send it for me. I have accurate billing, according to what I actually consume. Well, that’s good enough for me. If they can show me what I’m using on a monthly basis and compare that to the bill, it’s correct, I’m happy. I don’t need to know the balance data. I don’t need to know the feed-in tariffs because I am on a fixed price, I don’t care. That gives me the facts, that brings knowledge.

M2M Now: So the benefits to you are controlling your usage and therefore your costs, and the benefits for them are balancing loads?

BE: Yes, load balancing. Also they need the data for settlement, between the retailer and the grid operator. Is there too much technology focus on the internet of things, instead of talking about the internet of knowledge? I think that’s the perfect question. Because we don’t talk about the internet of things, what it is, what it would bring to mankind, to me as a person or to a utility out there. We have a tendency to talk about technology.

M2M Now: Yes, that was always Steve Jobs’ beef wasn’t it?

That people in IT were forever talking about technology, not about the benefits to the user.

BE: Which he was absolutely right about.

M2M Now: Finally, what is the value for consumers and that awful word ‘prosumers’, in transforming them into energy citizens? How does it affect the services they receive?

BE: If you look at the value for the consumer, prosumer, we know that, if we take basic services, you know. If you want to buy a new mobile phone, you go and check out what you need, do you really need a smart phone, what do you need a phone for? What will I use it, how will I use it? What should the price be? That’s a typical consumer.

To be an energy citizen you take responsibility for your own consumption.

You take responsibility for how you are going to use it. And that’s the problem with energy. We’ve had electricity for over a hundred years. But we’ve been told don’t worry about it. We have two or three holes in the wall; put your appliances on and if you have an issue just call us and we will put in a larger fuse.

To become an energy citizen you understand how your consumption behaviour affects first of all, the invoice you get. Secondly, you will have started thinking about your environmental footprint. That’s the value for the consumer, having power to make the right decisions.

That’s transforming them into an energy citizen.

It will have a massive impact on the services they receive.

That’s why we are seeing now that the unregulated business is growing so rapidly, it’s because people are making conscious choices about who they would like to be their service providers. If I was to buy energy efficiency services I don’t call my utility. I find someone on the internet that promises a 20% decrease in energy usage.

It’s going to affect the services massively. I’m not talking about an evolution any more, I’m talking about revolution. Most consumers are actually demanding a more rapid change in the market space than currently we see.

If you look at the infrastructure throughout Europe, both for utilities and telcos, all of these infrastructures are being built. Companies are just waiting for the infrastructure to be in place and they will move in with such good value propositions that they basically want to change several industries within telecoms and utilities.

They are just waiting for the infrastructure to be in place that can handle the amount of data in a cost-efficient way.

M2M Now June - July 2012

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MANAGED SERVICES

EXPERT OPINION:

Carrier expertise, Tier-One connections and tools deployed by new M2M service provider Datatrade was only established in December 2011, yet it already offers machine-to-machine (M2M) application developers and users connectivity solutions that address the challenges of cross-border and international applications. Both here and in the wholesale industry, Datatrade works with renowned telecoms providers globally. Datatrade Managed Services AG is a subsidiary of the Switzerland-based provider of international telecommunications services Calltrade Carrier Services AG, which has Tier-One telecom infrastructure around the globe. Here, Jeremy Cowan talks to Datatrade’s CEO, Andrea Giacomini about the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Andrea Giacomini has extensive telecom industry experience, having worked previously at Calltrade Carrier Services AG, with responsibility for new business strategy and development. Before that he was involved in the launch of a new GSM operator in Europe as CTO, after having spent several years in consulting.

Andrea holds a Master in Telecommunications, and an MBA from Columbia University (NY) and London Business School (UK).

“I consider the operators’ community not ready to establish relationships aiming to achieve SLAs from the radio network, particularly when it comes to Roaming services.”

Andrea Giacomini, CEO Datatrade

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M2M Now: For any of our readers not familiar with Datatrade, Andrea, can you give a bit of background on how the company came to be?

Andrea Giacomini: Sure, Datatrade AG is a newly born company less than one year old, created as a spin-off from a well-established international telecom carrier based in Switzerland, Calltrade Carrier Services AG. Calltrade is a successful entrepreneurial story started in 2001 with its main business focus on wholesale voice transit, and which has quickly become one of the world’s recognised top players in carrier services. It has business relationships with all the main telco groups worldwide.

Aiming to find alternative successful areas of business, we decided last year to invest in ideas that may benefit from our main assets, our deep telecommunication knowledge (particularly in massive data transaction handling), the consolidated business relationships with Tier-One operators, and the streamlined company structure custom-made to address business flexibility.

We saw a good fit in the fast-growing M2M industry and we believe we have a lot to offer to meet M2M’s connectivity demands.

M2M Now: Can you describe Datatrade's services? What is new in your proposition?

AG: We created an ecosystem of services offering our customers mobile connectivity and flexible tools to perform its management – all tailored to address the challenges of M2M communications.

Our offering covers all the M2M connectivity needs including SIM cards in different formats and their online management, global coverage provided thanks

M2M Now June - July 2012

to cutting-edge roaming technologies, flexible pricing structures achieved with our experience with real-time rating engines, device inventory management applications, and monitoring/reporting capabilities either made-to-stock or customisable from the customer self-care web-based portal. All of this is bundled with Tier-One support and available to you from a single point of contact.

Is this something new in the M2M industry? I wouldn’t say so, however, I believe we are very innovative in the way the service is created. Instead of tackling the connectivity needs of M2M applications from a ratingonly point of view, we built an infrastructure starting from a Service Control Point, connected to our dedicated HLR, Roaming Platform, GGSN and SMSC. The SCP is a charging engine that controls the mobile communications made by our SIM cards sharply at every session, both for data traffic and SMS. Such control takes into account not only the customer credit online, but all the customer profile including service availability, roaming network access and customer defined limits set either on volume or credit. This I believe is a great advantage for our customers with the need for real-time action, particularly when it comes to connectivity cost control.

On top of that, we provide BSS tools to properly manage the service provisioning and to perform advanced billing operations, both for our end customers buying the service directly from us, and for our resellers supplied with a native multi-level admin concept.

M2M Now: Which markets do you focus on, geographically and by industry sector?

AG: Our main market focus is not on a particular industry sector, nor a specific geographic market.

However, we believe our products are most competitive for those customers with multi-country coverage needs, particularly when it comes to supporting them in cross-border situations, looking for a single point of contact for their telecom services.

Additionally, one of our service platform’s main advantages is the capability to address customer needs even with limited numbers of SIM cards, and keep serving them as their business scale grows.

We are currently working in partnership with some resellers, to mention one, a German company with a specialised division in M2M services, Materna, and the business model we adopted is being the aggregator (therefore I can’t disclose who our final users are).

However, we are moving more to retail now, to direct sales.

Next we're going to provide value added services, again in the connectivity layer of the M2M value chain, but going even further deep in the SIM card and in the software of the SIM card together with SIM card manufacturers. We’re working with several of them, aiming to find value added services with respect to M2M connectivity that can be pulled out of the SIM card itself.

M2M Now: And what might those value added services be?

AG: It could be roaming optimisation for example, applied to multi-IMSI scenario. We are very keen to walk that path with SIM manufacturers as well as in the area of security.

If mobile network operators haven't come out with such a solution yet, it’s just because they didn’t find a partner to do it, or just because they have business any how...

M2M Now: So, you think they don’t need to fight that hard.

AG: Yes, exactly. This is pretty much the reason why not all the MNOs are interested in M2M connectivity and also why none of them are trying to do a lot in terms of SLAs or quality of service in roaming. Because at the end of the day they get revenues from the network anyway, and the main way they push the margin up is by up-selling machine-to-machine on top of the brand they’ve created already.

M2M Now: Should M2M customers be focusing on radio network SLAs or is it better to ensure their service providers have adequate redundancy in case a service goes down – redundancy in

devices, servers, HLRs and gateways?

AG: SLA is a key element of the M2M service and the connectivity itself plays a great role. I must confess I consider the operators’ community not ready to establish relationships aiming to achieve SLAs from the radio network, or not in the roaming paradigm where global services are more and more deployed. We closely follow all the GSMA initiatives defining those SLAs both from a commercial and technical perspective and I think the industry is still far from sensible results, mainly due to the divergence in operators’ incentives and the complexity that QoS may bring into standard roaming wholesale billing.

M2M Now Jargon Buster

QoS should be managed for M2M customers by three factors: core network elements control and a ‘nobottlenecks’ approach to international mobile data peering; fast-acting customer support services; and, particularly for global services, strong relationships with the roaming teams of operators serving the SIM cards’ network connectivity.

MNO = Mobile Network Operator

It is fundamental for Datatrade to offer better SLAs, the partnerships built over years of wholesale operations by our mother company with international telecoms, and knowledge of the roaming business and operational procedures. We know what the roaming challenges are and how to get quick replies from the networks hosting our customers worldwide – all this managed by a dedicated roaming team provided by one of our main business partners.

BSS = Business Support Systems GGSN = Gateway General Support Node HLR = Home Location Register M2M = Machine-toMachine

QoS = Quality of Service SCP = Service Control Point SIM = Subscriber Identity Module SLA = Service Level Agreement SMSC = Short Message Service Centre USSD = Unstructured Supplementary Service Data

M2M Now: End-to-end managed services are proving increasingly popular with end users and for M2M service providers. What are their strengths and weaknesses?

AG: I am not a big fan of end-to-end managed services. There are advantages in dealing with a sole point of contact for the whole service chain, but I think end-to-end services are mainly attempts by big mobile operators to achieve extra return on the brand capitalised on their balance sheets. This is quite natural considering the M2M service from a product marketing perspective, since for years MNOs playing the role of bare transport layers have missed all the added value margin taken by the M2M application providers.

I don’t see such a proposition working better for the customer when it comes to achieving QoS and quick responses for issues that may arise due to the different product components. Offering a robust and flexible connectivity layer with superior SLAs is our role, and this – bundled together with the co-operation of one additional supplier, expert in providing the M2M application level – is enough and not a fragmented proposition.

For further information contact: a.giacomini@datatrade.ch www.datatrade.ch

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M2M & THE ENVIRONMENT

EXPERT OPINION:

Using M2M to go ‘green’ makes business sense There is continual discussion on how we can be more ‘green’ to better use resources and protect the environment. As Ryan Keefe writes, much of this discussion is driven by governments launching environmentally-friendly initiatives and regulations.

The more forward thinking companies, however, do not see themselves driven by the regulations, but see the use of M2M technology to ‘go green’ as making business sense and to demonstrate to the market, their corporate responsibility for helping improve the environment. Their solutions not only make for a good corporate image, but also result in cost savings for both companies and their customers.

The author, Ryan Keefe is VP Global Business Development at Wyless

“M2M is part of the green revolution.”

Ryan Keefe, Wyless

Robin Duke-Woolley, CEO, Beecham Research Ltd., (www.beechamresearch.com), says M2M energy management solutions are usually adopted either to save money or meet regulations. “Corporate adopters can justify energy monitoring and control from a cost/benefit perspective,” says Duke-Woolley.

Solutions related to smarter energy use represent a major segment of the green market for M2M. While individual companies are working to implement energy management systems, M2M is also viable for smart energy on a wider scale.

In the short term, Duke-Woolley believes smart metering and the smart grid offer immediate growth prospects for M2M. He says smart metering projects are “coming to the top of the agenda in all regions worldwide,” and that these programmes are “substantially justified on the basis of energy conservation and reducing CO2 emissions”.

The following are examples of companies delivering innovative ‘green’ machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions. From solar-powered, wireless parking meters that allow credit card payments, to a web-based

Fig 1 26

M2M Now June - July 2012

irrigation control system, the solutions from IPS Group, GreenRoad, Weathermatic, EDC Technologies and EnergyICT are positively impacting our society – both protecting the environment and saving money and time for businesses and consumers.

Solar-powered connected parking meters In today’s economy, consumers and businesses alike are looking for convenient, cost-effective solutions to everyday problems. Unlike old, battery-powered models, the solar-powered connected parking meters (see Fig. 1) from IPS Group take the pain and stress out of parking, allowing users to pay with coins, a credit card, or a reusable, rechargeable parking ‘debit card.’

In addition to customer convenience and green technology, these meters offer lower maintenance and operating costs for municipalities nationwide.

Revenues in locations with IPS meters typically increase between 20% and 40% within six months of installation and data collection time can be reduced by as much as 95%. Furthermore, because the meters are solar powered, municipalities needn’t worry about the disposal of hundreds of thousands of batteries each year.

Safety and fuel consumption manager for fleets Businesses and consumers alike are being significantly impacted by rising fuel costs. In fact, according to a recent US survey by GreenRoad, a leader in driver performance and safety management, fuel costs represent 26-75% of total costs for more than 61% of all fleets. Driver behaviour, such as rapid acceleration,

Fig 2

Advanced hot water controller technology

Fig 3

Today, with the advent of the internet, energy savings are achieved by analysing and programming water temperature to meet the actual demand needed for each half hour on a weekly cycle. Additionally, savings are achieved through designing and fine-tuning the heating system for maximum efficiency.

speeding and harsh braking can dramatically impact fuel consumption, contributing to higher costs and increased fuel emissions.

With a technology-based, personalised driver performance solution, like the GreenRoad Driver Improvement Loop™ (see Fig. 2), organisations see improved efficiencies, reductions in fuel costs of up to 10%, as well as reduced emissions. Furthermore, with the GreenRoad solution, risk is reduced and safety improved with real-time driver feedback (see Fig. 3), resulting in fewer crashes. The GreenRoad solution has garnered over 25 awards since 2008.

Web-based irrigation control system Ordinary irrigation systems cannot adjust to changing weather conditions, often resulting in overwatering, high water bills and potential property damage.

For commercial and municipal properties, web-based irrigation control systems and wireless controllers, such as the SmartLink Network (see Fig:4) from Weathermatic, can dramatically reduce water consumption and provide significant water bill savings. For as little as $0.50 per day, users of SmartLink can monitor and control irrigation, respond to system alerts, and generate monthly reports on water usage and savings – all from a connected smartphone, PC or tablet.

In a recent SmartLink pilot conducted by a leading national retail bank, it was estimated that water consumption would be reduced by approximately 9.8 million gallons and US$56,000 in savings would be realised across just six of the bank’s properties in the first year. Project payback was estimated at 3.3 months.

2. SmartLink

Fig 4

1. SmartLine

With advanced hot water controller technology, EDC Technology clients – including natural gas utilities, property management companies, hotel owners, restaurants and senior care facilities – not only achieve significant energy savings, but they are also provided with remote and proactive monitoring which records the nuances of day-to-day usage looking for system anomalies and performance irregularities.

This proactive approach ensures that cost-effective changes can be achieved long-term, providing true sustainability. Among the many recognitions their technology has received, EDC Technologies was awarded Gold for its Hot Water Controller at the 2011 Connected World M2M Value Chain Awards.

"By reusing our existing poles and using clean solar power, these new coin and card meters are a win-win for customers, the city, and the environment."

Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa

Remote energy consumption monitoring In this age of high energy prices and environmental concerns, everyone from homeowners to the largest energy consuming businesses are interested in reducing their energy consumption. Large businesses such as multi-site industrial companies and retailers recognise that to control energy costs and to enhance their total energy performance is crucial to maintain competitiveness. Moreover, environmental regulations, whether part of company policy or imposed by authorities, further require large energy consumers to reduce energy waste and monitor a growing number of parameters.

EnergyICT’s customers use a WebRTU data logger for remote meter reading, which allows for the collection of timely and accurate energy consumption data.

Collecting accurate data provides customers with the information they need to start reducing energy consumption and thus overall energy costs. EnergyICT was able to implement the solution with customers Europe, the USA and Australia.

“This solution has helped us put one of our devices in every ASDA and Tesco store in the UK, which is having a big impact on these organisations’ efforts to reduce their carbon footprint,” said Stefan Grosjean, CEO and founder of EnergyICT. These are excellent examples of the many companies with whom we are working who are seeing the business benefits of going green and are building a better environment. When innovative green M2M solutions are paired with Wyless’ managed services, lives can be enriched and the environment protected.

This is M2M at its most rewarding and it is great to see so many of our partners enjoying success in this rapidly developing market.

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TELEHEALTH

EXPERT OPINION:

Secure M2M technology for a healthier and safer life Machine-to-machine (M2M) technology has the potential to transform healthcare and create a continuum of care, despite limited resources. Applied in the field of mobile healthcare (mHealth) M2M can advance health in developed countries through efficiency gains as well as in developing nations where M2M can assist in creating healthcare for the masses.

The challenges of healthcare today On the verge of a brave new world where everything can be connected, we are also at a crossroads in medicine. In the early 1900s, communicable diseases like Spanish flu were the most dangerous threats known to man.

The author is Manfred Kube, director, Business Development mHealth at Cinterion, a Gemalto company.

“M2M-based solutions provide new levels of control, compliance and efficiency to help improve access to care, patient outcomes and better management of operating costs.”

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Today, chronic ‘welfare diseases’ such as diabetes, heart disease and other recurring conditions top the list of health threats that impact the greatest number of people and contribute to the high cost of modern healthcare worldwide. Statistics indicate that by 2020 at least 160 million Americans are projected to have at least one chronic condition.

According to research by the Continua Health Alliance, there are more than 1 billion overweight adults in the world today, a risk factor for chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and more. In the United States, 90% of healthcare spending goes toward treating chronic diseases.

This challenging situation is compounded by the fact that the overall world population is ageing: by 2050 the over-60 population in the world will outnumber the under-15 population for the first time in history. At this age, morbidity risks increase disproportionately which increases the burden on healthcare systems. Delivering affordable healthcare is one of the biggest challenges faced by any government and in many countries healthcare expenditure is growing at unsustainable rates.

How can mHealth and M2M provide an answer?

Given these current and future challenges, it’s no surprise that the medical industry is turning to wireless technology — specifically M2M technology — to bring about much needed improvements in healthcare that greatly reduce the cost of treating these conditions and improve the overall quality of

M2M Now June - July 2012

life for millions around the world. Wireless technology has given us the ability to stay connected to people, data, machines and devices and it greatly improves productivity, efficiency and general ease of living. Wireless infrastructure has been in place for decades and the healthcare industry is quickly finding ways to capitalise on this advantage to solve critical challenges faced by an overburdened healthcare system.

Telehealth or mHealth describe medical technology and monitoring devices that integrate cellphonebased or M2M-based wireless communications to improve patient treatment. Unobtrusive and easy to use mobile health devices can suit a variety of telehealth purposes. This includes monitoring a patient’s medication compliance, managing elderly patients through wearable health monitors and helping chronic disease patients proactively and reactively manage their personal care. Personal emergency response systems (PERS) can automatically call for help, enabling emergency services to react faster. Complementing face-toface visits, M2M technology establishes an additional communication channel between clinicians and patients, removing geographic barriers and enhancing the quality of service delivery.

Consistent and real-time oversight can greatly improve treatment, keep patients healthier and avoid expensive hospitalisation. In fact, a recent study by Philips showed compelling and tangible benefits gained from telehealth solutions: 89% of health agencies reported an increase in quality outcomes, 76% cited reduction in unplanned hospitalisations, 77% cited reduction in ER (emergency room) visits and 76% reported patients improving self-care by proactive disease management.

Wireless technology and services have evolved and

expanded rapidly and can now provide critical relief to the overburdened healthcare system. Medical device manufacturers are developing and launching a new breed of mHealth solutions using M2M modules that will undoubtedly solve some of these challenges. An independent market study predicts that the market for telehealth and home health monitoring for the US and EU combined will grow from US$3 billion in 2009 to an estimated $7.7 billion by 2012. Mobile network operators now recognise M2M applications as generally lowbandwidth solutions with little churn, and most have embraced the promise of M2M technology which is accelerating the mHealth revolution.

Similarly, advances in module and sensor technology such as miniaturisation and smart textiles are enabling unobtrusive, simplified applications for telehealth applications that can provide continuous medical support outside of the doctor’s office or emergency room. Comfortable and convenient sensors, such as those placed into a discrete watch, increase mobility and independence while providing the sense of security knowing that help is just around the corner, making mHealth solutions more attractive to patients.

Security as a key ingredient for successful mHealth solutions Trust is indeed a key requirement for mHealth applications which must exchange data securely and reliably to maintain strict confidentiality. GSM modules from providers like Cinterion have been proven in industries that require the highest quality, security and reliability standards. The extremely rigorous specifications for utmost reliability and traceability required for telehealth applications are similar to the stringent automotive industry standards where M2M has been widely applied for many years. Challenges such as securing user data and privacy have already been successfully mastered in M2M solutions such as point of sale terminals and automated teller machines.

With over 15 years of experience in digital security, Gemalto technology enables healthcare devices to communicate over wireless networks in a highly secure fashion. Data transmission is based on the latest encryption technologies and security mechanisms inherent in modern cellular networks.

Gemalto also supplies healthcare providers with strong authentication solutions, ensuring only

authorised personnel can access sensitive patient data. By combining M2M technology, embedded secure elements like smartcards and other solutions Gemalto and Cinterion can significantly improve end-to-end security in wireless networks, safeguarding patient information and meeting regulatory requirements.

How to reach scale with M2M-based mHealth solutions?

With the core technology in place for M2M-based applications, it is interoperability of these solutions that is one of the main inhibitors for mHealth solutions to reach scale today. Cinterion is committed to support standards such as those adopted by the Continua Health Alliance, where more than 200 member companies are working to establish a standardised ecosystem of interoperable personal health solutions that empower people and organisations to better manage health and wellness. However, healthcare is an extremely conservative industry, and the pace of uptake of new technologies is very slow when compared to the mobile industry.

“Cellular based machine-tomachine communication is a key technology to facilitate wireless health monitoring and further drive the mHealth revolution.”

Another lingering inhibitor to mHealth adoption has been creating viable business models and reimbursement schemes. Insurance companies have been slow to approve coverage of mHealth solutions until clinically proven success is documented. At the moment, there are various multi-sided business models emerging which feature cross-subsidisation from different players in the ecosystem. In addition, there’s a growing evidence base for the economic benefits and some promising developments in the reimbursement for telehealth by national healthcare systems.

Summary We are at a crossroads in medicine where the increasing pressure of skyrocketing healthcare costs is motivating technological innovation and invention. Innovation, proven medical outcomes, improved quality of life and convenience, plus mobile network operator support are fueling mHealth adoption. The opportunity to help and transform is here, and it will take the collaborative effort by wireless and medical industry stakeholders to usher in a much needed paradigm shift in healthcare delivery.

For more information on Cinterion Wireless Modules and case studies on mHealth solutions contact the author at: Manfred.Kube@cinterion.com

M2M Now June - July 2012

29

E-HEALTH

Telehealth needs nursing to fruition Difficulties in agreeing standards and finding the correct business models are delaying the roll-out of remote-monitoring healthcare projects. Steve Rogerson reports.

While the concept of home monitoring of people’s medical conditions has been talked about for some time, actual roll-outs of such schemes have been patchy and many have yet to progress past the trial stage. Among the problems dogging the idea are a lack of agreement of the wireless standards to be used and, perhaps more seriously, no real business models.

Even though these projects will, in theory, save the health providers money, there is a large initial cost that has to be paid by someone.

Reinier Middel, Advantech: Little active deployment

Pressure though to speed up the process is coming not just from the medical staff but from their patients. As more people hear about how this is possible and know of the successful trials and some real applications, notably in the USA, they are now asking their doctors about this.

interface for the end user. This is not rocket science.

There is a lot of technology for this that is already available. The question is how to make it happen.”

Real world experiences One group that has already found the answer to that is the Veterans Association in the USA, which has rolled out telehealth services to more than 50,000 people and is planning to extend this. Just one veterans hospital in rural Oregon is reported to have saved over US$88,000 in travel expenses alone during 2011 by shifting more than 3,000 patients to telehealth services.

“It does make healthcare cheaper,” said Kamat, “but it comes with an initial investment. So, who deploys it and who gets the benefits? The people who need to make the investment are not doing it yet.”

Rapid market changes “This situation has started changing rapidly this year,” said Cédric Hutchings, CEO for device developer Withings. “Consumers are more and more wanting this.”

Vaishali Kamat, Cambridge Consultants: Evolving at a rapid pace

Umesh Neelakantan, Mindtree: People want to use their iPhones and iPads

MONEY

TALKS MAY 20th 2013

LAS VEGAS, USA

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Vaishali Kamat, group manager for medical technology at Cambridge Consultants, added: “It is evolving at a rapid pace but nobody knows what direction it will go, so everyone is waiting for everyone else to see what to do.”

And now that more people have smartphones and tablets, the technology to implement this more cheaply is available. An app on a smartphone could serve as the home gateway to the cellular network rather than having a dedicated device.

“Most people now carry around smartphones,” said Chuck Parker, executive director of the Continua Health Alliance. “These can capture data, display something to the end user and process the data with levels of security.”

That said, in the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) has had trials in London and Scotland and is planning a roll-out in the next four to five years to around three million people. Schemes are also being rolled out in Denmark. And there is a conference next year that will look specifically at the business models in this sector. Organised by M2M Now, Money Talks – e-Health will be held on Monday May 20, 2013 in Las Vegas, USA, the day before CTIA opens.

“The possibilities for connecting patients are endless, but the business models are unclear,” said George MacGinnis from PA Consulting. “What is the return on investment? These are the problems the early innovators are facing.”

He said because of this a lot of early implementations had focused on people with advanced illnesses who would probably be in hospital within a year anyway, and for whom it was thus easier to make the business case.

Insurance funding, too And Umesh Neelakantan, domain head for consumer systems at Mindtree, said: “People don’t want to buy new devices. They want to use their iPhones and iPads as much as they can for these kinds of things. Mobile apps will be a main driver.”

But Kamat was worried about the reliability of the data coming from a smartphone. “Will the health professionals trust it enough to make decisions?” she asked. “Technology is becoming better and cheaper, so that is becoming less of a barrier.”

Hutchings added: “This has made the possibility more realistic. The mobile phone provides a well-known

M2M Now June - July 2012

Jan-Han Broeders, European healthcare business development manager for Analog Devices, added: “Everyone has been talking about telehealth for years but the revenue is not there yet. Government funding is one side. The other is the healthcare insurance companies because it is a big advantage for them.”

Reinier Middel, business development manager at Advantech, also sees this as a problem. He said: “More people are seeing the benefits of home basestations and sending health related data, but on active deployment it is very little. One of the problems is who will pay for it. There are also no standards and no user group to define standards.”

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He called for healthcare professionals and insurance providers to start working together to provide standards and pay for it. “A new group is needed to get standardisation,” he said.

Wireless front runner On technology, one problem is the link between the medical devices and either the smartphone or other home gateway. This could be hard wired, but is most likely to be one of a number of wireless standards with the likes of Bluetooth Low Energy, ZigBee and Wi-Fi front runners. MacGinnis believes Bluetooth Low Energy will end up being the winner.

“Bluetooth Low Energy will have health profiles inherent in the standard,” he said. “Devices with this will be able to communicate with a range of health devices and that will lead to a much larger scale consumer adoption. I am hopeful we will see this within the next five years.”

Jason Martin, project engineer at Renesas, agreed. He said: “Bluetooth Low Energy will dominate the market. It will become a de facto standard. This is purely because of the low energy. We have seen products with ZigBee, and they were looking for lower energy. Bluetooth Low Energy will be the way forward.”

He said it was better than ZigBee for this application because the data would initially go to a smartphone or PC, which were already Bluetooth-enabled and would migrate to Bluetooth Low Energy. He said, though, that he thought ZigBee would be used for elderly assistance and panic buttons if it was already being used for other applications in the house. And he said Wi-Fi was possible for healthcare applications but nobody was really looking at that.

Volker Prueller, marketing manager for low-power RF at Texas Instruments, thinks that ZigBee’s ability to be used for mesh networks means that it will find applications in large facilities such as hospitals for inventory tracking and the like. “But ZigBee does not have the advantage of being supported by major brand smartphones and tablets, as does Bluetooth,” he said. “Wi-Fi is more challenged on power consumption, but if you have to have a high data throughput, then Wi-Fi is the technology for that, especially if you have images.”

Cellular for critical care Jonathan Borrill, marketing director for Anritsu, believes for critical health monitoring applications that none of the short-range wireless standards are reliable enough and here manufacturers should look to having a cellular module embedded directly into the medical device.

technology built into the monitoring equipment.”

A difficulty with this idea, said Mauricio Peres, product marketing director at Microsemi, was that cellular technology was power hungry and thus would reduce the mobility of the patient. “It could be a problem if they have to have batteries regularly replaced,” he said. “You need something that lasts a long time.”

He believes a better option is that proposed by Qualcomm Life where there is what looks like a power adapter that plugs into a normal socket and can connect via a proprietary short-range wireless link and then send the data over a 3G or 4G cellular network or through a Wi-Fi link to the home router.

“They are trying to take the complexity out of telehealth,” said Peres. “They are building an ecosystem of suppliers. A Bluetooth Low Energy sensor lasts a few days without charge whereas this proprietary version lasts a few weeks.”

Chuck Parker, Continua Health Alliance: Smartphones can capture, display and process data

Smart systems needed Another problem that will arise when mass roll-outs have happened is handling the data. “There will be a lot of data and a lot of this will be potentially meaningless,” said Parker. “You have to look at trend lines. You have to set it to trigger when thresholds are reached. You don’t want to overwhelm the physician with too much data. You need smart systems that can monitor the data.”

And Broeders said: “You need to monitor patients for a period of time to get the trends and plots of their behaviour and then you can set the thresholds that will trigger alarms if vital signs go over or below them.”

Cédric Hutchings, Withings: Consumers want this more and more

Kamat added: “The biggest problem is data crunching and analytics. It is no good getting the data if you can’t make sense of it.”

In conclusion, the technology exists for a widespread role-out of remote monitoring telehealth services, but there is probably too much technology and disagreement over which will be the best in the long term. There are also no clear business models for funding such services. And while roll-outs have happened, there is still a lot of work to be done before the benefits of telehealth are available to the majority of people.

Organised by M2M Now, Money Talks – e-Health will be held on May 20, 2013 in Las Vegas, USA.

“Not one of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and ZigBee has mobility or security,” he said. “As long as the application is non time-critical, you can use them. But they are all subject to interference.

The problem is when you have life-critical applications.

Here, you need cellular

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M2M Now June - July 2012

31

EVENT REVIEW

Educate the market to want smart meters, then learn how to improve their roll-out If consumers can see their energy consumption in real time it’s obvious that they can control their energy bills better. Today, only 10% of EU households have a smart meter installed. However, the European Union has agreed that, where economically worthwhile, 80% of all electricity meters in the EU must be replaced by smart meters by 2020. So, as Jeremy Cowan reports, it’s no wonder that the recent European Smart Metering Forum in London drew an attentive attendance.

Dr Manuel Sanchez Jimenez is programme manager for Smart Grids in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Energy. Which makes him well placed to comment on the objectives and impact to date of Europe’s march towards smart grids.

Dr Manuel Sanchez Jimenez, European Commission: Carbon emission cuts of 15%

Smart grids enable reductions in global carbon emissions of 15%, says Dr Jimenez, and can reduce EU primary energy consumption by as much as 9% or almost EUR7.5 billion at 2010 prices. He adds, “While today only about 15% of EU households have some sort of smart meter installed, the cumulative investments in the EU are estimated at up to EUR40 billion in the next five to eight years by installing 200 million smart meters.”

Grid costs and benefits The European Commission (EC) published a recommendation in March this year to prepare for the roll-out of smart metering systems. It provides step-bystep guidelines for member states on how to conduct a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and gives them until 3rd September, 2012 to complete this. It also sets common minimum functionalities of smart metering systems and addresses data protection and security issues.

Miriika Laakkonen, Fortum: Launched webbased hourly energy use reports

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A common methodology for CBA will ensure that member states' analyses are comparable and based on comprehensive deployment plans. Economic assessment of long-term costs and benefits of smart meters will be tailored to local conditions taking into account, where possible, real-life experience gathered from pilot projects.

The costs of deployment will also depend on the functionalities provided by smart meters. For this the

M2M Now June - July 2012

Commission set up common minimum functionalities for smart metering systems; they should be able to deliver accurate measures of actual consumption and bi-directional communication with the consumer, enable dynamic pricing and improve management of the grid.

Minimum meter requirements Member states are being encouraged to assess smart metering roll out scenarios with smart meters that go beyond the minimum set of requirements. In particular, the minimum key functionalities will include: • Frequent updates of the readings provided directly to the consumer • Data storage so that customers can retrieve information on their past consumption • Regular remote meter reading by the operator, and • Advanced tariff structures and remote tariff control.

Of course, for smart metering systems to be effective operators need to process a lot of personal data. The EU Directive on the protection of personal data (95/46/EC) and the e-privacy Directive (2002/58/EC) set clear requirements on who can access such information and how it can be processed.

Security and data protection The EC is also recommending what it calls a ‘security and data protection by design’ approach, whereby data protection and security features are built into smart metering systems before they are rolled out.

Data collection should be limited to the minimum necessary and, wherever possible, data should be

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The scale of the data challenge was highlighted by Patrick Vu-Huy-Dat, project director, Strategy & Project Development at ERDF, France’s largest electricity distribution network. He told the conference that smart meters mean a huge increase in data. “Dumb terminals generally mean six to 12 measurements per year. But smart meters checking readings every 30 minutes can mean approximately 17,000 measurements per year.”

There’s also a reputational risk for a service provider rolling out smart meters. If you take ERDF with 35 million customers as an example, if the company applies smart meters to all of them and there’s even a 1% customer claim rate that would mean 350,000 customers complaining. So, as Vu-Huy-Dat says, work is needed here.

One Australian questioner asked if ERDF envisaged information systems (IS) costs rising on the back of installing smart metering? Vu-Huy-Dat replied that you can’t use your existing billing system for everything; data processing and storage costs will rise.

Talking unattributably to M2M Now, one company spokesman said that his firm had focused on data quality in a smart meter pilot project. “We found in a pilot that our data wasn’t that good. Over the years a programme of mergers and acquisitions has created a multinational company with variable data quality. For example, where is the meter installed? Is it behind locked doors or readily accessible? The companies (in the group) don’t know.”

Hourly reporting On the day of the conference Fortum, a Finland-based generator, distributor and vendor of sustainable energy solutions, announced the consumer launch of webbased hourly reporting of energy usage. New services such as local meter connectivity supported by in-home displays and gateways are also being tested using power line communications (PLC) C-Band and ZigBee. As part of a Finnish smart metering project, Miriika Laakkonen, communications manager, Corporate Relations & Strategy at Fortum, reports that they must adhere to 2009 energy measurement regulations. The projects goals include introducing demand response to the market, more accurate and efficient settlement of electricity balances, a more efficient process for changing suppliers, and driving energy savings.

Key conclusions from the study so far, are that the rollout of smart metering demands careful design of both IT and the processes underpinning it, close cooperation with key vendors is vital, and as is planning how to manage issues that arise. For example, it is crucial that information flows automatically to customer relationship agents who are the ‘face’ of the company.

“Wherever possible, data should be rendered anonymous so that the individual is no longer identifiable.”

European Commission

To its credit, installers in Finland have managed 800 – 1,000 changes per day depending on the location and distribution of customers. Fortum’s pilot has achieved a success rate of 97.3% in meter changes, something that is vital when dealing with the possible loss of all power over a weekend in a cold country.

In another frank discussion, one unnamed British delegate told M2M Now that the challenge facing the roll-out of smart meters in the UK is the poor quality of the installer base. Plumbers fitting new boilers want to get in and get out quickly. “In the UK boiler choice is driven by price,” he said, “in Germany there’s been consumer education and (consumers) will make a more informed choice. Sometimes control systems are not being fully enabled.”

To your correspondent, it all sounds a little like car dealers only supplying low margin 2-wheel drive vehicles because they haven’t taught drivers about the benefits of a premium 4x4 – even though the costlier and more sophisticated engineering of the 4x4 may benefit the consumer. In the case of smart meters, the benefit extends to the environment, too.

Patrick Vu-HuyDat, ERDF: Smart meters can mean 17,000 measurements a year

For more information see: http://ec.europa.eu/energy/gas_electricity/forum _citizen_energy_en.htm

Smart Metering in Europe (2011) Clear Strategy Progress in Implementation

rendered anonymous so that the individual is no longer identifiable, says the EC. Finally, the Commission plans to develop a data protection impact assessment template and present it by the end of the year at the London Forum

Dynamic Movers Sweden

Market Drivers Germany

Czech Rep Romania

Italy Denmark

UK

Norway Spain

Slovenia Belgium Portugal

Laggards

Waverers

Bulgaria Luxembourg

Latvia

Cyprus

Austria

Ambiguous Movers

Poland Greece

Slovakia Hungary

No Legal Framework

Legal and Regulatory Status

What’s On

Mobile Health Industry Summit

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA • May 20, 2013 M2M Now www.m2mnow.biz

25 September, 2012, Informa Grand Connaught Rooms, London, UK www.mobilehealthcareindustrysummit.com/

September 24, 2012. Market Force Grange City Hotel, London, UK http://marketforce.eu.com/Conferences/telematics12/

Clear Legal Framework

Ref: European Smart Metering Landscape Report 2011. Source: www.smartregions.net

Money Talks - e-Health & M2M Now Global Awards Dinner

The Insurance Telematics Summit

Finland France Netherlands

Estonia

Lithuania

No Clear Strategy

Ireland

Malta

Smart Cities 25-26 September, 2012, Informa Grand Connaught Rooms, London, UK http://smartcitiesseries.com/

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M2M Now June - July 2012

33

REAR VIEW MIRROR

An Analyst Perspective:

In-home electricity displays To date, the two most interesting developments in the market for in-home displays (IHDs), says Lisa Arrowsmith, senior analyst at IMS Research, have involved not only a dramatic change in the product itself, but also in the supply model.

Lisa Arrowsmith: Together, the global market for IHDs is expected to rise from 2 million units in 2011 to over 13 million in 2015.

The past few years have seen movement from ‘standard’ IHDs, which use a meter clamp and transmitting unit to enable electricity consumption data to be displayed on basic display devices, to ‘smart’ variants connected to smart meters with integrated HAN gateways. In some cases these display more advanced information such as dynamic pricing tariffs or demand-response requests, via communication with the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) network.

The opportunities for IHD suppliers are mainly of two types. First, there will be sales of ‘smart’ IHDs deployed by utility companies in countries where legislation drives it. Examples include the UK, where offering IHDs is to be mandated alongside smart meter installations; and parts of Australia, where the government is to subsidise deployment.

In emerging markets where smart meters are sometimes pole-mounted to deter electricity theft, legislation will promote IHDs to customers who cannot view their electricity meter, and who request them, so the market will ramp up quickly. Yet the devices are expected to be basic, quickly commoditised, and to offer suppliers low margins. Independent suppliers may struggle in these markets, as they leverage existing relationships with utility companies and offer ‘pre-paired’ IHD and smart meter combinations.

HAN or solo?

Yet smart meter deployments are occurring at different rates globally and in many cases are deployed without a HAN gateway. Even where HAN gateways are present, sometimes it is not enabled by the utility company (as in parts of the US), and therefore cannot

connect to energy management devices such as IHDs. Instead, another product is emerging which may offer suppliers a better margin – particularly if they can offer other parts of the system – the ‘smart meter-agnostic energy management system’ (catchy title, no?).

If a smart meter with HAN gateway is present and can be paired, these systems can use AMI information to display electricity consumption and, if available, dynamic pricing information, demand-response requests, etc. For many households where these conditions have yet to come about, this system can offer value through the inclusion of a meter clamp to measure household electricity data, as well as other energy management system components such as smart plugs and an external interface (for remote system access & cloud-based home management).

Rather than the direct-to-consumer retail option or the utility company deployments, the market for these systems will be driven by service providers ranging from cable operators to ISPs and even security companies looking to move into the ‘managed home’ market. IHDs will often be included in such packages.

But IHDs will face hard competition from ‘soft’ displays, where electricity consumption information is displayed on tablet PCs, cellular handsets, or even TVs. The challenge will lie in providing an IHD with enough value to be preferred over ‘soft’ options. By evolving to offer other parts of the smart home energy management system – or even partnering with a platform provider to offer the entire managed system – device suppliers can mitigate this risk.

Together, the global market for IHDs is expected to rise from 2 million units in 2011 to over 13 million in 2015.

IMS Research recently published a report, ‘The World Market for Smart Home Energy Management Systems – 2012 Edition’. This includes over 300 data tables, projecting the size of the market for smart home energy management devices, including smart thermostats, IHDs, smart meters, plugs and appliances, EV chargers, connected PV systems, and other load control devices. This includes analysis of the dominant network architecture projected in each country, plus the connectivity technologies used, and routes to market.

For details contact: Lisa.Arrowsmith@ihs.com

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M2M Now June - July 2012

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Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to talk about something that is seldom mentioned in our industry.

Humans.

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