M2M Now Magazine January 2013 Edition

M2M Now: ISSN 2046-5882

PROFIT FROM A WORLD OF CONNECTED DEVICES

JANUARY 2013

VOLUME 3

ISSUE 1

Ready for Mobile World Congress yet?

TALKING HEADS

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It’s coming! See Page 39

ILS readies for the challenge as CEO Yentz predicts a battle for M2M in 2013

SMART HOMES & UTILITIES ISSUE Reports from Amsterdam & London: What do users want in a smart home?

FLEET & ASSET TRACKING

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4 AGRICULTURE CASE STUDIES

M2M tackles hungry bats, thirsty cattle, grapes and WireRats™

BOLD MOVE BY ONE SERVICE PROVIDER Deutsche Telekom and Maingate promote CapEx-free smart meters

ALSO INSIDE! Most M2M forecasts are wrong: So say researchers! • Taiwan wakes up to M2M • Stand by, Oracle’s coming • Nothing Smart about my Metering! • The Contract Hot List • Company, Market, People & Product News • Latest News & Videos at www.m2mnow.biz

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Follow your assets, no matter where or when

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CONTENTS

Check Out Our Website!

www.m2mnow.biz CONTENTS

3

COMMENT – by the Editor, Jeremy Cowan

4

The $$ cost of M2M hype and false hopes

10

TALKING HEADS

PRODUCT NEWS

5

Newtec wins satellite award; Digi launches compact module

MARKET NEWS

6

Global satellite SCADA and M2M forecast; and Contract Hot List

PEOPLE NEWS

7

Senior appointments at Netgem, Concirrus and INSIDE Secure

COMPANY NEWS

8

Landis&Gyr creates 200 new jobs; Etherios acquired by Digi International

16

TALKING HEADS

10

ILS is up for the challenge as CEO, Fred Yentz predicts a battle for M2M in 2013

SMART HOMES

SMART METERS

13

Smart choices in Amsterdam, but we find ‘intelligent data’ too

SMART HOMES

16

What do customers want in a smart home? Jeremy Cowan reports

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: SMART METERS

20

Deutsche Telekom and Maingate unveil bold CapEx-free meter roll out plan

24

AGRICULTURE CASE STUDIES

OPINION

22

Barry Nay lifts the lid on four case studies showing M2M’s agricultural impact

OPINION

24

A new strategy for efficient, low cost M2M

ASSET TRACKING

26

Bob Emmerson learns how to follow your assets, no matter where or when

EXPERT OPINION

28

Telenor Connexion expands its services to support customer product lifecycles

34 ASIA FOCUS

VIDEOS FOR YOU!

30

See how businesses are benefiting from M2M Now’s video marketing skills

EVENT DIARY

32

Our listing of key events worldwide; Plus MWC 2013 Barcelona Preview

ASIA FOCUS

34

Steve Rogerson finds Taiwan is hurrying to catch up in M2M expertise

RESEARCH

37

Oracle flexes its research muscles and prepares to launch in M2M

BACK PAGE

38

Jeremy Cowan admits it: There’s nothing smart about his metering!

Cover Sponsor: ILS Technology reports that it provides a sophisticated, yet easyto-use power tool that helps customers connect the dots without any added infrastructure or programming; it is offered at a reasonable cost and with a short implementation time frame. Platforms such as these are what enterprises are looking for to translate their visions into business innovations. Products like the deviceWISE M2M Application Deployment Kit, take the M2M market from the best possible, easily managed connection development space to the best possible, easiest to consume deployment space. www.ilstechnology.com

CONTENTS

© WeKnow Media Ltd 2013 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 £125.00 worldwide (or US$210 / €160) including post and packing. M2M Now magazine is published 5 times a year.

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

M2M Now January 2013

3

COMMENT

The $$ cost of M2M hype and false hopes

Jeremy Cowan

How often have you looked at M2M research figures and muttered, “Really?” I don’t have empiric evidence (yet) but many people I talk to are as unimpressed as I am by forecasts of millions of cellular M2M connections, billions of connected devices and trillion dollar revenues. Eventually such figures become meaningless. Even worse, they actively damage future investments in machine-tomachine communications, investments that still offer some of the brightest financial hopes for network operators worldwide. It’s simple. If you hype a service too far it will surely fail to meet its stellar forecasts. It’s surely not in any of our interests for this market to acquire a reputation for over-promising and under-delivering.

Amid falling profits from voice traffic and zero margins on mobile data, operators cast around for Hope. Then the CFO meets someone at a conference who’s making steady money by connecting Things, not People. So he has a long, hard look at the research. Except that some analysts seem to see this sector as one in which to bash out a quick report to boost cashflow then ignore again.

I talked along these lines recently with one eminent researcher in this space, and a member of M2M Now’s Editorial Board, Robin Duke-Woolley, CEO of Beecham Research. He pointed out the kind of errors that are being made. “Growth rate projections are often far too high for what is essentially a solutions business, not a consumer products business. New projects and technology changes are also often assumed to happen much too rapidly. Those 10-year forecasts then typically multiply all the assumptions in shorter range forecasts, claiming preposterous accuracy with big headline numbers. The forecast errors for these are potentially huge.

He’s not alone. James Brehm, senior strategist at global consulting and market analytics firm, Compass Intelligence wrote a sensible report this month headlined ‘Why most M2M forecasts are wrong’.

(Read it at www.M2MNow.biz, Search: ‘Compass’). He said, “While there are many companies providing annual data on the M2M market, most analyst firms make assumptions that are not grounded in reality. The majority … do not take availability of

“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses a lamp-post, for support rather than illumination.”

Andrew Lang (1844-1912) components, migration paths from 2G to 3G to 4G LTE, end-user behaviour, socio-economic factors, and so on into consideration when building forecasts.”

Now, I’m not privy to the various methodologies of rival analysts, and I’m not so green that I can’t spot a sales pitch, but we will be taking a closer look at the claims of M2M researchers in an attempt to de-bunk some of the hype, to point out the successes and failures of some forecasts, and establish what separates accurate claims from self-serving exaggeration. Meanwhile, my old man had a quote for every occasion and one from Scottish novelist, Andrew Lang (1844-1912) seems appropriate. “He uses statistics as a drunken man uses a lamp-post, for support rather than illumination.” Perhaps we should study future forecasts with a more sober eye.

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 Jameson Tel: +44 (0) 1732 897646 c.jameson@m2mnow.biz

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M2M Now January 2013

Erik Brenneis, Head of Vodafone M2M

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 £125.00 worldwide (or US$210 / €160) including post and packing.

Ann Hatchell, Bridgewater Systems

© WeKnow Media Ltd 2013

Tony Jackson, Director, Telecoms, Convergys Smart Revenue Solutions

Gwenn Larsson, Head of Marketing, Telenor Connexion

Marie-Paule Odini, HP CMS

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

PRODUCT NEWS

Newtec modem wins satellite markets and research vision award The Newtec MDM6000 Satellite Modem, a new generation satellite platform, has won the Satellite Markets and Research Most Innovative Product Award. Through the combination of new high speed and efficiency technologies, the modem achieved the world speed record earlier this year. Slava Frayter, the company's VP Americas, accepted the award on behalf of Newtec at the Satellite Markets and Research Vision Awards reception during SATCON2012 in the Javits Convention Center, New York City.

applications and any speeds. This particular modem handles data rates up to 380Mbps in each direction.

The high-speed MDM6000 modem is in full compliance with the DVB-S2 standard and already supports the upcoming S2 Extensions. Newtec has teamed up with other DVB-members in order to define and

develop the update on the DVB-S2 standard.

Newtec’s contribution to the standard has resulted in new satellite transmission technologies that are already implemented in the MDM6000 Satellite Modem. Those technologies include smaller roll-offs, advanced filtering, more and better MODCODs, FEC upgrades and wideband support (72Mbaud).

The Newtec MDM6000 Satellite Modem was launched in September and completes Newtec’s modem portfolio to cover all IP

Digi launches compact wireless module for developing connected portable devices Digi International has launched a compact wireless system-on-module for developing connected devices based on Freescale technology. The ConnectCard™ for i.MX28 module’s small form factor and integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networking options are designed for developing portable medical devices and other products in energy, transportation, industrial or building automation. Through the iDigi® Device Cloud™, developers will have immediate

access to an applications development platform and device management functionality.

“The ConnectCard i.MX28 provides the performance and flexibility of a system-onmodule, but in an ultra-small form factor,” said Larry Kraft, senior vice president of global sales and marketing, Digi International. “Customers can develop and maintain their connected devices easily

using the iDigi® Device Cloud.”

The ConnectCard for i.MX28 is small enough for the most compact designs. The module is said to offer easy design integration, low-power operation and unique interface flexibility. It features an integrated 32-bit ARM core running at up to 454 MHz, on-chip power management, Bluetooth 4.0, and dual Ethernet and 802.11 a/b/g/n networking options.

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

Modular, open integration platform launched for building automation Diehl Controls, a Z-Wave Alliance member and a European provider of heating and photovoltaic controls, has developed an open integration platform that forms a complete modular home control solution for networked homes. The Smart Eco System employs the Z-Wave wireless standard to control appliances, radiators, lighting and other residential and commercial building systems via smartphone, tablet or PC, locally or remotely.

Using the Smart ECO system, end users can monitor and control the energy consumption of all appliances at a glance and in forthcoming applications, integrate electrical and thermal energy storage systems. The connection and interaction

between energy consumers, energy generators and energy storage in the home can now be realised in defined expansion steps, making it a new option for energy providers, telcos and OEMs.

Platform provider adds two new smart grid nodes Ambient Corporation of Massachusetts, provider of a secure, flexible and scalable smart grid communications and applications platform, has launched two new smart grid nodes: the Ambient MicroNode™ and Ambient MiniNode™.

These are designed to complement the Ambient Smart Grid Node™, which now has more powerful grid analytics capabilities.

applications through a single infrastructure that uses an open IPbased architecture.

Ambient’s CTO, Ram Rao, said, “It has always been our philosophy to offer a network platform with choice in the communications technologies since no single technology will be suitable for all grid scenarios. With the launch of the Ambient MiniNode and MicroNode, we … also (offer) greater choice to match price performance in the hardware to facilitate those communications and The Ambient applications.”

MicroNode™

These additions to the family are said to offer utilities reliable and efficient management of multiple smart grid

Full reports on these and other News stories can be found at www.m2mnow.biz M2M Now January 2013

5

MARKET NEWS

Global satellite SCADA and M2M market ‘to reach $2.7bn in 2021’ Global Information, Inc (GII) of Farmington, Connecticut says that the satellite EO industry is progressively moving from growth fed by governmental and military orders to a more balanced mix of end users.

This lays the groundwork for a decade of growth in both data and value-added services (VAS) segments.

Meanwhile, a healthy mix of satellite-based system control and data acquisition (SCADA) and machine-to-machine (M2M) opportunities is projected over the long term, albeit via a shifting mix of vertical market demand. While the market for

traditional verticals is expected to grow at single-digit levels, emerging verticals are expected to grow “impressively” over the next decade.

The global satellite SCADA/M2M market is expected to reach US$2.7 billion in 2021, growing more than two-fold from today’s $1.2 billion annual revenue base. The market is currently dominated by L-band and is likely to remain the preferred platform over the long term. However, Kuband has gained inroads in the transportation market and is used more frequently in new verticals, specifically in

green energy for the provision of high bandwidth CCTV for security requirements.

The SCADA/M2M via Satellite, 3rd Edition report provides a comprehensive analysis of addressable markets and demand trends for today’s SCADA/M2M market, covering eight regions and seven distinct vertical markets.

The report forecasts in-service units and service revenues for each frequency platform that includes L-band, Ku-band, Cband and HTS for the period 2011-2021.

For more information on all our reports go to: www.m2mnow.biz

THE CONTRACT HOT LIST

M2M Now January 2013

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 Aeris Communications Bosch Healthcare Ericsson Ericsson Ericsson FTS Gemalto Gemalto Globecomm Systems Inc. Landis+Gyr Locamation MoreMagic Solutions Numerex OKI Data Americas Orga Systems Redline Communications Smart421 SK C&C USA Telefónica

Client, Country Acura, USA Doro, Megafon, Russia TeliaSonera, Sweden 3, UK Unnamed M2M enabler, Germany Standard Bank, South Africa Vodafone Group, International NATO Comms & Information Agency Helen Electricity Network, Finland SSE, UK DStv, Access Ban & Ecobank Alcohol Monitoring Systems, USA Lantronix, USA Meralco, Philippines Unnamed oil & gas company, USA Rail Settlement Plan Ltd, UK Vodafone Group, International Generali Seguros, Spain

Product/Service (Duration & Value) Selected as Communications Provider for upcoming luxury sedan Provider of TeleCare systems in Europe chooses mobile partner To provide cloud-based M2M services for enterprises To provide cloud-based M2M services for enterprises To provide cloud-based M2M services for enterprises Leap™ Billing to enhance content & M2M billing and customer experience Supplying multifunction EMV contactless payment card for fares & goods To provide and operate global TSM platform and deploy NFC services US$4.5m to upgrade GPS-based Force Tracking System Smart metering provider enables HEN to complete deployment project Starts smart grid automation pilot project with UK power distributor Expand Splash mobile money ecosystem in Sierra Leone Expand ‘breakthrough’ wireless alcohol monitoring for criminal justice Smart M2M connectivity solutions provider to resell xPrintServer™ Bring first smart grid solution to the Philippines in pilot for 40,000 customers Broadband wireless M2M contract for communications between wells & rigs 5-year contract to design, build & run a live sales management system M-commerce business, CorFire™, to provide mobile wallet capabilities Agree the development of a new M2M car insurance scheme

Key: EMV = Europay, Mastercard & Visa

M2M = Machine-to-machine

IoT = Internet of Things

TSM = Trusted Service Management Numerex ‘breakthrough’

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M2M Now January 2013

Awarded 11.2012 11.2012 11.2012 11.2012 11.2012 10.2012 11.2012 11.2012 11.2012 11.2012 10.2012 11.2012 11.2012 11.2012 11.2012 10.2012 11.2012 11.2012 11.2012

PEOPLE NEWS

Senior appointments made in M2M by Netgem and Concirrus Netgem announced Romain Waller‘s appointment as the head of Netgem’s newly created Connected Home product division. He will report to Christophe Aulnette, chief executive officer.

Concirrus Ltd simultaneously announced the appointment of Oscar Falkman as general manager of its newly formed office in Sweden.

A graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Mines de Paris, Waller joins Netgem after 14 years of experience within the telecommunications industry.

During his career, he has managed several business units with full P&L responsibility within the Sagem Group and more recently the Technicolor group.

In his previous roles, his core missions have included business development with global media and telecommunications operators to cover set-top boxes, modems, gateways, as well as IPTV service platforms and other connected technologies.

Prior to joining Concirrus, Falkman was part of the Telenor Connexion business team and has a background rich in M2M

and Telematics with experience of complex and international sales within the telecommunications and M2M business areas. Falkman has been enlisted to spearhead the growth of the Concirrus business.

Falkman says, "This new role at Concirrus will enable me to consolidate my expertise of creating and developing companies, and build a world class team to deliver sales and additional revenue streams with businesses including vehicle telematic vendors.”

Continua Health Alliance adds two to its board of directors

Kaoru Hiraoka

Continua Health Alliance has appointed two new members to its Board of Directors to serve a one-year term.

Continua Health Alliance is the international industry organisation dedicated to advancing personal connected health by promoting end-to-end, plug-and-play connectivity of personal health devices and

establishing industry standards for interoperability.

The new directors are Kaoru Hiraoka, general manager of Advanced Technology and Standardisation, Mobile Phones Unit, Fujitsu Ltd, and Thierry Zylberberg, executive vice president of the France Telecom-Orange Group, and director of Orange Healthcare.

“These new directors will … provide our board and management team with new insight and perspectives as we work to facilitate more efficient connectivity,

advancing our vision to create an ecosystem of plug-and-play products and services for health self-management and health care delivery,” said Clint McClellan, Continua Board president and Thierry chairman, and senior Zylberberg director of Strategic Marketing, at Qualcomm Life, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Open Mobile Alliance elects a new technical work leader

Francesco Vadalà

The Open Mobile Alliance has elected Francesco Vadalà of Telecom Italia as chairman of its Technical Plenary committee. In addition, Kepeng Li of Huawei has been elected Technical Plenary vice-chairman and will join Vadalà along with Technical Plenary vicechairman Roland Hechwartner of T-Mobile in leading the Technical

Work Programme at the OMA. An experienced telecom engineer, Francesco Vadalà has been working for cellular network operators for more than 10 years in different areas of expertise involving innovation, technical strategy and research and development (R&D). Since 2007 he

has been working in the Service Layer and Messaging Innovation department of Telecom Italia where he analyses emerging technologies and co-ordinates standards activities in areas such as messaging, service exposure, architectures for mobile applications and service delivery and social networks.

INSIDE Secure appoints Dimitrios Karayiannis to senior R&D role INSIDE Secure, a provider of semiconductors for secure transactions and digital identity, has appointed Dimitrios Karayiannis to the position of vice president of research and development. He now leads the R&D organisation and is responsible for the development of all products for INSIDE Secure’s Near Field Communication (NFC), digital security and secure

payment business lines.

Karayiannis brings to the role more than 16 years of hardware and software experience in the semiconductor industry, including over 10 years’ management experience in product development of application and BaseBand processors.

Prior to joining INSIDE Secure, he held various positions at Texas Instruments in the USA and France. As a member of the senior leadership team at Texas Instruments France, he managed the R&D organisation for the wireless business unit. A Greek citizen, Mr. Karayiannis holds a PhD in computer science from Southern Illinois University.

M2M Now January 2013

7

COMPANY NEWS

Growing smart meter demand creates up to 200 new jobs at Landis+Gyr Landis+Gyr, whose ultrasonic gas meter production recently reached three million at its site in Stockport, UK, plans to expand its current employee base of 300 by up to 200 new jobs across the skill spectrum. The posts will be in manufacturing excellence, quality, design and manufacturing engineering, product and project management and supply chain.

The Stockport facility has been in operation since 2005 and the business envisages reaching the four million meter mark as

early as next year. As part of this steady growth, the company which operates two sites in Greater Manchester, has grown from serving niche markets to become a European leader in smart gas metering.

Oliver Jud, head of Landis+Gyr’s Gas Metering Business, said: “We have come a long way since we started production of these meters in 1993. This achievement demonstrates that our smart gas technology is a core company strength.”

To mark the three millionth meter milestone, Landis+Gyr’s Oliver Jud, presented a golden meter to the customer, Jim Macdonald, chief executive of Calvin Asset Management.

Digi International acquires the cloud computing services provider Etherios Digi International of Minnesota has purchased Chicago-based Etherios, Inc., creator of The Social Machine®, a new cloud-based method for integrating machines into core business processes via the Salesforce Service Cloud. Combining the iDigi® Device Cloud™ with The Social Machine® will enable almost any machine, anywhere in the world, to connect rapidly and easily to the Service Cloud. By enabling real-time machine interactions with organisations’ workflows, it is said that customers will be able to benefit dramatically through improved asset

management, greater machine uptime and the ability to offer proactive customer service.

“Etherios is a world-class cloud computing services provider with hundreds of successful domestic and global deployments,” said Joe Dunsmore, CEO, Digi International. “We believe Digi’s deep device expertise combined with Etherios’ ability to integrate devices directly into an organisation’s core business processes via the industry’s leading cloud-based CRM system can be an M2M game changer.”

Etherios helps transform organisations through the implementation of cloud computing technologies. It provides operational strategy, technical design and architecture, implementation and change management services to its global customer base.

Mike Dannenfeldt, CEO, Etherios said, “We believe when we combine Digi's device knowledge and iDigi Device Cloud with The Social Machine® it will serve as a positive, disruptive force in the industry.”

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

Vodafone hits H1 2012 losses but there is ‘strong growth’ in M2M revenues, says CEO Vodafone has announced a loss of £1.88 billion (€2,35 billion) for the six months ended 30 September, 2012, as total revenues fell 7.4% on H1, 2011. But Vittorio Colao, group chief executive of the Newbury, UK-based mobile network operator reported that M2M revenues continued to show ‘strong’ growth.

There was continued strong growth in Vodafone Global Enterprise, M2M and Vodafone One Net but these areas were offset by “macro-economic challenges in country-level enterprise units”.

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M2M Now January 2013

Firms partner to deliver global satellite-based M2M platform UK-based Applied Satellite Technology Ltd. (AST) and Active Web Solutions Ltd. (AWS) have joined forces to deliver a global satellite-based M2M platform, AST iX. AST and AWS both have extensive experience within the satellite industry and saw a specific and unique

gap in the growing machine-tomachine (M2M) market for satellite messaging. The new AST iX platform enables organisations to monitor and control remote equipment anywhere on the planet and at the touch of a button, without human interaction. AST iX is said by the companies to be at the forefront of this modern market sector, offering new capabilities to established and developing areas, emerging countries and remote sites, where there may be limited or unreliable communication infrastructure available.

LEADERSHIP IN ENERGY CONTROL SYSTEMS

www.maingatesolutions.com

F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N

info@maingatesolutions.com

phone +46 455 36 37 00

TALKING HEADS

ILS is up for the challenge as Yentz predicts 2013 will see a battle for M2M There’s a lot that’s exciting about the year ahead in M2M. In fact Fred Yentz of ILS Technology tells Jeremy Cowan that he believes M2M solution providers will be tested in 2013. He also expects a battle between big systems integrators and network operators for control of M2M services and top line revenues.

“I think a battle is brewing between the big systems integrators and the network operators.”

Fred Yentz, ILS Technology

M2M Now: What is the most pressing challenge or opportunity you see today that is impeding the progress of M2M customer adoption?

Fred Yentz: The core challenge in M2M today is the same one it has always been; that of connecting to remote assets, globally providing enough intelligence at the device side of the network to evaluate and determine events, trends, and alerts as needed, then transferring the information through the network (wired, wireless, and satellite) to a point where value can be created.

It sounds so simple, but there is a history of complexity surrounding M2M solutions which is doing none of us any favours. For years M2M solutions have been built in silos using a complex collection of technology and skills. I often refer to these early initiatives as science projects. They have been executed with varying degrees of success.

Unfortunately, while these early stories provide interested parties with a set of lessons learned, they also give the wrong impression regarding what is possible today – setting expectations of difficulty, extended time to market and even the need for ‘good-enough’ work-arounds that, frankly, are no longer necessary.

Making M2M easy is the key to our collective industry success and that’s exactly what we have achieved with our deviceWISE M2M Application Platform. It incorporates a portfolio of intellectual property plus 30 years of lessons learned into a tool that allows our customers to quickly configure the assets they want to monitor, and connect them seamlessly and securely into their existing back office IT applications so they can achieve real value quickly and simply and start building their RoI. Speaking of which, there has recently been a lot of attention given to enterprise integration. How does that really work? If you peel back the marketing hype from many platform solutions that talk about enterprise integration, you’ll find that the customer is faced with methods which are as archaic as CSV file exchanges.

At ILS Technology, we look at the world completely differently – in a way that has been validated by our enterprise and Fortune 500 customers countless times.

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M2M Now January 2013

Our clients enjoy a simple point and click integration into SAP, Oracle, IBM applications, databases, and enterprise service busses. Imagine: seamless connections from your remote machine under a predictive maintenance contract into your existing analytic and trouble ticket applications, without the need for custom programming.

As a larger M2M community, I would like to see us all talking about enterprise integration the way our enterprise customers expect it to be done: Robust tools that allow point-and-click for native application integration and value delivery, without the need to extract your data from a third-party service repository.

M2M Now: As M2M users and their applications roam ever further, what impact is globalisation having on services? What challenges does this bring for M2M service providers, network operators and device or module vendors, and how well are they coping?

Fred Yentz: Many of our customers are faced with the task of making their solutions as global as possible. It’s a big task even for companies who have been working in the telecommunications domain for years. Making a smart phone which is compatible and certified on a carrier network with some participants roaming is a very different problem than making a connected capital asset that will be distributed and used around the world.

In telecom speak, a smart phone is a device or a modem is a device. But in M2M, cars, generators, elevators and vending machines would be considered the devices. The complexity that smart phone vendors must achieve in order to ship product which is certified on global networks is formidable – and they’re the experts.

For M2M, device makers will be looking to their module vendors and network operators for help.

Those players will need to establish and share some level of standards or best practices that allow the new device makers to succeed.

The need to support multiple technologies and multiple carriers around the globe also highlights the importance of integrating the network provisioning and communications management into application

platforms in order to allow the user community a higher degree of automatic provisioning and management of the network using the powerful applications and workflow that they have invested in over time.

For example, if an OEM processes a customer order using their SAP ERP system for a connected product (asset or thing) you would suspect that the order needs to be provisioned with an M2M connection for enhanced services. It seems reasonable to expect that the SAP system would drive the customer information, asset information and service levels into the M2M Application Platform layer and subsequently allow the provisioning and service levels to flow natively to the Connected Device Provisioning (CDP) layer to setup the connection and rate plan.

Our experience indicates that integration will always happen as close to the application as possible, for the simple reason that the value is the highest at the application layer.

I think a battle is brewing between the big systems integrators and the network operators. Both want to have as much control and top line revenue as possible for ongoing M2M solution delivery. At ILS Technology we think we need both and, of course, we support both. A quality platform solution has to play nice with both ends of the network – the device side and the enterprise application side – as well as provide seamless integration to the network provisioning tools.

2013 is looking like the year that M2M solution providers will be put to the test. At ILS Technology we are excited about the challenge.

M2M Now: Global services mean global solutions. Will we soon see widespread implementation of agreed standards? Or are solution providers just paying lipservice to the joint efforts of standardisation bodies?

Fred Yentz: The goal for any standardisation effort is to reduce complexity and cost through commonality. At this point, I think the entire industry can agree on the topics, need and desired benefit. Today and going forward, any disagreements and confusion will centre around the details of how to achieve our shared objectives.

From my perspective, it helps to consider the M2M space using the phrase ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT).

The internet and telecom world approaches standards in a unique manner. (Telecom specs for telecom OEMs).

Fred Yentz is the president and CEO of ILS Technology

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“It is critical that the M2M service-layer specification be simple enough to not overwhelm the ‘thing makers’.”

The key to success for M2M standardisation lies with developing a standards approach that is easy to understand and implement for the vast proliferation of ‘things’ producers.

Traditionally, the telecom marketplace has had a large supplier base of handsets, tablets, and modems. As vast as that ecosystem may seem, it pales in comparison to the makers of things across every vertical. For this reason, and this reason alone, it is critical that the M2M service-layer specification be simple enough to not overwhelm the ‘thing makers’.

Providing a specification and protocol that can be easily implemented to give broad adoption and commonality is paramount.

Fred Yentz, ILS Technology

Fred Yentz: From an enterprise customer perspective, we are seeing the need to integrate connected assets which may be local or international into the systems that enterprises use to manage and optimise their business. That being said, we see the integration layer of most importance residing high in the stack or at the application layer.

The ILS Technology deviceWISE solution is often used in this exact way: providing a mechanism to connect to assets and sending critical right-time information through a network and ultimately terminating the connection at the IT application and data centre side of the enterprise. Integrating the value at the application side of the stack allows our platform to terminate different networks and different network types into our service, which simplifies the integration implementation for the enterprise customer.

M2M Now: What excites you about the future of M2M and ILS Technology’s role in that future?

To that end, TIA has balloted and will publish a specification which is vertical- and modality-agnostic, while being simple enough for everyone to implement.

The spec, called TR-50 M2M Smart Device Communications, was created with input from a variety of OEMs as well as the OPC Foundation, and is targeted to be less than 30 pages. When published, it will be submitted to the oneM2M partnership programme by TIA for review.

Fred Yentz: The more M2M solutions I encounter, the more excited I become about the possibilities of new connected applications that will change our world. It is great to watch business leaders begin to understand that M2M-enabled solutions can support new revenue streams, save costs and bring a new level of compliance to their business.

M2M Now For those who may not be aware, the OPC Foundation Jargon Buster is the world's leading community of over 500

At ILS Technology we are seeing the dramatic upward trend in qualified customers that know they must have more than a story around M2M, and are ready to commission real projects now.

ERP = Enterprise Resource Planning IoT = Internet of Things M(V)NO = Mobile (Virtual) Network Operator OEM = Original Equipment Manufacturer RoI = Return on Investment 12

That’s why ILS Technology participated in the original request by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) to begin standards work in the space. We promoted the concept of creating a specification that would be easy to implement by nontelecom OEMs, as well as a specification that would not be tied to any particular transport technology (wired, 2G, 3G, 4G, satellite, etc.).

M2M Now: How are enterprises who want to be the consumers of these connected solutions dealing with the globalisation challenges?

companies for interoperability solutions based on OPC (Open Platform Connectivity) communication specifications for secure, reliable and platformindependent information exchange. OPC technology is widely used for information integration in industrial automation and related domains. This powerful combination brings the telecom standard writers together with the OEM community which will be charged with implementation of the standard.

At the end of the day, the success of standards will be measured by industry adoption. In the case of M2M, the adopters will the thousands of thing makers that are building the connected planet.

M2M Now January 2013

We look forward to working with enterprise customers in an effort to help them address why they should consider M2M and IoT projects to improve their business results.

In addition to enterprise customer engagements, we will continue to build partnerships around critical routes to market and customer relationships.

Supporting our system integrator, MNO and MVNO partners with M2M services and tools which are built to solve tomorrow’s business objectives. We want to put their fear of the unknown and tales of failed M2M and IoT science projects of the past to rest, and teach them to leverage robust tools built for the IT industry.

EVENT REVIEW

AMSTERDAM, OCTOBER 2012:

Smart choices, but intelligent data too Hosting three events under one roof isn’t always a recipe for success, but it worked well in Amsterdam for the less-than-snappily-titled expo, Metering Billing/CRM Europe, Smart Homes, Transmission & Distribution/Smart Grids Europe. Relax! Next year it’s going to be called European Utility Week. It’ll make the name badges smaller too, says Jeremy Cowan.

“A few years ago,” one experienced visitor to the show tells me, “this event was a box and hardware story. Now it’s moving into all sorts of areas like authentication, security, even Big Data. It’s not an M2M (machine-to-machine) industry event, it’s about verticalised industries, but there are still too many proprietary boxes.”

It’s well documented that the market is in need of open platforms and agreed M2M standards, and this is echoed by Thomas Weisshaupt of Business Development Energy Markets at Cinterion, the M2M segment of Gemalto. “We’re trusted advisers (to utilities). They want to know what open platforms are out there, and how they will benefit – they’re not asking how to deploy smart meters themselves. So, we’re trying to develop open standards through standards committees.

“Utilities are now switching from the Mechanical Age to the Internet Age. We need to raise awareness of the Internet of Energy, and to avoid the mistakes of Internet 1.0 – you can’t run smart grids with cookies,” says Weisshaupt.

The new Cinterion EHS5 module was launched before the show by Avnet Embedded, which serves the industrial market with displays, embedded computing hardware, software, networking and wireless products. The EHS5 is for M2M application providers looking for product longevity and cost efficiency. The module uses the latest HSPA+ baseband developed by Intel for low current consumption. With the same ultra-compact profile as the GPRS BGS2 module, this new element of the Cinterion Evolution platform offers high speed data communication with a downlink speed capable of 7.2 Mbps and uplink of up to 5.76 Mbps.

Proponents of other technologies, however, point out that cellular links can’t always provide the connectivity,

dedicated service, or repeatable latency necessary for smart grids, smart meters, smart cities, or even smart homes. Since Vodafone estimated that only 70% of UK homes have cellular connectivity at their meter location (Carbon Connections Report, July 2009), steps have been taken to improve indoor mobile coverage.

Take your pick of tech One infrastructure company, Sensus, that offers smart meters, communication systems, software and services for the electric, gas, and water utilities, says that operators have not fully addressed the wider problems of endpoint battery life, latency, or contention with other public network traffic. According to Sensus, that figure of 70% doesn’t even take into account the difficulty of reaching meters from other utilities, such as water, which are typically situated under pathways and need battery powered communications lasting more than 10 years without recharge or change out.

Andy Slater, director at Sensus, told M2M Now, “Ireland is now committed to water and gas

Consumers who have the ability to monitor their energy use in real-time can reduce their electricity consumption by as much as 20%.

Electric Power Research Institute, reported by Tendril

M2M Now January 2013

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EVENT REVIEW

"Our experience with Thames Water in Reading was we have a first time connect rate to meters in underground pits of 99% with an ongoing read interval success rate of 98%. All of these trial results are before any network optimisation work which would further improve performance," he adds.

Sensus’ FlexNet LRR system communicates via primary use licensed spectrum. It is a dedicated and secure two-way communications highway that enables widearea coverage reaching all points in a utility’s service area without the need for additional or hybrid networks.

The FlexNet LRR system supports true end-to-end IPv6 communication across all platforms – electric, gas, water and lighting control. IPv6 compatibility transforms the system from a single-application advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network to an interoperable smart grid infrastructure, enabling industry standard addressing to be used between all endpoints and applications.. (metering) under one authority. There will be advantages if they look for a WAN solution that can do both at the same time. PLC (power line communication) doesn’t do either. Cellular doesn’t work here because of the requirement for a 15-year battery life and because the water meter is generally at the property boundary so out of HAN range. Mesh claims to do both (water and gas) but there are cost and technical challenges in getting a low power signal to underground points without a high density of street mounted equipment.”

“Long-range radio (LRR) has become a popular choice for smart metering and grid applications where connection is required to devices outside the home or those not able to connect to a power supply like, gas meters,” Slater reports. He maintains that the discussion has to evolve from a focus by some on the communications systems available today, to how we can make use intelligently of the data they provide.

Kenneth Toenning, Vestforsyning

“We specified the outcome. We didn’t care if they bicycled around getting the readings.”

Kenneth Toenning , Vestforsyning

14

For a smart grid, the communications network must have low and defined latency to ensure traffic can flow securely and with ease. It is also important to have a dedicated, purpose-built utility-grade network to give guaranteed network performance (service level agreements), all of which is difficult for mobile networks to provide.

Long Range Radio can support electricity, gas and water utilities, particularly in urban areas, he says, adding, “LRR is possibly unique in that it can do all three efficiently, without workarounds. The proof of this is where we’ve deployed multi-utility networks in the USA and Canada.

At Scottish Power the SmartReach trials are proving LRR’s suitability in hard to reach geographies and locations. (Sensus, Arqiva, BT and Detica are partners in the UK’s SmartReach smart metering consortium.)

“It works in high density Glasgow apartments,” says Slater, “ in rural Lochwinnoch and to water meters in pits in Reading’. The pilot scheme in Scotland began in July 2012 in both areas and we have now installed nearly 5,000 meters and we are achieving a 99% first time connection rate and 99% read interval success in the coverage areas.

M2M Now January 2013

The FlexNet LRR system supports true end-to-end IPv6 communication across all platforms – electric, gas, water and lighting control. IPv6 compatibility transforms the system from a single-application advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network to an interoperable smart grid infrastructure, enabling industry standard addressing to be used between all endpoints and applications.

The next generation of the FlexNet system supports true end-to-end IPv6 communication across all platforms – electric, gas, water and lighting control.

IPv6 compatibility transforms the system from a singleapplication advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network to an interoperable smart grid infrastructure enabling industry standard addressing to be used between all endpoints and applications.

“Recent projects and smart grid deployments around the globe teach us that energy suppliers have to use a balanced mix of communication technologies to achieve customer loyalty and satisfaction.” So says Atreya Chaganty, VP Business Strategy & Development at Orga Systems. “Essential for a combined use of PLC, GSM, and radio networks is a fault-tolerant system with adequate redundancy, ensuring proper fail-over support in case one type of communication channel goes down. Thus, strong communications network monitoring is critical.”

As most business cases continue to rely on pre-paid models, he believes that centralised back-end systems have to be able to support credit overflow to prevent auto shut-off of electricity or gas meters. “Real-time information on consumed energy is key for the provider, but it also helps consumers to better understand their consumption and allows them to take the right decision, for example, on energy sources. Those opportunities, embedded in a complex environment and driven by smart apps, change the game for energy suppliers significantly.

“They successfully bridge the gap towards a connected home with in-home displays and webbased monitoring. Finally,” says Chaganty, “they enable the launch of a real win-win in regards to responsible usage of resources, monetisation of

expensive smart grid infrastructure, customer-centric business models and the freedom of choice in a connected world.”

Data intelligence The theme of intelligent use of data came up again in M2M Now’s discussions with Adrian Tuck, CEO of Colorado’s Tendril, a provider of cloud platforms for ‘the Energy Internet’.

Tendril has partnered with Essent NV, the largest energy company in the Netherlands serving more than two million households, to collaborate on a novel smart energy application crowdsourcing project.

done. It’s going to create a swamp of data, much of it useless. And it’ll just raise their communications costs.

“Are we having that conversation? Yes. The response?

Some say they know best. Others like British Gas are ‘first movers’ and know that they can offer a better customer experience and win more business as a result.”

Utilities, as Young points out, are at the bottom of the ‘trust league’. Smart metering is a good way to engage with the customer base. “Today,” he says, “you have no relationship with your energy provider but smart meters can give you that.”

Energy management The project uses the Tendril Connect™ cloud platform to link some of Essent’s smart meter-enabled residential customers with web and mobile application developers from around the world. These developers use Tendril Connect APIs (application program interfaces) to access rich interval usage data from energy meters and create innovative consumer apps for the participants.

One utility that has taken a proactive approach to smart metering is Denmark’s multi-utility, Vestforsyning. The company’s Kenneth Toenning told M2M Now, “We have 27,000 customers, but only 14,000 are having the smart meter installed. The temptation is to focus on technology, but it’s data that gives us value.

Tuck has three observations deriving from the various start-ups he has successfully grown: first, you need open standards; second, the software needs to be simple; and third, the utilities are about to boom in the Internet of Things. “Everyone else is taking the Apple-esque approach of beautiful displays and an app for every device. We have 400 companies writing apps (for Tendril Connect). We’re the Android of the play,” says Tuck.

“So the EU tender was based on data,” he continues.

“How many meters, where, how old, how they would be used, and the quality of reading performance.

We’re glad we did it that way, because then there’s no excuse for the three bidders not to know the specification. We specified the outcome. We didn’t care if they bicycled around getting the readings.”

Arjan van der Eijk, director of smart energy at Essent, points out, “For consumers, the real value of smart meters comes not from the meter itself, but from innovative, compelling applications that use analytics and other information to turn meter data into a relevant message and action for the consumer.”

Kamstrup was the successful bidder. Lars Bo Christensen, Kamstrup’s divisional director, Metering Systems, takes up the story. “We switched from PLC because of the knowledge we gained over several years delivering RF (radio frequency communications) and PLC solutions. The lifetime costs for RF are much smaller and PLC systems will always be unstable.”

So, M2M Now asked, do utilities understand the opportunity and threat of Big Data? “No,” says Neill Young, Trilliant’s EMEA marketing director, unequivocally. “They’re a long way from that. There’s no thought over whether they need a meter reading every 30 minutes, because that’s what they’ve always

“We’re giving utilities more information from the grid,” insists Christensen, “from the substation down to a single household. We’re doing this because there’s a big change in grid usage coming through more renewable energy, from solar panels and windmills.”

TX claims ‘world’s first’ for its IPv6-enabled DECT ULE module RTX, a Danish provider of wireless communications solutions, claimed the world’s first IPv6-enabled DECT ULE wireless module at Broadband World Forum in Amsterdam in October. The RTX 1050 / 1055 module is designed for innovative, low power wireless devices and applications that aim to make the Internet of Things a reality. All devices, from fridges to fire alarms, will eventually be connected to the internet as well as to cloud services, says RTX.

Jesper Mailind, president and CEO of RTX

DECT ULE is the ‘ultra-low energy’ variant of the DECT standard, which uses the 1.9GHz band and reportedly suffers less interference than Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Zigbee that operate at 2.4GHz. It provides connectivity to the internet for battery-powered equipment or metering applications (such as home automation, healthcare, security systems and smart metering systems) within a 300 metre range.

Jesper Mailind, president and CEO of RTX, said, “(IPv6) can and should be applied to even the smallest devices and low power devices with limited processing capabilities should be able to enter into the Internet of Things.”

M2M Now January 2013

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EVENT REVIEW

What do customers want in a smart home?

Numerous topics were covered at GridComms, a smart grid communications infrastructure event held in London, UK, in October. But, as M2M Now reports, speakers kept returning to the issue of customer confusion.

Smart grids in Europe In the opening session on ‘Latest advances in Smart Grid’ that focused on the UK and Ireland, Sam Cope, senior manager for Policy Development, at Ofgem, the UK energy regulator, said “Energy networks need to be smarter. Third parties need to be involved, and low carbon energy generation must have a higher emphasis.”

Cope feels there’s a lack of clarity around what energy demand will look like in the next 10 years, but concepts like smart grids and demand-side response (DSR) can help.

Lynne McDonald, UK Power Networks: Onshore wind a proven technology

16

Lynne McDonald, Low Carbon Project Manager within Future Networks, at the distribution network operator (DNO), UK Power Networks, told the conference, “The UK Renewable Energy Strategy outlines a clear commitment for an increase in the nation’s use of renewable electricity, with the Government setting the target for 30% of the UK’s electricity to be generated from renewable energy sources by 2020'.

Onshore wind is an identified and proven technology that will be a leading contributor to achieve the target; the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) projects that onshore wind could contribute up to 13

M2M Now January 2013

gigawatts (GW) by 2020. Currently, the UK has more than 5 GW of installed onshore wind capacity in operation. One area of focus that has emerged is the requirement for DNOs to explore innovative technical and commercial solutions to enable an accelerated and cost-efficient connection of renewable generation, such as onshore wind, onto the distribution electricity network.”

UK Power Networks has been awarded £6.7 million (€8.3 million) in Ofgem’s (GB’s energy regulator) Low Carbon Networks Fund competition, for the project Flexible Plug and Play. The project started in January 2012 and trials are planned in a 700km2 area in the East of England, UK. This area has experienced increased activity in renewable generation development; existing generation totals 100MW, with 250MW of renewable generation capacity at various stages of the planning process looking to connect.

The project aims to connect anticipated growth in renewable generation without the need for traditional network reinforcement by, instead, managing network constraints and maximising the network utilisation.

The project will achieve this through the integration of smart devices, smart applications and smart commercial arrangements.

Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW&W) and Silver Spring Networks are also reported to be conducting trials with limited capacity for periods of high output.

They want to boost interoperability and commonality, so their communication systems are set up with two fibre backhaul networks. An IP-enabled RF Mesh network (with open standard protocol 61850) gives the network a ‘self-healing’ capability.

This project is also sponsored by the LCN Fund. It will be installed, tested and commissioned by March 2013, using IP communications and open standards to enhance grid communications skills, learn best practice, and improve usage analysis telemetry.

ESB Networks is the licensed operator of the Republic of Ireland’s electricity distribution system. Its spokesman, Anthony Walsh, began trenchantly by saying, “We have no interest in smart grids or telecoms…. except insofar that they help meet our goals of reduced CO2, reduced dependence on fossil fuels and increased competitiveness. Smart Grids are not an end in themselves – they are a means to an end!”

“We built up a telecom network with a good fibre backbone of over 2,500km on the transmission system, that’s available to other communications companies, and over 600, microwave radio network and polling radio sites. The upshot is that ESB is now considering the feasibility of establishing a joint venture company to deploy fibre to the building (FTTB) whose core activity will be the deployment of FTTB to individual homes or premises in urban Ireland, using the ESB electricity overhead and underground infrastructure,” said Walsh.

ESB prefers not to be dependent on complex communications systems when local control would be sufficient and cheaper, and set up its first self-healing network circuit in Kerry, in a 470km loop that is very exposed to the elements. This has operated successfully, and a further 120 such circuits are planned by 2015. While each recloser has SCADA Control, in the event of a fault supply is restored by pre-programmed actions without the need for local communications. This makes the system very resilient – and cheap.

“We’ve also built a trial WiMAX system in Galway – it’s not a symmetric Ethernet solution, but this is coming. It’s also highly dependent on GPS synchronisation, so we will use our own existing communications system to ensure it is always synchronised," said Walsh.

"Line of sight is not a WiMAX requirement, but we nevertheless found coverage to be good. Moreover, as part of ESB’s internal communications system it has a level of resilience and utility control that would not be available from a commercial operator.

"In contrast, GPRS can’t be relied on for mission critical operations; it’s outside utility control. We need our own system as a GPRS crash would be most likely to happen when there is a power outage,” he added.

ESB also expects that Ireland could be an offshore Wind platform for Europe. Wind generation supply in Ireland has already reached almost 50% of night peak demand in April 2010, which poses stability risks.

Demand management will most likely be operated

through consumer broadband. By 2020 nearly 50% of all electricity in Ireland will be from renewables, the ESB man said.

“ESB expects Irish wind power to be an offshore

Matthias Grandel, head of Technology & Solutions at E.ON Metering GmbH reported, “By the beginning of 2013 Germany will, belatedly, meet the requirement to provide a CBA (cost benefit analysis of smart grid roll-out). The legal framework in Germany has been delayed by over one and a half years. The roll-out is still scheduled to be completed by 2020. The technology is available now, but experts expect that 800 German utilities will start the roll-out in 2015.

Forty million meters need to be replaced,” he said.

Technical and legal requirements are still unclear, and E.ON is not sure if next year’s CBA will lead to a national roll-out. “We’re talking to European utilities to exchange knowledge, so that we can make a quick decision on vendor technologies when the framework is set. Next year is election year so who’s to say if the revised target of early 2013 will be met? But we can look at countries like France to see if their technologies will fit in Germany,” Grandel added.

US comms infrastructure One of the largest active smart meter deployments in the USA, for Central Maine Power, is the installation

by Tilson of more than 600,000 meters for CMP’s residential, commercial, and industrial customers, with smart meters as much as 30 miles apart across hills and valleys. In fact, there are many challenges; indoor meters, trees, big buildings, RF Interference, and LTE rolling out.

platform for Europe.”

- Tony Walsh, ESB Networks

Nandini Basuthakur, Opower: Give customers meaningful information

Said Chuck Gerry, director of Utilities, at Tilson (Maine), “Iberdrola Energy’s territory in Maine is confronted by the challenge of trees. You can’t just lay in repeaters because you’d get high latency. But we’re reading with over 98.5% success rate in (smart) meters now.”

“If we can save truck rolls from the head end, which can be 30-40 miles away there’s a large cost saving.

You have to pick the right solution for the geographical area. There’s no one solution; it could be GPRS, mesh, point to multipoint licensed or inlicensed, microwave, DSL, fibre, or cellular.”

Jim Meadows is director of the Smart Meter Project at Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). He said, “We’re the DNO and retail supplier for half the land mass of California, 181,000 square kilometres. PG&E has six million accounts, serving 15 million people. We have two networks: one for electricity and one for gas.

It was more cost-effective to build two networks because of different requirements, with topologies and so on.

“What did we learn from our SmartMeter™ Programme? Ensure that all customer-centric features are enabled when the meter is installed — or it becomes about the new meter!’ said Meadows.

With PG&E’s smart metering, text messages are sent to customers if their usage increases and is about to cross into a new billing level. They can download up to 13 months of data. If customers agree to pay a Peak rate for their aircon from 2-7pm in the hottest part of the day, they get a cheaper rate at other times.

PG&E now offers a no-questions opt-out from the SmartMeter™ Programme. “There was uproar in M2M Now January 2013

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EVENT REVIEW

“Google ‘Pitch fork wielding mob’ and you’ll find it’s about PG&E’s California smart meter roll-out.”

- Nandini Basuthakur, Opower

California about it being an opt-in system at the start,” said Meadows. “We were at the heart of it because we were the first to roll out smart meters.”

There’s a clearly an art to winning the engagement of customers and not boring them with too much data or the wrong kind. As Opower’s managing director, EMEA, Nandini Basuthakur, told the conference her company has built a customer engagement platform for 75 utility partners, with 15 million customers between them. Opower now has 300 employees and was named CleanTech Company of the Year 2012, having helped to save 2 TeraWatts of power to date.

If you’re tempted to think that’s easy, think again.

Google and Microsoft have both built their own inhouse energy data portals, and says Basuthakur, both have “retired”, as she puts it. “Customers find energy data boring. We use behavioural science and proactive information to move the conversation away from kilowatt hours, and turn it into cost savings and productivity gains.”

“Give customers simple, meaningful, actionable information. We give advice on the portal. Customers must see the savings, such as ‘In the last four months you used 19% less energy’,” she said.

Peter Manolescue, Vodafone: M2M is strategically important

Lisa Magnuson, Silver Spring Networks, continued the theme. “Best practice in smart metering means delivering benefits to customers immediately; it’s essential to their satisfaction. You need to create messaging from the customer’s viewpoint, and use multiple communication channels, such as SMS, YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter, mail, and web portals.

Start early and educate them often. Engage third party advocates as trusted messengers; teachers, community leaders, preachers, especially in one-to-one conversations.”

When Silver Spring worked with Oklahoma Gas & Electricity (OGE), said Magnuson, they achieved 98% customer satisfaction, “as a result of great customer engagement. We used community events to communicate. We used real people in all advertising, and gained national TV coverage of a small business owner saving $700 a month through cost-saving measures.”

There are many potential pitfalls in smart meter rollouts, as Cindy Vershoor, Smart Metering Communications Lead at Canada’s BC Hydro reported. Their smart metering programme faced challenging geography – British Columbia covers an area as big as France, Belgium and the UK put together. “It’s 50% rock and ice in the province, and our grid has enough wire to wrap the world twice.”

“We’re bringing out a new system, the Home Energy

Having started in July 2011, the metering programme was 90% completed by mid October, 2012. BC Hydro upgraded old meters to smart meters, installed a meter communications network, and deployed an automated data collection system.

“We needed to tell our customers why we had to do this. So we engaged first with customers, and also with police, fire services, and other agencies.”

Efficiency Solution 1.0” - Roland Meyer, Telefonica 18

BC Hydro found that there is a lot of misinformation out there about RF communications, privacy and security, fire safety and high bills. Many customers expect to be able to select the type of metering technology installed in their homes. The company’s

M2M Now January 2013

communications plan was relatively easy to roll out, she said, but some opponents still sawsmart meters as an ‘alien machine’ invading homes. Sometimes customers insisted their bill was high even though rates hadn’t changed.

What do smart grid customers want?

“M2M is less than 0.5% of our turnover,” said Peter Manolescue, Vodafone, business development manager, Smart City. “However, strategically it’s very important as it’s growing very quickly. We’ve installed over 450,000 smart meters in New Zealand, so we have considerable experience.”

The market is growing but complex. “By 2020 there will be 2.3 billion connected home devices worldwide.

The biggest smart home market is the US because Americans aren’t afraid of buying, it’s a more homogeneous market, and homes are bigger with more places to put stuff.”

The biggest M2M revenue opportunity that Vodafone sees is in remote energy management. But where to start? With home entertainment, mobile health, security, energy management, multi-screen video, home audio, broadband?

Consumers need a gateway in the home. But how will it connect to other householder devices which are already connecting by ZigBee, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPRS, and so on? The householder has to decide what they’re getting the gateway for.

“In the Netherlands where I live, we have one smart grid operator saying they do meter reading, nothing else. Another says they’ll do everything. That confuses the hell out of us at Vodafone, so what does it do to consumers?” As Manolescue reminded everyone, “confused markets don’t grow very fast.”

His parting thought was that when IBM arrived in the PC market with MS DOS it created a de facto (operating system) norm. “Even Vodafone can’t invest in all of these technologies. So the question remains, what technology do you invest in?”

Roland Meyer, global product manager, Smart Office & Electric Vehicles, Telefonica, sought to answer a similar question. “M2M is gaining momentum.

Connected cars and fleet management are getting bigger, and connected vending machines and consumer electronics are growing. Security and ehealth are very exciting.

“But what do customers want in a smart home? They say Yes to lower energy costs, greater safety, comfort and control, health and care. But No to bells and whistles or entertainment, which is covered by the settop box at the moment. “They want better control of utility expenses. Todays’ bills are delayed, difficult to understand, only measure consumption. I now have a smart meter, so what? Well, we’re bringing out a new system, the Home Energy Efficiency Solution 1.0,” added Meyer.

The challenges ahead are technology and standardisation. New wireless technologies are not yet standardised, they have local ‘flavours’ and incompatibilities. Although cost is no longer the challenge it was, customer acceptance is: we still need to make it easier to install and operate.”

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SMART METERING

Deutsche Telekom and Maingate partner to promote CapEx-free smart metering by utilities Energy generation and supply are transforming rapidly. The growth and complexities of renewable energy, a range of regulated and deregulating markets, and the technological possibilities of smart metering mean that M2M is at the eye of an energy storm. Into this scene Deutsche Telekom and Maingate of Sweden are now launching a ‘CapEx-free’ smart meter infrastructure roll-out.

Maingate of Sweden and Germany’s incumbent telecom network operator, Deutsche Telekom (DT) have announced the launch of a CapEx-free roll-out of smart metering infrastructure.

M2M Now was invited recently to hear the challenging background to current smart metering projects being described to an invited audience of 50 senior executives from utilities, regulators, and others involved in the delivery of energy and water services.

M2M Now Jargon Buster CapEx = Capital Expenditure OpEx = Operational Expenditure 20

The partners insist that this initiative is unlike other announcements of leasing deals offered to energy and water utilities, which they describe as purely financial agreements that fail to address the concern among utilities that smart meter roll-outs will simply add to their Capital Expenditure (CapEx) challenges.

Maingate’s CEO, Baard Eilertsen, said: “Obviously smart meter roll-out is something the utilities could get on the market, there are financial institutions prepared to lease out the meters, but Maingate

M2M Now January 2013

and Deutsche Telekom are talking about the smart infrastructure roll-out. We take upon ourselves to make sure that the meter is installed, that we do it CapEx-free, that the communication is up and running, that the in-home device and technology is in place, and we also make sure that this is ‘future-proof’.

Nothing in life is free, but you move the investment from upfront CapEx to long-term OpEx. That makes the business case more valid for the utility. We actually share the risk of obsolete technology.”

“Take any utility with, say, 1 million meter points connected at £50.00 (€61.00) per meter, plus a communication module of around £35.00 (€43.00), plus installation at another £30.00 (€37.00) and that’s around the £120.00 (€148.00) point, and that’s the low range of capital they have to spend to get the technology out. If you have a million meter points that’s £120 million (€148 million).

Utilities have an internal interest rate on capital of around 8%, so it’s a big financial obligation when they start rolling out these meters,” Eilertsen told M2M Now. “What we’d like to do is lighten that

“Visualising energy consumption is going to trigger the wish in some people for more control, or even automation. So you can see applications coming up. For example, you don’t buy electricity any more, you buy temperature. You can offer consumers services that are very advanced but make their lives easier,” he added.

“You don’t buy

At the joint DT-Maingate presentation in London one senior utility representative said baldly, “I wouldn’t know what to do with all that data. I don’t want any more data centres.” M2M Now put this point of view to Eilertsen.

Maingate

electricity any more, you buy temperature.”

- Baard Eilertsen, (pictured left)

These are not utility services

burden and help them fully support the regulations.

Deutsche Telekom (DT) approached Maingate because of their strong reputation in European smart metering. Eilertsen said, “We don’t have 230,000 employees like Deutsche Telekom but we now manage 7.7 million energy users. We are a leader in the Nordic smart meter market, with more than 50% of smart meters in Sweden and now 2030% of smart meters in Finland.”

The company works with integration partners such as Cinterion, DT, embriq, E.ON, Kamstrup, Landis & Gyr, logica, Telvent (a Schneider Electric company), and Ziggy. “All of these have a vision of purpose beyond the product. This is about more than just bringing the technology or the brand to market,” said Eilertsen. “Everyone blamed banks in the current economic crisis yet surveys show that banks still have a higher approval rating than utilities.

Using the customer data “We have an issue with (utilities’) credibility and reputation. Utilities want to make lives cleaner but nobody listens to them,” he added. So DT and Maingate have asked themselves whether, if they have access to real-time customer data, they can use it in a smart way to see how it can affect other parts of the utility business. Since utilities will not roll out the necessary smart meters, the partners can and will bring the results from the collected data to benefit the utility and the customer.

“With smart energy home applications,” Eilertsen continued, “the smartness is not the meter itself, it’s what you do with the information you’re able to collect remotely. If we’re able to get this data and turn it into something valuable for the consumer that’s a typical application I can see built on top of it.

“I agree, because it’s not the utilities that should do these services,” he said. “They have a very important role to play. They should build the world’s best infrastructure capable of supplying consumers for decades ahead. The retailers should, in a competitive market, deliver the best services they can, in electricity, gas or water. But other companies have built their whole offering on serving customers in this market; they need access to that data to turn it into something valuable. They can do it by themselves or, even better, with utilities.”

Eilertsen continued: “We want to lower the barrier to utilities in rolling out smart meters, and we’ll build jointly developed applications on top of that infrastructure. We come from the unregulated world – from the consumer-oriented side of the world – yet we’re co-funding a regulated infrastructure. We’re offering services on top like energy performance and contracting.”

Speaking to M2M Now after the announcement, Maingate’s deputy CEO, Patrik Bjorkman said, “Utilities only need one data point. Maingate and Deutsche Telekom will pay for four more data points and when we collect data from these utilities will benefit from balancing, feed-in and generation.”

Jürgen Hase, head of DT’s M2M Competence Centre (left) and Maingate CEO, Baard Eilertsen at the launch.

Eilertsen summed up: “There’s at least a short-term opportunity here to create more value on top of this roll-out. It won’t last forever, of course. In the energy supply industry we’ve spent 100 years telling customers to sit back and relax because we’ve got this energy provision business covered.

Now we’re urgently telling customers to get interested in their own energy supply. It will take a lot to change customer behaviour and they’ll need to see a benefit in doing so.”

The announcement in November has reportedly generated interest in Scandinavia, the UK, Italy, Spain and Germany. As Maingate put it, it’s not only a partnership between Deutsche Telekom and Maingate but also with the utility.

M2M Now January 2013

21

M2M IN AGRICULTURE

CASE STUDIES:

M2M tackles hungry bats, thirsty cattle, grapes and WireRats™ The range and scale of opportunities in agriculture is already proving very exciting for his company, says Barry Nay of Wyless, and these opportunities are only going to get bigger.

“Agriculture may not be the most glamorous M2M service sector in today’s heavily populated postindustrial world of the internet, smartphones, and computer tablets,’ says Robin Duke-Woolley, CEO, Beecham Research.“ Yet, it is a very large industry with many sub-sectors. All of the seven billion humans on the planet these days must eat, after all.”

Fitting GPS tracking devices to the back of the neck shows fruit bats’ foraging patterns for harmful insects.

Rising demand for food in today’s global marketplace will continue to put upward pressure on all food input costs. This applies particularly to raw materials and energy. It will be increasingly important to maximise production efficiency and yield, and to provide efficient machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions that tackle these issues and improve growers’ profit margins.

The following are examples of our partners who are delivering innovative agricultural M2M solutions.

These range from irrigation and copper-wire theft, through weather systems, to crop management and pest control.

CASE STUDY 1: Bat sense Over the centuries, bats have had a raw deal, from the myths of Dracula to the accusation that all bats carry rabies; actually it is less than 1%. Let’s set the record straight, with an extract from a New York Times article, The dollars and cents of bats and farming.

The author, Barry Nay is Wyless' CMO. www.wyless.com

22

Every day, a bat eats as much as its body weight in insects, many of them harmful to crops. A group of scientists at Boston University, USA has calculated how much more money cotton farmers in Texas would spend on pesticides if bats weren’t present. The answer ran into the billions of dollars. Fitting wireless M2M tracking devices to bats, to understand their foraging patterns, therefore makes economic sense.

M2M Now January 2013

CASE STUDY 2: Irrigation management Agricultural irrigators and growers often operate in difficult environments. Implementing best management practices can be key to minimising waste and increasing yield, ultimately enhancing profits.

Wyless’s partner, McCrometer has provided rugged and dependable irrigation management solutions to the agricultural and turf markets for over 55 years. The McCrometer CONNECT™ product line (see Fig 1) was introduced to create turn-key wireless remote monitoring systems with 24/7 capability for irrigation and crop management.

McCrometer CONNECT systems are designed to operate in even the most remote areas. System options include satellite, cell and radio communications to get the data back to the customer’s home or office via the internet, reducing costly manual data collection.

One McCrometer CONNECT customer located in southern Utah, USA, reported substantial cost savings by collecting vital information remotely. The customer drives or ships cattle to the Arizona Strip for winter range. One source of water for the cattle is a catchment located near Kanab Point, a remote access point to the Grand Canyon. A one-way trip is roughly 110 miles and takes approximately 2 hours 45 minutes by vehicle.

To estimate the costs of a trip one can take the total miles and multiply by 75 cents per mile (220 X .75 = $165.00). Next, labour can be calculated at $20.00 per hour multiplied by 5.5 hours (20 x 5.5 = $110.00).

So, the total estimated cost of a trip to check the water is $275.00 ($110 + $165.00). In addition to

transportation and labour costs, there is the cost of the rancher’s time. What could the rancher have accomplished had he not been on the road that day?

This example shows the financial benefit of measuring the water level in a tank using a McCrometer CONNECT field station, solar panel and submersible level sensor.

Whether the need is to monitor flow, soil moisture, weather, water quality, ET (evapotranspiration) or other critical inputs, there is a McCrometer CONNECT system to meet the need. The company’s agricultural irrigation experts listen to specific application needs in order to offer the best solution for customers and stay within their budget. (www.mcrometer.com/ag)

CASE STUDY 3: Copper thieves and the WireRat™ With increased prices for scrap metal, agricultural irrigators’ centre pivots are often the target for theft.

Thieves frequently steal the pivots and span cable from irrigation systems. For farmers this not only results in losses of thousands of dollars in damaged equipment, but a possible loss in crop growth from a lack of irrigation, depending on when the event occurs.

One company that is meeting and tackling these challenges is Net Irrigate LLC. Located in Bloomington, Indiana, Net Irrigate is a manufacturer of Wireless Agricultural Irrigation Monitoring (WAIM) technology. The company’s hardware and software solutions are designed to notify irrigators of costly events.

The WireRat™ (Fig 2.) is Net Irrigate’s flagship product.

It detects span cable theft on centre pivots and notifies owners via text message, voice call, or email when anyone tampers with the pivot’s copper wiring. The WireRat™ requires no external power and has already led to over a dozen arrests of copper thieves in 2012 across the United States.

The WireRat™ has additional functions that help preventing costly events on the farm. The remote management system also provides GPS monitoring, safety stop alerts and remote shutdown. This can eliminate the risk of growers pumping millions of gallons of water from their wells over one spot in a field, thereby helping them conserve water and energy and lowering their costs, while contributing to a better environment.

The WAIM system also makes it easier for irrigators to comply with their allocated water rights by tracking water usage in near real-time. "Farmers want to make use of every possible drop of water on their fields – making sure it's consumed by crops rather than running off into tail water ditches," says Eddie DeSalle, general manager for Net Irrigate.

Net Irrigate’s products have been installed at nearly 2,000 sites and its technology is designed to work with all brands of centre pivot and across all irrigation methods. Depending on the costly event incurred by a system operator (i.e. wire theft, centre pivot immobilisation, equipment malfunction), farmers indicate payback typically occurs within the first season. (www.netirrigate.com)

CASE STUDY 4: Weather systems Whether it's soybeans, wine grapes or turf, today's growers have moved beyond the days when managing the effects of weather was a matter of experience, guesswork and hope. Farmers are now also meteorologists, hydrologists, plant physiologists, soil scientists, entomologists, and environmental scientists.

(Not to mention business managers, financial officers, and mechanical engineers!)

Davis Instruments has created a sophisticated weather system that gives the grower the real-time and historical meteorological data he or she needs to grow with the least waste and greatest yield. Then add in sensors that provide leaf and soil moisture temperatures, frost warnings and rain values so that the grower makes informed decisions about irrigation, growing degree days, or spraying schedules. The data is specific to the grower's farm, not to the farm down the road or some spot miles away near the airport. All this information can be remotely managed and controlled.

Joe Valente, vineyard manager for Kautz Farms in Lodi, knows the importance of Integrated Pest Management software. “Using the Integrated Pest Management Module (IPM), we follow the degree days so we are not spraying just to be spraying. We use sulphur on a normal rotation to control mildew but the treatments are dependent on the weather.

Pesticides are expensive; some go up to $200 per acre.

That’s just for the chemical, so you’ve got to know when and where to use them.”

Fig 1. McCrometer’s CONNECTTM products offer wireless remote monitoring

Fig 2. The WireRatTM detects cable theft on remote irrigation systems

Shortly after installing his Davis Weather Station with IPM for Grapes Ron Peterson, owner/operator at La Bella Rosa Vineyards, saw a small pest and a slight discolouration on the leaves of his vines. Using the IPM’s glossary of disease and pests, Peterson identified the culprit as the Eastern Grape Leafhopper. Thanks to the treatment guidelines found on IPM, Ron was able knock down the leafhopper infestation before there was significant damage to the vine leaves and crop. (www.davisnet.com) These are excellent examples of the many companies with whom Wyless is working, and which are seeing the business benefits of M2M in managing agriculture and the environment. When innovative agricultural M2M solutions are paired with Wyless’ managed services, lives can be enriched and the environment protected.

“M2M is part of the agricultural revolution.”

M2M Now January 2013

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OPINION

Fat-free hyper-optimisation:

A new strategy for efficient, low cost M2M If the history of software and operating systems (OS) has revealed one thing it’s that each generation can be relied on to deliver a successively more complex solution.

But if your M2M device performs a simple function, do you really need a fully featured OS? asks Kurt Dykema of Twisthink.

The strategy to unlock small, hyperoptimised M2M reflects what’s become the norm in automotive

Why pay for physical size, complexity, and hardware far beyond your requirements? In the burgeoning world of M2M, sometimes less is actually more. The need for lightweight solutions is real, and has been applied in many places; think Windows Mobile, Android and Embedded Linux, or anything automotive. Small, simple devices have a viable place within M2M technology; using an embedded, realtime operating system (RTOS) to simplify code development makes it quite feasible.

applications The strategy to unlock small, hyper-optimised M2M reflects what’s become the norm in automotive applications; here’s what we can learn from their ‘micro’ model.

Most of what’s being applied in M2M today comes from the world of IT — a world of computer networks, PCs and enterprise servers. When IT people want devices or sensors to talk or network together, they immediately default to a Windows box or a Linux box.

On a car, however, cost and space are critical issues, and the only hardware you’re allowed to use is what you absolutely need. You wouldn’t expect PC capability in your key fob; why do you need it in your M2M device?

Fat-free hyper-optimised M2M

The author is Kurt Dykema of Twisthink 24

Rather than employ an operating system such as Linux or Windows, why not open the M2M door to smaller, simpler, lower cost devices with a much smaller, fewerfeatured application based on simple microcontrollers and real-time operating systems such as FreeRTOS. FreeRTOS is a development platform for microcontrollers; this tool (which supports 33 different architectures of microcontrollers) and others like it

M2M Now January 2013

offer a convenient way to develop firmware, separating hardware-related tasks from the logic of the application. In lieu of a PC environment with drivers and application space and file management, a free RTOS environment is very lean and optimised.

Developers and engineers can leverage such a tool for applications that need small, simple, low-cost monolithic code going into a device that does exactly what you want it to do; no more, no less. In short, it’s hyper-optimized.

We see tremendous potential for employing this strategy, including applications such as batteryoperated sensor monitoring, remote connectivity to medical equipment and industrial machines, industrial lighting control, and irrigation control.

Let’s return to our automotive example: the industry consumes large quantities of microcontrollers with an extensive range of costs and capabilities. As indicated earlier, however, for a given device the engineers design-in only what they need, and suppliers compete to see who can do the most with the smallest resources. Whether designing an engine control module or an electronic compass, a ‘right sized’ microcontroller is available.

Could your M2M opportunity benefit from a smaller, cheaper device? Would owning the design give you a competitive advantage — and allow you to harvest additional value?

Optimising M2M RoI If you’re answering “yes,” it’s time to take a closer look at how to determine whether or not your M2M investment might look better through the lens of “Honey, I shrunk the kids”. Sometimes smaller is better.

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ASSET TRACKING

Follow your assets: no matter where or when Bob Emmerson is a freelance writer covering machine-tomachine communications

Asset tracking sets some tough challenges for today's M2M communication systems. It is a 'given' that communicators have to be dependable, ruggedised and cost-effective. Bob Emmerson talks to a number of hardware manufacturers to find out what OEMs, value-added resellers (VARs), and final solution providers are looking for.

What are the challenges in asset tracking today over satellite and terrestrial networks? Is network agnosticism critical? Does it compromise ease of customisation? And what types of environment are M2M asset control systems now working in?

These are some of the issues that have been raised with M2M Now and which we wanted to put to those at the sharp end of asset tracking.

George Arnott, vice president, Telit Location Services

Dr. Jeff Smith, chief technology officer, Numerex

26

George Arnott, vice president, Telit Location Services: Despite the economy and the fact that the M2M market is fragmented, we’ve experienced positive growth in the GNSS sector and the forecasts for 2013 are very exciting. Hardware costs continue to decline and this is accelerating the deployment of numerous consumer devices. In addition there is a very innovative development that’s enabling the development of very small modules for use in ultra-compact devices.

This development is known as 3D-SIP. SIP stands for System In a Package and 3D refers to the architecture, i.e. the use of three interconnected substrates. This is a brand new technology and a key feature is the ability to embed discrete active and passive components in the package; components that would normally be mounted on the PCB. The result is a dramatic size reduction, e.g. 4.7 x 4.7 mm in the case of Telit’s SE880, and a significant boost in performance.

3D-SIP is genuine groundbreaking technology. Instead of selecting a chipset and manufacturing a device,

M2M Now January 2013

developers get a fully featured module having a similar footprint as a chipset. This enables a much faster time to market.

Dr. Jeff Smith, chief technology officer, Numerex With terrestrial, specifically cellular networks, monitoring and tracking high-value assets in regions or areas where cellular coverage is not consistently available is a major challenge. As an asset may cross many borders, cellular tracking is often costly due to incurred roaming charges.

Supported technologies may be inconsistent or unavailable in specific regions, making it hard or impossible to detect and report critical anomalies. The challenge with integrating satellite and cellular into the same application is the ability to have a single registration of a hybrid device.

Network agnosticism is critical. It is needed to support end-to-end M2M solutions for enterprises on a global scale. As assets cross many borders, visibility must be maintained. The most available or best network option may and often does change from region to region.

Is customisation compromised? For M2M providers such as Numerex who provide support for GSM, CDMA and satellite networks it’s not. However, it does require a high degree of flexibility, scalability and expertise to design, develop and deliver the right solution for the appropriate region or enterprise application.

Jenn Markey, director, Corporate Marketing, SkyWave In today’s business world, having the right data at the right time is crucial. While cellular and WiFi connectivity work well in urban situations, our customers are demanding ubiquitous connectivity for a wide range of applications.

Satellite-based M2M services are becoming more and more important to organisations operating in key sectors such as oil and gas, mining, shipping, environmental monitoring, transport, and so on. And driven by competition and increased service availability, airtime costs have become very competitive.

SkyWave satellite terminals use L-Band frequency as it is the most cost-effective choice for many applications.

L-Band is easier to process, equipment is less expensive, yet meets the increasing demand for richer M2M information. SkyWave enables businesses to drive more data across diverse operations by delivering up to 10,000 bytes to the device and sending up to 6,400 bytes from the device by way of emails, electronic forms and workflow information. The very low latency of messages transmitted allows asset owners and managers to exchange information in near real-time without the cost of expensive positioning accuracy equipment and dedicated connectivity.

Herbert Blaser, VP Business Marketing, u-blox At u-blox we see an increasing adoption of asset tracking systems worldwide and this trend extends to the tracking of people. The main driving forces are: lower logistics costs; better service to customers; increased security; and the falling cost of hardware.

The scope of this opportunity is enormous due to the ongoing trend of global sourcing of components used in manufacturing of automotive, consumer and industrial goods.

Personal tracking applications are driven by our ageing population and the corresponding increase in cases of dementia and Alzheimer’s, as well as the desire of people to monitor the location of their children and pets.

Key issues are: compatibility with multiple GNSS systems; operation in areas with poor satellite reception; integrated dead reckoning; and compatibility with multiple mobile telecommunication standards.

To address all these issues, the company recently upgraded its GNSS chips and modules to u-blox 7, which complies with all available GNSS standards as well as satellite augmentation systems.

Sergio Ramos, CTO, Quake Global The education and adjustment of expectations between the two technologies is a challenge. Satellite has historically been a bandwidth limited non real-time service used for short burst M2M applications.

Terrestrial on the other hand is thought of as a high bandwidth instant messaging service.

Bridging that gap between the two is a challenge. As M2M applications evolve and data needs grow, new satellite offerings that provide larger data capacity through circuit switched services are closing that gap.

Quake is able to provide a number of network options and has the ability to combine these options in a variety of ways, solutions which have made Quake Global the leading provider of modems for M2M satellite communications over the past decade. Quake recognises the opportunities and the real world benefits of providing value-added products and technologies to its customers.

The company has demonstrated this over time by making in-roads to commit resources in order to align its business and operations with the M2M industry’s market trends. As a global provider of cutting edge M2M communication devices, Quake Global has addressed these issues, by rapidly positioning itself in a leadership role in developing first-to-market hardware solutions for most major M2M satellite and terrestrial networks in the industry.

By providing creative and economically efficient M2M telecommunication solutions for all types of users, Quake allows its clients, from small start-ups to large OEMs, the ability to address complex global communication needs. Additionally, Quake product offerings ensure that its clients are in full control of their telecommunication solutions, data collection and asset optimisation which enables its clients to realise product standardisation stability, data optimisation, business growth and robust solutions in an ever changing M2M world.

Jenn Markey, director, Corporate Marketing, SkyWave

Herbert Blaser, VP Business Marketing, u-blox

Alex Rothwell, chief technology officer, Masternaut As technology evolves, developers are faced with an increasing volume of assets to be tracked; the need to actively manage assets when full visibility and access is not available; and the challenge of ensuring that exterior-mounted hardware is durable enough to remain intact.

When operating in very remote locations there is no scope for network exclusivity – the ability to make use of any available signal is essential. We’re seeing a rollout of the technology across all sectors where mobile assets need to be tracked. There are very few exceptions.

Sergio Ramos, CTO, Quake Global

When it comes to trends we’re seeing that companies are increasingly looking for a single-stop shop: a supplier that can cover multiple countries, across multiple continents, i.e. operate at an international level. In addition we’re moving away from basic location services; far more information is available, including vehicle utilisation, security and the condition of goods in transit.

The scope is huge. However, there are two prevailing issues: the first being the development of robust hardware; and the second is the challenge of maximising the amount of data that can be transmitted, while using as little power as possible.

Alex Rothwell, chief technology officer, Masternaut

M2M Now January 2013

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M2M

Telenor Connexion - taking a life-cycle approach to M2M Telenor Connexion expands into a wider service offering to fully support the customer product life-cycle and ensure future flexibility. Here, Robert Brunbäck describes how Telenor Group’s connected service enabler, is changing to meet new M2M and telematics market needs.

M2M Now: Telenor Connexion has been in the field of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications since the late 1990s. How has the market developed from your perspective?

Robert Brunbäck is head of Market and Product Strategy, Telenor Connexion

Robert Brunbäck: In the early years the market was characterised by technology push and embedded mobile technology and seemed quite complex. In recent years though, more emphasis has been placed on the business value and the actual services that can make a company more competitive.

The development of mobile apps has been one way to package and visualise services tied to a connected product of some kind. This has made it easier to understand, more accessible, and less of a technology phenomenon with the result that new types of companies and customers are exploring it. In turn, this is placing new demands on us a service provider.

M2M Now: How will Telenor Connexion meet these new market demands?

RB: We are in the business of making our customers more competitive through connected services. Many of our customers are launching products with lifecycles of 5-10 years. As the product itself is connected, for example a car, it also means the connected service can constantly evolve, hence the connected service experience in a car should always feel up to date.

In a hyper-competitive global market place the lifecycle view is important; we are trying to make it easier for our customers not only to build a connected service to reduce time to market, but also to efficiently manage and operate the service over time. Finally we want to make sure that the service is flexible enough to evolve, as market needs and technology are changing.

M2M Jargon Buster eCAF = embedded Connectivity Application Framework eUICC = embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card

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M2M Now: Can you give some examples of how customers are evolving?

RB: The car example is quite clear – within a few years it has moved from basic safety and breakdown assistance services to multiple services both within and outside the car. These include navigation with realtime traffic information and weather reports, streaming internet radio and other infotainment

M2M Now January 2013

services. Pay-as-you-drive insurance schemes, road tolls and remote diagnostics to enable proactive service bookings are other examples of connected services. Additionally, the services are deployed in more and more countries. Hence, the connectivity needs and the services around connected products are drastically changing.

Another example is the home alarm; from being just an SMS transmission in the event of an alarm, it is becoming a communication hub in the home, remotely opening doors, and steering home appliances. Of course, more advanced alarm services can now be offered, such as real-time views and updates when your children get home from school.

M2M Now: You mentioned taking a product lifecycle view when working with your customer.

Could you explain what that means in practice?

RB: The early stages of solution design are important.

Building in security features, optimised for wireless communication is one increasingly important area. As more and more products are going online, hacking attempts are likely to increase.

We also support our customers in optimising the communication set-up, in order to make it as flexible as possible and not be locked into a technical or commercial set-up that is not sustainable over time.

Our eCAF service is providing the means to significantly reduce development cost and communication cost over time, which in turn will make our customers more competitive.

This also means we take an agnostic approach to communication. Our mission is to achieve the most efficient and high quality communication for the customer needs now and in the future, ensuring that we stay flexible for future changes in technology (2G/3G/4G issue, eUICC, Wi-Fi, Satellite, etc.) or regulation as well as changing business needs.

As the market evolves over time it is critical to enable flexible business logics – ensuring our customers can try out new business models to capture new market segments and make it easier to consume connected services. In a changing world our customers will

constantly evolve and tune their go-to-market proposition, which in turn requires new innovative flexible billing and charging services on our end.

"We are in the business of making our customers more competitive through connected services."

Robert Brunbäck, Telenor Connexion

Taking an end-to-end and holistic approach helps both us and our customer to identify the critical requirements that the solution should fulfill from the start and throughout the entire product lifecycle.

M2M Now: There is increasingly strong competition in the M2M service sector. What challenges and opportunities do you see for a company like Telenor Connexion?

RB: Since the late â&#x20AC;&#x2122;90s we have built a strong and global customer base. Many of our customers have been onboard with us for several years, and we have seen how connected services are changing the way our customers are doing business, launching new products and entering new markets.

An increasing focus on service sales on top of pure product sales is being spurred on by the products that are getting connected. However, this development takes time within large, global organisations. The more we get into, and understand, our customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; business, production challenges, international ambitions, sales approach and so on, the more we evolve and can develop new services to support them in the future.

And yes, the market is growing and with it comes competition. Overall this is just positive, as more and more connected services are being deployed it spreads to other sectors and companies across the world. Our mission is to make it easy to get connected; making sure more companies can get smarter and more competitive, while also contributing to a smarter and more sustainable society.

We will continue to leverage our long experience in the M2M field; in the end it is all about brain power, constantly evolving our dedicated M2M expertise to build and operate the smartest solutions, not only now but for many years ahead.

M2M Now January 2013

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INTRODUCING VIDEO

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DIARY

Event Diary Don't forget to add the following events to your organiser. As M2M Now is Official Media Partner for many of these events we look forward to seeing you there.

Mobile World Congress

CommunicAsia

February 25-28, 2013 Barcelona, Spain www.mobileworldcongress.com

June 18-21, 2013 Marina Bay Sands, Singapore www.communicasia.com

M2M World Asia

European Utility Week

co-located with the Internet Show April 24-25, 2013 Suntec, Singapore www.terrapinn.com

15-17 October, 2013 Amsterdam, Netherlands www.european-utility-week.com

Money Talks -- e-Health May 20, 2013 Las Vegas, USA Organised by M2M Now http://m2mnowevents.com Co-located with CTIA, organised in association with Beecham Research and sponsored by Telit, Wyless and Orga Systems, the event will take place on May 20, 2013 in Las Vegas.

See the latest events listed online at:

www.m2mnow.biz

BARCELONA PREVIEW

MWC 2013 explores 'New Mobile Horizons' at new Barcelona venue Even the landscape of Mobile World Congress will look different than it has in the past.

While the Mobile World Capital Barcelona remains your host, the event is relocating to a new facility at the Fira Gran Via that is said to be ‘state-of-the-art’.

The mobile ecosystem is expanding at lightning speed, with endless innovation and new applications of mobile technology. From contactless payments and augmented reality to embedded devices and connected cities – mobile technology is changing the landscape.

For more details go to: www.gsma.com

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The impact that mobile communications will have on the world is limitless, says a spokesman from the Association for the Global System for Mobile communications (GSMA). At Mobile World Congress 2013 (February 24-28) you can see: • CEOs from the world’s most influential companies will share their visions of the mobile landscape, while inspiring attendees in the Thought Leadership Conference

M2M Now January 2013

• More than 1,500 of the industry’s leading suppliers of mobile devices, services and technologies will be part of one of the most important Exhibitions of the year • More than 12,000 application developers will gather for App Planet, looking to be educated, energised, and challenged • The world’s largest consumer brands will be joining for mPowered Brands, where the GSMA accelerates marketers’ knowledge of mobile as a marketing medium • The GSMA will recognise the industry’s greatest achievements, new technologies, innovative devices and ideas through the 18th Annual Global Mobile Awards • This year the organisers expect more than 70,000 senior mobile professionals will network and exchange ideas during the four-day event, any one of which may significantly change the landscape of mobile. The GSMA invites readers to join them in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress 2013 as they explore the New Mobile Horizon.

New for 2012 ■

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Workshops and TM Forum Training on hot topics, and even more networking time

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Pecha Kucha Theater – a rapid-fire innovation showcase!

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The Hub – a networking, discovery and solution zone with live Catalyst demos and a bustling Expo

December 3-6, 2012 Rosen Shingle Creek Orlando, Florida

Everything that can be digital, will be TM Forum's Management World Americas 2012, is the only conference that brings together 1500+ professionals from communications and beyond to brainstorm, debate, share and learn everything you need to succeed in the digital world.

The agenda includes a Cable Summit and five Forums covering the hottest topics:

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Digital and M2M Service Enablement

Transforming an industry – where do we go from here?

Where are the Big Three putting their money?

The digital services forecast - identifying the best trends to bet on Service providers join forces on M2M Experts weigh in on CTIA’s Indices Report And more to come!

Big Data Analytics Customer Experience Management Agile IT and Cloud Cyber Security

Featuring speakers from these companies and more: •

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TAITRONICS REVIEW

Sowing the seeds of M2M in Taiwan

Chih-Kang Wang: “It will hopefully establish a platform for international cooperation.”

Shih-Chao Cho: “We fully believe in the potential of the cloud and internet of things.”

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Though M2M is still in its infancy in Taiwan, there is a strong will from government and industry to move forwards quickly. Steve Rogerson reports.

Taiwan has been at the forefront of high-technology industries for decades, but the island off the coast of south-east Asia has moved slowly when it comes to the cloud and M2M technologies. True, individual Taiwanese companies have embraced the technologies involved, Advantech being a good example, but a co-ordinated approach from government has been slow, though is now happening.

M2M Now January 2013

This was reflected in October when the annual Taitronics electronics exhibition, now in its 38th year, was joined by a new show – called Cloud & Internet of Things – to sit alongside Broadband Taiwan, which has been a sister show to Taitronics for five years.

Taiwan seeks collaboration The fact that Taiwan is very young in all things cloud-related was illustrated right from the start of the event by Chih-Kang Wang, chairman of Taiwan’s external trade development council, known as Taitra, who expressed the need for international collaboration and said that this was why the combined show had increased representation from international visitors and the associated conference had more international speakers.

“The expanded summit will hopefully unite Taiwan, the Asia-Pacific and Middle East to mutually promote cloud applications,” he said. “It will hopefully establish a platform for international cooperation and allow local exhibitors to break into the emerging market.”

And government support was put into words by Shih-Chao Cho, vice minister from Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs. He said: “We fully believe in the potential of the cloud and internet of things, and we want to push Taiwan’s industry to the next level.”

He said that within the next five years there would be NT$14 billion (US$476 million) investment into research and development (R&D) which he believed would lead to the creation of 50,000 jobs and an annual revenue of NT$1 trillion (US$34 billion) in cloud computing.

Part of this was the setting up in November 2010 of the Taiwan Cloud Computing Consortium (TCCC), which now has more than 150 members including the three main telecoms operators in Taiwan. But Tzi-Cker Chiueh, the consortium’s vice executive secretary, was not kidding himself that

the job to establish Taiwan as a major player would be easy.

Starting from zero “Taiwan’s presence in this space is zero worldwide,” he said. “We want to change that.

We want to enable Taiwan companies to compete in worldwide markets. We are trying to bring together all the elements to provide complete solutions.”

Another initiative was the establishment of Cloud Valley in Taipei earlier this year. This building is currently providing young companies with an area to display their wares but the plan for phase two next year will be to use two floors of the building to provide incubator facilities for start-up companies and follow this in 2014 with a cloud computing business park.

Shyue-Ching Lu (left) and Fu-Kuei Chung from Chunghwa Telecom

“We have strong support from the government,” said George Wang, vice president of TCCC. “They want it to follow the Silicon Valley model.”

The building is owned by Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s largest operator, which, unsurprisingly, is one of the leaders in providing M2M services. Its main offering is an intelligent transport service, with fleet management being the key element.

Tzi-Cker Chiueh: “Taiwan’s presence in this space is zero worldwide.”

“If you have a taxi company with 100 taxis, our fleet management service will let the operator know where the nearest taxi is when someone calls,” said Shyue-Ching Lu, CT’s chairman and CEO. “We run the biggest fleet management service in Taiwan. There are 15,000 vehicles managed by our system, which we have been offering for just two years.”

Allen Wang, the country manager for Telit, said this was typical of the early M2M applications in Taiwan.

“Most M2M applications in Taiwan are for telematics,” he said. “But the domestic market does not have the scale compared with the USA

Chia Chi Lee: “This will then give you a physical check without having to go to hospital.

M2M Now January 2013

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TAITRONICS REVIEW

Allen Wang: “Most M2M applications in Taiwan are for telematics.”

Joyce Yeh: “Environmental protection agencies can use our data acquisition systems.”

and Europe, so most of our customers here make products for export to Europe and the USA.”

Smart grid services coming Chunghwa Telecom is also ready to provide smart grid services when the island’s power companies decide to move on this. “We are paying attention and are ready for the opportunity,” said Lu. “This will be a phased approach and they have started some devices in large enterprises.”

Telit’s Wang added: “The government is trying to push the electricity departments to have smart grids. Everyone is talking about saving energy and they need to catch up with this trend. They have done a project for enterprises, but they now need to push into homes.”

Brian Lee: “It is still an emerging industry.”

Where the operator has already moved is in linking with construction companies to provide digital home services for new houses.

Digital home services “These are things like door security and monitoring systems that can be controlled from mobile handsets,” said Fu-Kuei Chung, president of CT’s data communications business group. “There are already 30 communities using this, ranging in size from 100 to 2,400 houses.”

George Wang: “They want it to follow the Silicon Valley model.”

Taiwan has also made the first steps into telehealth with 650 remote health-monitoring stations installed in local communities. So far 7,250 people have used the service.

“You use your medical card to identify who you are,” explained Chia Chi Lee from Taiwan’s

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M2M Now January 2013

Institute for Information Industry. “This will then give you a physical check without having to go to hospital. The doctors will have set limits on vital signs and this will send an alert if there is something wrong. These are to be put into small communities.”

A more ambitious M2M application comes from Anasystem, which has devices for monitoring both earthquakes and reservoir levels.

“Environmental protection agencies can use our data acquisition systems for measuring water levels,” said Joyce Yeh, assistant vice president.

“Reservoir people use it to monitor water levels, flow and rain. They can set up alert values and when the water level reaches that, the user will receive a message or email.”

The earthquake monitoring system is useful in Taiwan as it will record the full event from the start of the earthquake and provide data. “You can evaluate from the data to see if there has likely been any structural damage,” said Yeh. Despite these early applications, the M2M industry in Taiwan is still in its infancy, but the hope is that projects such as Cloud Valley and integrating the early pioneers into one of the country’s largest electronics shows will pave the way for greater achievements.

“The internet of things industry is developing,” said Brian Lee, deputy executive director of Taitra’s exhibition department. “It is still an emerging industry. But a lot of money is being invested in this direction.”

RESEARCH

Building an M2M platform for the totally connected world A number of factors are changing the way that companies view M2M projects, writes Oracle’s Philip Croxford, and these are opening up new possibilities with data from connected devices.

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication has been around in various forms for many years, but a number of factors are now coming together in a ‘perfect storm’ that is changing the way that companies view M2M projects. Consequently, companies must consider the implications of those changes when building a platform for their M2M projects.

In a recent study conducted by Beecham Research, on behalf of Oracle, the key drivers behind M2M projects were seen to be changing. Previously M2M projects were used as a means to reduce cost and improve operational efficiency. Now 75% of those surveyed say that enabling new services and revenue streams are the primary drivers fuelling M2M projects.

The research found that M2M data from remotely located assets and devices in the field are increasingly being used for strategic decision-making and valuecreation throughout the enterprise. The value of data is invariably increased as it is made available to more functions across the organisation, and this can result in an increasing need to integrate that data into Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management and analytics systems. Indeed, integration was listed as the number two priority for organisations implementing M2M solutions.

Moreover, as the value of data increases, so does the need to secure that data, from the device to the data centre. So, it’s no surprise that the research identified end-to-end security as the number one priority in M2M implementations.

Rising data volumes It’s the ever-increasing volume of data resulting from the sheer number of connected devices that is creating some of the biggest challenges, with 85% of respondents rating data storage and management as a ‘critical’ issue.

Systems that manage that data across storage tiers, to balance cost with the necessary levels of performance and availability, require what are now becoming mission-critical systems.

Processing at the network edge We should not forget the devices themselves, though.

As processors become faster and consume less power, more processing of data can be performed closer to the network edge, on devices and concentrators.

This approach can be used to reduce the amount of data transmitted, the frequency of transmission or, the use of complex event processing technology. It allows actions to be initiated locally without the need to communicate with a central system. Consequently, organisations need to consider carefully what software runs on those devices and whether it is capable of meeting these evolving needs.

The author is Philip Croxford, senior director, Global ISV/OEM Go-to-Market, Oracle Worldwide Alliances & Channels

Cloud bringing simplicity Not surprisingly, cloud computing is seen as playing a key role in simplifying M2M deployments and reducing time to value, with 90% of respondents considering the use of cloud computing in M2M projects as ‘vitally important’ to M2M initiatives. M2M cloud platforms may also go some way to address the concerns of those who listed ‘co-ordinating partners in a complex value chain’ as one of the top three challenges in delivering M2M projects.

In a world of ‘total connectivity’, where everyone and everything is connected, the winners will be those who have the ability to exploit the value of that data across the enterprise and to enable innovation and competitive differentiation.

To read the full report, visit: http://bit.ly/TGaakv

This means building systems that minimise storage costs by compressing data to a fraction of its size.

M2M Now January 2013

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BACK PAGE

Nothing smart about my metering!

Day 1: A small, white in-home display (IHD) arrives, as requested and free of charge, from my energy provider. I unpack it with reverence and plug it in, leaving it on a kitchen worktop where everyone can admire it and share the joy of tracking and curbing our energy consumption. Of course, they will then automatically amend their behaviour.

M2M Now’s Editor, Jeremy Cowan is struggling with his own smart meter rollout.

Day 2: The Steering Committee has noticed that a small part of her kitchen work surface has been invaded and an “ugly plastic box” (I think she’s referring to our new IHD) is now taking up a precious power socket.

Somehow this turns into an opportunity to discuss the shortcomings of our 1970s kitchen. My arguments that the 1970s are retro cool get me nowhere.

Day 3: Three children (mine, not random) have been lined up in front of the energy meter for a bit of Future Expected Expenditure Reassignment (FEER).

“What’s that?” asks my daughter (14). Interest wanes noticeably when it turns out the meter is not made by Apple®, is not internet-connected and can’t be accessed from her BlackBerry®.

Three children (mine, not random) have been lined up in front of the energy meter for a bit of Future Expected Expenditure Reassignment (FEER).

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suggest, “I want you to keep an eye on the graph and see how much energy you’re each using, so that we can cut our bills,” and here I play my trump card for dealings with today’s ‘yoof’, “and reduce our impact on the environment.”

Children can be literal animals and the youngest instantly spots the flaw in my carefully honed plan.

“So, this shows if I’ve left the telly on, right?”

“Yes, exactly,” I say, sensing the argument is at last swinging my way.

“Well, if I’m watching the telly in the living room, I can’t be watching this in the kitchen, can I?” I’m just about to deal with this insidious criticism, when No.2 Son adds, “And how can we save energy by having another device that uses electricity?” I’m sure I hear a snigger from the eldest, which I ignore.

“Anyway, it’s very easy, I want you to see if you can reduce your energy consumption. Keep watching this meter, that’s all. Class dismissed.” I always find that a warm, inclusive approach works best.

“It’s called an in-home display, and it shows how much energy you’re using. It’s a bit like a smart meter.

What’s more, it tells your Mother and me how much we’re paying for the energy you use, so that we can all use less.” (My attempt to enlist my better half’s support sounds unconvincing, even to me. And it may have been a little unfair to paint the children as the villains of this tale, but my campaign was based on Shock and Awe. Sadly, it met the same mixed success as previous Shock & Awe campaigns.)

Their mother arrives just as the children are sent about their business. “That went well,” I say, but perhaps she didn’t hear.

“It’s not that smart,” declares my 14 year-old arbiter of all good taste. She’s got a point; it’s made from thin white plastic, sits on a moulded cradle, with a trailing black 2-core cable and appears to have been roundly smacked with the Ugly Stick. An iMeter it is not.

“The immersion heater and kettle just broke the energy record.” Both Daughter and No.1 Son seem to be shushing him, but he won’t be deterred. “We thought the Xbox® and hair dryer would use the most energy, but we’ve tried everything now. And I won,” he adds proudly.

“What’s a kW?” seems a fair question. I’m relieved it doesn’t come from No.1 Son (16) who has just wrestled a B-grade from his Physics exams. Even better is to come with the question, “How much is a kilowatt?”

This is from the perceptive youngest, aged 11.

Day 7: There’s a whoop coming from the kitchen, which is stifled as I enter. “We just hit a new record,” says the youngest excitedly when I find the three of them scrutinising the meter.

“That’s great,” I reply. “How’s that?”

That’s like “why is the sky blue?”, and as I’m an Arts graduate I treat it with my customary aplomb by changing the subject and switching the meter to a digital read-out of cost in pounds and pence.

So the meter went into a kitchen drawer for a few days while I considered how to get the best out of it.

And out of them. A few days morphed into a few months until our museum-grade kitchen was given an overdue overhaul. Then one morning the Steering Committee presented me with a familiar bundle of black cable and white plastic. “I found this in the drawer. What do you want to do with it?” she asked pointedly.

With interest in the meter now at a 3-day high, I

Somehow I just knew the answer.

M2M Now January 2013

The leading global M2M managed services provider

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