in t u a yo na e lo Se rce a B
M2M Now: ISSN 2046-5882
DECEMBER 2014 / JANUARY 2015
V O L U M E
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I S S U E
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How women are shaping the Internet of Things PLUS The IoT is changing the Boardroom Interview with Gilli Coston, Wyless CSO & EMEA MD
AUTOMOTIVE M2M Fast forward to connected vehicles Read The Analysts’ Insight Report in full at www.m2mnow.biz
FLEET & ASSET MANAGEMENT How can the mass market potential be maximised? Read the report at www.m2mnow.biz
SMART UTILITIES
mHEALTH
SMART CITIES
Benefits and challenges of making utilities smart Read our analysts’ Insight Report at www.m2mnow.biz
M2M communications are improving healthcare efficiency Insight Report INSIDE! www.m2mnow.biz
Better lifestyles are driving new interest M2M Now Insight Report Out February 2015
PLUS: mHealth is being ‘consumerised’, say analysts • Qualcomm pays US$2.5bn for CSR in new IoE push • Industry embraces GSMA Embedded SIM spec • ORBCOMM acquires SkyWave for US$130m • Cubic Telecom’s global deal with China Unicom • Plug-in home care for the elderly • Contract Hot List • www.m2mnow.biz
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C O N N E C T E D
D E V I C E S
CONTENTS
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PLATFORMS
RT O P E R T H G I S IN
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ni u m om ien c M) effic 2 (M are e hin althc c ma g he o t
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EDITOR’S COMMENT Reliability and efficiency threads run through M2M platforms, mHealth and security
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MARKET NEWS GSMA IoT guidelines; Smartphones to light up mHealth
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COMPANY NEWS H2C invests in Novatel; CCSA & OMA alliance; Deal creates largest space based M2M company; Qualcomm buys CSR
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PEOPLE NEWS New names at Eurotech, Enterprise M3, Alpha Micro, Anam Technologies, and Novatel Wireless
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CONTRACT NEWS & HOT LIST The latest deals for Cubic Telecom, China Unicom, Getrak
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PRODUCT NEWS Concirrus plug-in sensor for the elderly at home; Tollgrade Communications helps European grid monitoring
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IoT SECURITY
43 ANALYST INTERVIEW 31 MHEALTH REGULATION, SECURITY, AND PRIVACY Arif Mohamed asks where the responsibility really lies 35 ANALYST INTERVIEW Laetitia Jay at Gemalto discusses new layers of security risks with Chris Rommel of VDC Research 39 FEATURE: IoT SECURITY Beecham Research’s Haydn Povey and Jon Howes tell M2M Now about strong, adaptable IoT security 41
INTERVIEW Thomas Seiler, chief executive at u-blox, describes some fundamental goals of the IoT.
44 ANALYST INTERVIEW IoT service providers may be overlooking significant opportunities. Jim Dunlap, CEO at Cycle30, talks to Robin Duke-Woolley 49 INTERVIEW George Malim finds out how the next generation connectivity platform becomes an IoT ecosystem for enhanced service margins 52 INTERVIEW Embedded systems for the future of the IoT. Saverio Romeo reports on Kontron
TALKING HEADS The IoT is transforming the boardroom Gilli Coston, MD at Wyless EMEA and chief strategy officer for the Wyless Group, discusses what a more balanced workforce can do for the IoT sector
54 FEATURE How M2M service platforms make the IoT happen
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WOMEN ARE DRIVING THE IoT AT LARGE How the industry can benefit from an emerging skills pool
58 FEATURE IoT platform market drivers
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M2M NOW INSIGHT REPORT – mHealth In this edition’s independent Insight Report, Andy Castonguay, principal analyst at Machina Research, discusses how M2M is improving healthcare efficiencies, identifies potential opportunities and key factors driving growth of the M2M connected healthcare market.
56 IT’S TIME TO STOP REINVENTING THE WHEEL Interview with Ayla Networks’ co-founder and chief executive, David Friedman
60 INSIDE STORY: PTC’S ACQUISITION OF AXEDA, AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT … Bill Zujewski talks to James Brehm in an M2M Now exclusive report 62 EXPERT OPINION Developing your own M2M/IoT applications made easy
Cover Sponsor: Wyless is a leading global M2M managed services provider. Its platform, delivered in partnership with the world’s largest network operators, provides secure, reliable communications with wireless devices in over 120 countries. Powerful management tools offer real-time reporting and control over all devices connected to our network. Wyless delivers a comprehensive suite of managed services with unrivalled expertise, professional support and competitive pricing. Wyless enables its customers and partners to deploy M2M applications and services faster, cheaper and more effectively. www.wyless.com M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
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COMMENT
Reliability and efficiency are threads running through M2M platforms, mHealth and security One of the challenges at M2M Now magazine is squeezing into a single issue as much as we can on diverse industry verticals. We’ve tried it again this month, incorporating features on mobile health and telemedicine, securing the Internet of Things (IoT), assessing the growing importance of platforms in bringing efficiencies to the roll-out of new machine-to-machine (M2M) services, and examining the role of Women in IoT. Any one of these topics would have been enough to fill the magazine, but with so many important industry trends we wanted to keep you in touch with all of the latest thinking. In this edition’s M2M Now Insight Alun Lewis, Report, Andy Castonguay, the new face principal analyst at Machina of M2M Now Research, analyses how M2M magazine communications are improving healthcare efficiencies (see pages 22-30). Meanwhile, M2M platform suppliers are using the cloud to enhance their customers’ operations, as Antony Savvas reports exclusively (58-59). VDC Research’s Chris Rommel talks to Gemalto’s Laetitia Jay about how we must protect the end users of M2M services amid the growing intelligence of embedded systems (35-37). Don’t miss our analysis of the strengthening role of women in the internet of Things. We have 10 great interviews (12-18) starting with one pioneer, Gilli Coston, Wyless’s EMEA managing director. And we hear from Nigel Chadwick
Contributors in this issue of M2M Now We are always proud to bring you the best writers and commentators in M2M and IoT. In this issue they include:
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 807410 c.jameson@m2mnow.biz
Olivier Beaujard, vice-president market development, Sierra Wireless
Erik Brenneis, head of Vodafone M2M
how a new connectivity platform is becoming an IoT ecosystem that boosts service margins, before diving into the wider role of Platforms (49-65). Finally, we are delighted to announce the appointment of Alun Lewis, one of the communication industry’s most globally respected journalists and writers, as Editor of M2M Now magazine, as I move into a new role as Digital Editor-in-Chief. Alun brings a wealth of experience in all communications sectors, a keen intellect and a sense of excitement about this industry’s possibilities that matches our own. Contact him at: alun@m2mnow.biz I look forward to meeting you in my new role, and know that your magazine could not be in safer hands.
Alexander Bufalino, SVP, Global Marketing, Telit.
Robin DukeWoolley, CEO, Beecham Research
Baard Eilertsen, president & CEO, Maingate
Jeremy Cowan, Editor & Publisher, M2M Now
Experienced technology writer, Alun Lewis, talks to Gilli Coston about women in IoT
IT and communications journalist, Antony Savvas, finds the IoT needs M2M
George Malim, editor of our sister title VanillaPlus, looks at Connectivity platforms
Saverio Romeo, from Beecham Research chats with Kontron, about embedded systems
DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC PLANNING Charlie Bisnar Tel: +44 (0) 1732 807411 charlie@wkm-global.com
PUBLISHED BY WeKnow Media Ltd. Suite 138, 70 Churchill Square, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4YU, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1732 807411
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DISTRIBUTION UK Postings Ltd Tel: +44 (0) 8456 444137
Gwenn Larsson, director, M2M Global Expansion, Telenor
Andrew Parker, project marketing director, Connected Living, GSMA
Gert Pauwels, M2M marketing director, Orange Business
David Taylor, managing director, M2M, Telefónica UK
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EDITORIAL ADVISORS
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, stored, published or © WeKnow Media Ltd 2014 in any way reproduced without the prior written consent of the Publisher. M2M Now: ISSN 2046-5882
Bill Zujewski, SVP, IoT Marketing & Strategy, PTC
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
MARKET NEWS
Report highlights ‘consumerisation’ of digital health and increasing role of smartphone Healthcare focused smartphone interfaces, launched by Samsung and Apple, will be instrumental in propelling the global healthcare accessory hardware market to $3 billion by 2019, according to a new report from Juniper Research. The research, “Digital Health: Remote Monitoring, Smart Accessories & EHR Cost Savings 2014-2019” argues that greater visibility and availability of healthcare smartphone platforms will encourage independent device manufacturers to launch a wider array of sophisticated mHealth products. Such devices include blood pressure cuffs, oximeters for diabetes, and sleep monitors for sleep apnoea. But while Apple’s HealthKit and Samsung’s SAMI (Samsung Architecture for Multimodal Interactions) user interfaces will
popularise consumer digital health, they could also impact the opportunity for bespoke remote patient monitoring devices. Report author Anthony Cox noted that: “As health platforms support more ‘medical’ devices, rather than just today’s fitness trackers, they will usurp the territory occupied by chronic disease monitoring companies.’ It seems that despite a more positive outlook for the digital health industry’s future, widespread, well-documented trials are still required to galvanise the take-up of remote patient monitoring projects. Furthermore, questions remain over how digital healthcare projects will be reimbursed. A whitepaper, ‘Taking the Pulse of Digital Health’ is available to download from the Juniper Research website, together with further details of the full report.
Mobile industry embraces new specification to speed IoT growth Mobile operators, SIM vendors, and module manufacturers are now deploying solutions that comply with a new specification: The GSMA Embedded SIM, which is designed to accelerate provisioning of machine to machine (M2M) services. Representing the interests of mobile operators worldwide, spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA confirmed that leading mobile operators: AT&T, Etisalat, NTT DOCOMO, Telefónica and Vodafone Group; alongside SIM and module manufacturers Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Morpho (Safran), Oberthur Technologies, Sierra Wireless and Telit, have all launched solutions compliant with the new specification for the remote over-the-air (OTA) provisioning of M2M devices. Additional operators and ecosystem partners including: M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
Ericsson, Jasper and Telenor Connexion have also committed. An independent report from Beecham Research, entitled “Benefits Analysis of GSMA Embedded SIM Specification on the Mobile Enabled M2M Industry” highlights that the immediate adoption and deployment of the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification could accelerate the growth of the embedded M2M market by up to 34% by 2020. Further, this is likely to generate US$8.9 billion in connectivity revenues for mobile operators in 2020; and garner an estimated 639 million connections globally, if in fact the GSMA technical specification is adopted as the de facto standard during 20142015. It’s also anticipated that the automotive sector will be at the forefront of this growth, with high adoption also coming from consumer electronics.
NEWS IN BRIEF European connected care market analysis Berg Insight has published a report, entitled “Connected Care in Europe” which analyses the latest developments on the telehealth and telecare markets in the region. The firm expects that traditional telecare will remain the largest segment of the connected care market, with 5.6 million users in 2019. However, traditional telecare will be closely followed by next-generation telecare and telehealth. These areas are growing faster and are expected to reach 4.9 million users and 4.7 million users respectively at the end of the forecast period. The 120 page analysis provides business intelligence, five-year industry forecasts, expert commentary, and real-life case studies on which to base business decisions.
GSMA device & app guidelines to boost efficiency of IoT connections The GSMA has published guidelines for the IoT market that outline how devices and applications should communicate via mobile networks in the most intelligent and efficient way. The Alex Sinclair, GSMA CTO: report, “IoT Device IoT must Connection Efficiency develop with the Guidelines” has won right standards the backing of leading mobile operators including: AT&T, China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, KT Corporation, Orange, NTT DOCOMO, Tata Teleservices Ltd., Telefónica, and Telenor Connexion; as well as ecosystem partners such as Sierra Wireless and Jasper. The guidelines offer best practice for areas such as: data aggregation within devices, non-synchronous network access, application scalability, and guidance on how to manage signalling traffic from deactivated or out-of-subscription SIMs.
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COMPANY NEWS
NEWS IN BRIEF H2C Holdings 2, Inc. invests in the IoT In September, Novatel Wireless Inc., completed a transaction with HC2 Holdings 2, Inc. - a wholly owned subsidiary of HC2 Holdings, Inc. - in which HC2 will invest up to US$23.7million in the company. Novatel Wireless is a designer and developer of intelligent wireless solutions based on 2G, 3G and 4G technologies. The company delivers wireless solutions to carriers, distributors, retailers, OEMs, and vertical markets worldwide. Product lines include MiFi® Intelligent Mobile Hotspots, Ovation™ USB modems, Expedite® embedded modules, mobile tracking solutions, asset tracking solutions, and enablers of smart M2M modules.
China Communications Standards Association and OMA foster closer cooperation The China Communications Standards Association (CCSA) the national communications standards organisation of China, and the Open Mobile Alliance Ltd. (OMA), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen their relationship and foster closer cooperation. OMA delivers open specifications for creating interoperable services that work across countries, operators, networks and mobile terminals. Driven by users’ needs and the expanding market for data services, the member companies of OMA stimulate the adoption of new and enhanced information, communication, and entertainment services. OMA members include contributors from all key elements of the wireless value chain.
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US$130m acquisition to create largest space-based M2M comms company Marking the second phase of ORBCOMM’s collaboration with Inmarsat, the global provider of M2M solutions has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SkyWave Mobile Communications (SkyWave), for US$130 million.
M2M service provider on Inmarsat’s global L-band satellite network. It has more than 250,000 subscriber units, 400 channel partners, an estimated annualised $60million in revenues, as well as more than $12million in Adjusted EBITDA.
Resulting in the largest company for global space-based M2M communications, Rupert Pearce, Inmarsat’s CEO, said: “We are excited to enter the next phase of collaboration with ORBCOMM. Our two companies are well positioned to exploit the growing opportunity for satellite to enable the ‘Internet of Things.’ ORBCOMM’s track record of innovation, combined with Inmarsat’s global network reach, will bring compelling offerings to the market, further advancing Inmarsat’s M2M growth strategy.”
Following the acquisition, ORBCOMM will have one of the largest combined engineering teams in the industry and gain significant economies of scale in operations and manufacturing. SkyWave’s distribution channels in South America, Asia, and the Middle East - along with Inmarsat’s support will provide ORBCOMM with broader distribution, as well as furthering diverse vertical markets such as security and marine. Higher bandwidth, low-latency satellite products and services that leverage Inmarsat’s IsatDataPro (IDP) technology will also help to expand ORBCOMM’s portfolio.
Canada-based SkyWave is the largest
CSR $2.5bn sale to Qualcomm in IoE drive Qualcomm Inc has reached agreement with the UK’s second largest chip designer, CSR plc on the terms of a recommended cash acquisition. The deal is said to complement Qualcomm’s current offerings by adding products, channels, and customers in the ‘important growth categories of Internet of Everything (IoE) and automotive infotainment.’ Cambridge based CSR’s entire ordinary share capital will be acquired by Qualcomm Global Trading Pte. Ltd, an indirect and wholly-owned subsidiary of San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc., a provider of 3G, 4G and nextgeneration wireless technologies. “The addition of CSR’s technology leadership in Bluetooth, Bluetooth Smart and audio processing will
strengthen Qualcomm’s position in providing critical solutions that drive the rapid growth of the Internet of Everything, including business areas such as portable audio, automotive and Steve Mollenkopf, CEO wearable of Qualcomm Inc devices,” said Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm Inc. “Combining CSR’s highly advanced offering of connectivity technologies with a strong track record of success in these areas will unlock new opportunities for growth.”
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
PEOPLE NEWS
Geoffrey Morton appointed Group VP for Eurotech’s M2M/IoT line Eurotech, a leading supplier of embedded systems, M2M platforms and IoT solutions, has appointed Geoffrey A. Morton as group vice president for its M2M/IoT line of business. Morton will coordinate the direct sales of Eurotech’s M2M offering worldwide, supervising and controlling the sales activities carried out by local teams in each subsidiary of the Group. He will also take the lead in the development of the indirect sales channels, such as VARs and system integrators. Geoffrey Morton, Eurotech
Morton has more than 30 years of experience in developing business for both hardware and software solutions. Before joining Eurotech, he lead the worldwide Java commercial business unit for Oracle as group vice president. He has a JD from Harvard Law School and a B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University.
Enterprise M3 adds acclaimed expertise to its Board Enterprise M3, the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for the wider M3 corridor in the UK, has appointed Dave Axam, South East regional director for BT, and Dr. Mike Short, CBE FREng FIET, vice president, Telefonica - and visiting professor at the University of Surrey - to its business-led board.
Dr. Mike Short, CBE FREng FIET & VP Telefonica
Dave Axam, South East regional director for BT
Axam and Dr. Short join the Board alongside three other new members. Together, they bring a wealth of commercial expertise to the LEP and will be instrumental in ensuring that the organisation delivers its strategic objective; driving economic success across the enterprise M3 area. The roles will include contributing to the setting of overall strategy, priorities and investment plans to support economic growth.
Alpha Micro appoints Tim Bonnett to grow franchised electronic component business Celebrating 20 years in business in 2015, independent electronic components distributor, Alpha Micro Components is building a strong team of professionals to help expand its M2M and IoT activity. Tim Bonnett, Alpha Micro
In support of this directive, the company recently appointed Tim Bonnett as its chief sales officer. In his new role, Bonnett will be responsible for managing sales and marketing teams, as well as the development and implementation of sales strategies to grow the company’s market share.
Brian D’Arcy to lead Anam Technologies Managed Services Anam Technologies has appointed Brian D’Arcy as global VP of Managed Services. D’Arcy, who was previously the commercial director of O2-Media at Telefonica O2 Ireland, joins Anam as the company capitalises on the A2P SMS markets through its proven and patented home routing technology. He will be instrumental in product development to assist with the company’s growth in SMS security and managed services. Brian D’Arcy, Anam Technologies
With more than 17 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, D’Arcy was previously responsible for content and applications at content solutions provider iQ Global, owned by BT. He also co-founded the MVNO, Imagine Mobile, and is the chairman of the Mobile Operator Messaging Forum.
Novatel Wireless welcomes new CFO and CEO Novatel Wireless, Inc., a leading provider of Internet of Things, has appointed Michael A. Newman as its new chief financial officer. Tom Allen, who has served as Novatel’s interim CFO since June 2014, will continue to provide consulting services to the company, including transition assistance to Newman in his new role. Michael A Newman, Novatel Wireless CFO
Alex Mashinsky, Novatel Wireless CEO
Prior to joining the company, Newman served in senior executive level positions at Websense, Inc. from 2002 to 2013. There, he co-led the company’s M&A activity as well as the sale to a private-equity buyer. "Mike Newman brings a wealth of executive, financial, legal, and operational experience, including the unique skill set of having served as CFO and General Counsel at Websense, Inc., a San Diego-based publicly traded technology company," said Alex Mashinsky, who has himself just been appointed as the company’s permanent CEO. Mashinsky served as interim CEO since June 13, 2014.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
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CONTRACT NEWS
Cubic Telecom signs global M2M agreement with China Unicom M2M platform provider Cubic Telecom, has signed a global agreement with China Unicom, one of the world's largest mobile operators to provide machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions to enterprises across mainland China and Hong Kong.
Barry Napier, Cubic Telecom CEO; Yan Bo, General Manager, Global Business Department, China Unicom; Mr Lu Yimin, President of China Unicom; Mr Richard Bruton, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation; Xu Jianguo, Ambassador of China to Ireland; and Paul Fiskness, Sr. VP at Qualcomm.
China Unicom will utilise key elements of Cubic Telecom’s Global Cloud Platform, including its enterprise mobility management suite, a real-time billing and rating engine, robust APIs, and OTA (over-the-air) capabilities to bring M2M solutions to enterprises and their customers. Cubic Telecom also struck a partnership with global mobile network operator Tele2, to deliver global M2M/IoT (Internet of Things) offerings to companies in the PC,
OEM and automotive space. Enterprise customers will be able to utilise the end-to-end cloud based solution to quickly deploy and implement M2M/IoT services. Brands such as HP, Lenovo, and Sierra Wireless, are already using the technology to help with connectivity, management, and monetising devices on a global basis. Barry Napier, CEO of Cubic Telecom comments: “We want to make it as easy as possible for enterprises to run their businesses. By expanding our footprint through partnering with Tele2 we not only meet the needs of our expanding customer base – by allowing them to grow internationally with proven tools – but we provide them with a clear advantage over their competition.”
THE CONTRACT HOT LIST M2M Now December 2014/January 2015 It's free to be included in The Contract Hot List, which shows the companies announcing recent contract wins or product deployments. Email your contract details to us now, marked "Hot List" at <news@m2mnow.biz> Vendor/Partners Acal Bfi Antcor AT&T BD Inc Cisco Conterra Broadband Services Cyan Cyan Essence Gemalto
Client, Country Sierra Wireless, Europe u-blox, Switzerland Mojio, British Columbia SK Telekom, South Korea Tieto Corporation, Helsinki M2M Spectrum Networks, USA GridSense®, USA Dinsmore & Associates, Africa Protect Australia, Australia SOLARKIOSK, SA
Globalscape® gridComm HKT & Cubic Telecom Iridium Communications Jasper Technologies
SMS PASSCODE®, USA EDMI, Singapore Tesla Motors, China Trimble, USA Telecom Italia Digital Solutions, Italy VMware, USA M2M Spectrum Networks, USA Tele2AB, Stockholm Hydratight, UK SATO, USA CareTech, Sweden Tesla Motors, France Luxoft Holding, USA Undisclosed oil supermajor Trimble, UK Clinton Global Initiative, USA Securitas Direct, Spain Albertis Telecom, Spain ORBCOMM, USA
Jasper Technologies KMM L&T Technology Services Lightfoot® LogMeIn Maingate Orange Business Services Radius Redline Communications Ryder SES SIGFOX SIGFOX SkyWave Mobile Communications Sprint Tele2 Tele2 Telogis Tieto Transtel TrueNet Communications TrustPoint Innovation Technologies Verizon Wireless Wireless Logic Wyless TM Data ZTR Control Systems
Gemalto, The Netherlands Cybercom, Sweden Cubic Telecom, Stockholm Ford Motor Company, Germany Cisco, USA Orange, Switzerland M2M Spectrum Networks, USA Redline Communications, Toronto Catalina Sea Ranch, USA Sierra Wireless, EMEA Getrak, South America GPS Mobile Solutions, USA
Product / Service (Duration & Value) Extension of Pan-European relations to include Germany, Italy, and UK Acquisition of Greek company brings advanced, industrial WiFi tech for rugged comms Agreement to bring connected car technology to 160million cars on US roads Development of pilot operation for validation of IoT fish farm management system in Gochang Partnership for new Industrial IoE platform enabling new ways to connect devices & distribute intelligence Alliance allows proprietary M2M equipment on rooftops across USA in underserved markets Teaming agreement to jointly market smart grid solutions in India and other emerging regions Agreement to seek smart metering, lighting, & M2M opportunities across sub-Saharan market Selected WeR@HOME™ to deliver complete connected life home automation and security solution Deal to deliver M2M connectivity, in assoc. with INSYS icom, tracking energy production/ consumption of mobilized solar power station Alliance increases customer security by integration of authentication platform and Enhanced File Transfer™ Deal to use GC2200 OFDMA technology in narrowband power line smart meters Selected to provide launch vehicle with remote electronic-vehicle telematics via global cloud platform Collaboration to support satellite based global M2M transport and logistics expansion Selected to power IoT services for regional and international enterprise customers
Awarded 11.2014 8.2014 10.2014 8.2014 10.2014 9.2014 8.2014 8.2014 9.2014 9.2014
Collaboration of control centre and AirWatch® to streamline enterprise adoption for IoT / mobility management Deal for the provision of turnkey logistics services to support nation's 1st network for M2M communications Strategic partnership to develop M2M/IoT & IoE for transport sector verticals Installation of in-cab driver fuel-efficiency system on new fleet supplied by MC Rental Selected to enable next generation IoT connected printers Deal to use platform to safeguard thousands of social alarms and personal security products Deal to provide wireless connectivity to Model S fleet of electric cars in France Acquisition of IoT solution provider to aid differentiation and development of complex services Deal to supply high-speed wireless network for digital oilfield Collaboration to equip UK Ministry of Defence fleet in Germany Agreement to develop SATMED in cooperation with NGOs for telemedicine platform Partnership to connect and monitor millions of customer home IoT devices Partnership to deploy alarms and connected services for smart homes Acquisition in collaboration with Inmarsat worth US$13m to create largest global space-based M2M comms company Initiative to enhance M2M connectivity across USA via Gemalto Cinterion® PCS3 module on Sprint's network Strategic partnership to offer specific and secure M2M services, particularly eHealth Strategic partnership to provide global M2M/IoT solutions to the PC OEM & automotive space Partnership expansion brings Crew Chief next-generation telematics to European customers Collaboration to advantage machine generated data via new industrial internet platform Chosen to support new M2M offer via connectivity management platform Contract awarded to build-out 100s of sites nationwide with M2M wireless network Deal to incorporate mSecureTM SDK and digital certificates for industrial wireless M2M systems product line Deal to use cloud services on 4G LTE network to provide telemetry for Californian shellfish ranch Partnership launches AirLink® Enterprise Connect to deliver whitelabel M2M managed services Partnership to offer managed connectivity bundles with cloud telematics Partnership to offer customers rugged industrial asset tracking telematics
10.2014 9.2014 11.2014 9.2014 10.2014 9.2014 10.2014 10.2014 10.2014 9.2014 9.2014 9.2014 9.2014
9.2014 9.2014 11.2014 10.2014 9.2014
11.2014 9.2014 8.2014 10.2014 9.2014 10.2014 9.2014 9.2014 10.2014 8.2014 9.2014 9.2014 8.2014
More information on these and other News stories can be found at www.m2mnow.biz
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M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
EVENT DIARY IoT World Forum London, UK 25-26 November 2014 www.iotinternetofthingsconference .com
locate, communicate, accelerate
Embedded World 2015 Nuremberg, Germany
Nordic Mobile Healthcare Technology Congress 2014 Copenhagen, Denmark
24-26 February 2015 www.embedded-world.de/en/
26-27 November 2014 www.arenainternational.com/mhealth/
Mobile World Congress 2015 Barcelona, Spain
mHealth Summit Washington DC, USA 6-11 December 2014 www.mhealthsummit.org/
M2M Now Money Talks: mHealth Washington DC, USA 9 December 2014 http://m2mnowevents.com/
TM Forum Live! Digital Disruption San Jose, California, USA 8-11 December 2014 www.tmforum.org/dd14M2M
Telematics for Usage Based Insurance Conference London, UK
18 -19 February 2015 www.smi-online.co.uk/utility/uk/ conference/m2m-telematics-fleetmanagement-and-user-basedinsurance
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
2-5 March 2015 www.mobileworldcongress.com
u-blox u-b b lo ox SARA-U2: S SA A RA RA-U2 U2:
European Smart Grid Cyber Security London, UK 9-10 March 2015 www.smi-online.co.uk/utility/ uk/conference/european-smartgrid-cyber-security
http://m2mnowevents.com/
the th h e world’s wo o rld ld’’s smallest small lle le e stt 3 module 3G modu dule le
PRODUCT NEWS
Plug-in sensor cares for the elderly at home Concirrus is introducing ‘SensBlok’ that should help to overcome some of the challenges when caring for an elderly population in their own homes. Plugging the SensBlok device into the wall enables the monitoring of heating, carbon monoxide, and
intruder alerts for vulnerable persons. This data can be streamed live to authorised internet users, providing immediate alerts and action, for those that need it most. Concirrus is actively seeking partners to embed this technology into its service offering.
European grid monitoring as renewables arrive online Tollgrade Communications, Inc’s new ‘Power Sensor’ monitors the impact of renewables - and helps to improve grid resiliency in Europe - as regional operators meet increasing pressure to address low carbon and efficiency mandates.
grid operators can safely monitor the state of their grid and have access to the real-time data that unlocks the potential of renewables without compromising grid reliability. This is an important step required to fortify grid resiliency in Europe.”
“Europe is paving the way for the use of renewables, and grid operators want to avoid introducing blackouts or power outages at all costs,” said Edward H. Kennedy, CEO, Tollgrade Communications, Inc. “With Tollgrade’s new MV Power Sensor,
Highly accurate voltage, current, and fault measurements are taken from sensors clamped on to overhead power lines. This can provide valuable real-time inputs to key planning models and control applications including Supervisory Control and
OPINION
Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, Distribution Management Systems (DMS) or Active Network Management systems. And Switzerland-based u-blox has brought out the LISA-C210 CDMA450 1xRTT voice/data module, particularly suitable for Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) and smart power grid applications. Approval is currently in progress with selected mobile network operators in the Netherlands.
SPONSORED COLUMN
Connectivity = Competitiveness As connectivity becomes increasingly ubiquitous, savvy business leaders know: Connectivity equals competitiveness, no matter what industry you’re in. Even the newest business school graduates would agree, in a landscape with five companies vying for business, of which three are connected businesses and two are not, those two are not likely to win. So it should be no surprise that businesses are anxious to become more and more connected – to their staff, customers, partners – and the data contained in their business assets and processes.
The author is Alexander Bufalino, the chief marketing officer of Telit Wireless Solutions
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The question then becomes not if, or even when, a business becomes connected, but how. Over the years, we’ve walked hand-in-hand with literally thousands of companies as they tackled this question. As a result, we developed a strategy designed to make that walk easier, faster, and less costly.
Compete to win Any business considering tackling a new project, wants a plan that keeps costs low enough that their price point delivers the volume needed to meet ROI targets. And when it comes to technology, you can pretty much replace the PRICE dimension for Time to Market. In other words, the shorter it is – the Higher the demand and the easier it is to meet ROI targets. That’s precisely why we developed ONE STOP. ONE SHOP. We identified the strong inter-dependence between different systems needed to build an M2M solution, and the need for those elements to evolve with technology. By bringing them all together under one roof we have created a solution to our customers’ key issue – how to connect, to not only compete, but to win.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
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TALKING HEADS
How the Internet of Things is transforming the boardroom As telecoms services have moved away from basic voice and data to become all-pervasive aids, supporting new ways of living and working, it’s increasingly important that the industry itself embraces and adapts to human challenges implicit in this technology revolution. In particular, it has to find ways to learn from the new generation of female pioneers in management and engineering who can use their insight and life experiences to make the most of the exciting new world emerging before us.
With these issues in mind, M2M Now’s Alun Lewis recently sat down with one of the industry’s female pioneers - Wyless’s Gilli Coston - to discuss the benefits of a more balanced workforce; and what both individuals and organisations can do to bring this about. Appointed at the start of the year as managing director for Wyless EMEA and as chief strategy officer for the Wyless Group. Gilli has been involved in the M2M and IoT space for more than 20 years, moving through a number of increasingly senior posts with service providers and consultancies. AL: Gilli, a number of governments around the world have set targets to increase the numbers of women in board positions in large companies. Mirroring this, reports from organisations like international headhunters Egon Zehnder, indicate that their presence has been steadily increasing – at least in Europe,
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North America, and Australia. In Europe, for example, over 20% of directors on the boards included in its 2014 study are women - a major increase from just 8% in 2004. Other regions now also seem on the cusp of adopting much more gender-diverse executive strategies. Good news, but there’s still obviously a long way to go – and many male executives are still sceptical about the need for female representation at senior levels. What do you see as the key benefits of a more equal environment? GC: Alun, simply put it is about having a ‘balanced and bold approach to business’. Our industry’s recent history is filled with textbook examples of once-great companies that started believing their own myths, had selfperpetuating aggressive management cultures, excluded anyone who challenged the status quo, and focused on parameters of success that were far too narrowly defined. The results of this were plain to see in the massive collapse in earnings and hundreds of thousands of redundancies that hit the industry in the early part of the century. Creating a more diverse executive culture by drawing on a wider range of individuals – rather than selecting someone who looks and sounds like they come from central casting for the role of
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This is especially true in the IoT domain, where new technologies and services can be used to intelligently balance work-life boundaries across home and office environments, or exploit the social, health, and educational benefits that the IoT can bring to the working and personal lives of employees.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
Creating a more diverse executive culture by drawing on a wider range of individuals – rather than selecting someone who looks and sounds like they come from central casting for the role of an alpha boss – can help mitigate the dangers of narrow thinking.
an alpha boss – can help mitigate the dangers of narrow thinking. Complementing this is the factor of dealing with a greatly changed business and social landscape. Boundaries of all types are positively eroding – and it’s often our industry that’s providing the technological tools to break down those boundaries. It’s common now for projects to be worked on by teams in different countries, serving customers whose own operations are similarly highly distributed – and all of these communities come with their own cultural richness and practices. Is business really done between businesses – or is real business done between real humans? If so, then companies increasingly need access to as wide a repertoire of skills, insights, and relationship-building empathy as possible to operate in such a diverse new world and embrace new generation thinking. Imposing an overly simplistic binary vision of male vs female roles and responsibilities would be out-dated and pre-historic. It is so much more than that. As a species, humans are almost infinitely variable and extremely adaptable. Gender alone isn’t necessarily definitive when it comes to behavioural characteristics. What’s needed is a broad spectrum approach to problem solving and you won’t get that through having a business monoculture!
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AL: Building on your own career history – and recent appointment to senior roles at Wyless – how do see the future evolving?
Gilli Coston, managing director for Wyless EMEA and chief strategy officer for the Wyless Group
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
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TALKING HEADS
GC: I enjoyed a superb 18 years at O2 with 15 years of that working with some great people building M2M business inside O2 and Telefonica, followed by an IoT strategies consulting role at CGI. This prepared me to bring some great thinking, methodologies, and empowerment from these leading, world-class employers to Wyless. I found a very receptive audience here. Bringing such a policy to life within a living, breathing corporation isn’t about setting cosmetic targets and objectives that sound nice in the social responsibility section of the annual report. Instead, it’s about taking a series of small, incremental steps in the right direction that – collectively and ultimately – will create an environment that’s a great place to work for men and women of all cultures, capabilities, and ethnic backgrounds. Such a strategy also helps a company to become more commercially nimble and successful. We have made a great start already and having the opportunity to play small part in that makes for an exciting personal future. AL: What advice would you give, to both women and companies, when it comes to developing a successful career in such a currently male-dominated environment as the telecoms and the IoT spaces? GC: Modelling and mentoring! I really can’t stress enough the importance of creating a network of diverse role models and mentors. Throughout my career, I’ve had the honour of having some very special male and female role models. Some are already well known within the industry such as: Dr. Mike Short CBE; Derek McManus, and David Plumb who are all stalwarts at Telefonica; Richard Hawkins-Adams of the TM Forum and Gravitas Global; and a series of people at Wyless such as Chris Lowery and Ahmad Dar. I’ve known all these enlightened people for over 10 years and they’ve always gone out of their way to support me and others. Dr. Mike Short, in particular, deserves praise as someone who has pioneered the advancement of women through the GSMA and continues to inspire the wider industry in a number of creative ways. As far as female role models are concerned, I really have to – sadly – step outside our industry. Brilliant women such as Sarah Brummitt, the brand and development guru; Carmen Bostic St Clair, author and former CEO of over 50 companies, and Mhairi Hearle, former director of OXFAM in Scotland. These women continue to personally touch my life and support others through their inspirational engagement, example, and empowering work. Alun Lewis, freelance technology writer
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I truly always value all of these men and women for their modelling and their selfless mentoring. There are no ready-made templates out there for
successful living and it’s up to each of us to assemble the right sets of mental tools and strategies that best fit our own particular circumstances and the individual nature-nurture inheritances that come from families and early environments. There are a lot of self-realisation and management training approaches that essentially ask people to ‘act’ in ways that are ultimately unnatural to them, or fit into corporate hierarchies that reward sociopathological behaviours. Instead, what this should be about is creating enabling behaviours that allow people to retain their personal authenticity and simply be themselves while still functioning at maximum efficiency both in work and outside. To be able to remain true to oneself is the greatest gift - and to demonstrate that it’s okay to still be yourself in a business environment is for me the gift that keeps on giving. AL: One complaint that’s often made about empowerment strategies, especially where quotas or ‘special treatment’ are concerned, is that they can encourage a victim-type mentality amongst the excluded cohort. While social forces and preconceptions obviously play a major role in discrimination, at the end of the day it’s down to individual choice – and some women simply don’t want the stress or macho culture often found in senior management roles. What’s your take on this aspect of the debate? GC: It’s a very valid and important issue and it’s interesting to see the changes in how women see themselves since the first wave of ‘new’ feminism in the 1960s and 1970s. Interesting research from research company Catalyst on the performance of women MBA and STEM graduates found that the most highly qualified female business graduates lack the ambition of their male counterparts in sectors such as engineering, manufacturing, and natural resources. So we still have a challenge here to ensure women see the opportunities and are encouraged to go after them and not be discouraged by any “that’s the way things are” attitudes that they will inevitably come across. This means stepping out and not accepting the status quo, but politely and firmly proving their value in the world of IoT. Fortunately, in this they will find that they already have a growing number of enlightened male allies out there in management who already see their wives, daughters, and female friends as personal and professional equals and will be ready to provide a supportive voice if needed. Such people have usually seen the negative impact of mono-cultural, macho management thinking in their careers – often displayed by both sexes – and will be actively seeking more balanced strategies in the workplace and business. Experience will always win out over ego in the end!
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
PROFILE
How women are impacting on the IoT The industry can benefit from an emerging skills pool Anna Vega discovers how women are contributing to the Internet of Things (IoT).
Svetlana Grant, project director, Future IoT Networks at GSMA, agrees: “The IoT is likely to apply to every single business out there, in the same way that the internet currently does.” IoT-enabling ‘control and sensing’ capabilities are taking up residence in a new layer on top of the current internet infrastructure, which in turn is comprised mainly of ‘information and communication’ capabilities. The new layer allows for “unprecedented levels of insight into every aspect of our lives”, according to Goulden. We will have insight into our bodies, homes, cars, schools, farms, businesses, cities and even our planet - with the ability to exert varying degrees of control based on these insights. The new capabilities necessitate a wide diversity of perspectives, mindsets, and skills. “Not just on the technology front, but also economically, environmentally, socially, legally, and politically,” said Goulden. Goulden argues for a shift away from the predominantly technological, and often quantitative, discussion surrounding the IoT, such as how many ‘things’ will be attached to the internet believing instead that more qualitative questions need to be asked. What does the IoT mean for vertical sectors? What will they be doing differently? What value will the IoT provide,
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
“Unprecedented levels of insight into every aspect of our lives.”
for whom and how? And how will people’s activities, behaviours and experiences change? Goulden is asking questions that many women in the Internet of Things are likely to ask.
Lorna Goulden, Creative Innovation Works
M2M Now decided to investigate further, interviewing some of the key women in our sector.
Is the IoT an interesting sector for women to work in? The sheer diversity of applications is hailed as the most interesting aspect of working in the IoT space by our interviewees, who say that device connectivity provides them with ‘endless’ application opportunities. “IoT is one of the most diverse fields you can work in,” said Andrea Sroczynski, head of region Germany at horizontal IoT infrastructure provider, Telenor Connexion. “By having an open and creative mind, you can broaden your horizon and get insights into so many different industries. Every day is a day to explore connecting new things.”
“IoT is one of the most diverse fields you can work in.”
“It is very fulfilling to be a part of cutting edge technology that impacts our lives and businesses every day,” said Terra Bastolich, VP of sales North America at NetComm Wireless. “The IoT is on fire with new entrants and new ideas,” observed Laura Taylor, director of marketing communications at Ethertronics. “I see
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“IoT is a tool, an expertise, and an enabler that’s set to impact across all sectors, which is what makes it so interesting and also potentially very disruptive,” said Lorna Goulden, director at Creative Innovation Works.
Andrea Sroczynski, Telenor Connexion
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PROFILE Nina Bhatia, commercial director at British Gas
Laura Taylor, Ethertronics
it as an untapped market with a diversity of applications that will translate into major opportunities for us to integrate our solutions.” The growth in the market is causing excitement. According to Sroczynski, the industry has moved on from “boring sounding telematic data and M2M topics” where machines were the focus, to centering more on services and “the end users of the machines”. “Until recently, technology products have been the preserve of early adopters, largely male, niche-end. That is changing because the smartphone sits in our pocket now, and the technology is available to everyone,” said Nina Bhatia, commercial director at British Gas.
So why is IoT interesting for women particularly?
“The IoT appeals to women’s sensitivity and curiosity.” Laetitia Jay, Gemalto
particularly as they relate to in and around the home. Many of these products and services have traditionally been developed by and for men,” said Bhatia, who also leads the Connected Homes division of BG, which she set up last year. “There is room for women to contribute to the functionality, design and delivery of these products and we’re absolutely seeing that in Connected Homes today,” Bhatia continued. According to Laetitia Jay, VP M2M at Gemalto, the IoT appeals to women’s sensitivity and curiosity. Jay argues that women are “sensitive to what the market tells us.” By paying attention to “new needs popping up,” women are able to find “the proper way to technically satisfy them”. Jay says curiosity helps women better anticipate needs, because as women, we “always keep an eye on what happens around us.”
“The question is rather, why should it not be? Women constitute half the world’s population,” said Sroczynski.
The ecosystem and understanding the customer
“Being a highly male dominated industry (as most technology is), women have an advantage to stand out, have a voice, and empower others to do the same,” said Bastolich.
Women who are not so IT-focused can still find a space in this IoT ecosystem, according to Sroczynski. The IoT is not only about technical issues, but also about finding creative business models, designing services and new products.
Women are set to play a huge part in delivering the IoT vision. A range of abilities the IoT requires are traits often naturally attributed to women, such as practical problem solving, networking and multi-tasking. Creative thinking, especially around product development and service delivery, is an integral part of the IoT proposition. “New players, especially women, have the ability to really make their mark in this sector through creative, outside-the-box thinking – whether through research, product development and design, or marketing,” Taylor explains. “I find that women are strong problem solvers, networkers, and multi-taskers; which are all critical to successfully putting these solutions together. It’s a natural fit!” Bastolich said. “Women have an important voice on the kind of products and services that need to be developed,
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Laura Taylor, director of marketing communications, Ethertronics
It is this ecosystem which makes the IoT particularly appealing compared to other IT related sectors, according to many of the women interviewed. “It is an entirely new capability provided by the combination of different technologies, from sensors and actuators to data transfer, storage and analysis,” said Goulden. According to Bhatia, the appeal is in understanding the customer problems that applications can solve. If you just present applications as technology or ICT, it can be limiting. “IoT plays to people who have a strong design aesthetic, to understand what customers need, and who are prepared to work in multidisciplinary teams,” Bhatia explains. “It’s about making a difference. Hive makes a significant difference in
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“The IoT is on fire with new entrants and new ideas.”
Terra Bastolich, VP of sales North America, NetComm Wireless
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
Vinnett Taylor, head of M2M and IoT sales specialist within Enterprise, Telefónica UK (O2)
the ways people run their homes and that’s exciting.” Hive Active Heating is a Connected Homes initiative from British Gas, to control heating and hot water remotely. So, in order to generate creative ideas for building services around customer’s products, it’s important to get input based on knowledge from experiences throughout the ecosystem. “Coming from real IT development engineering and now heading up business development, means I need to be out in the field meeting a lot of diverse customers from different departments,” said Sroczynski. “It’s not only the IT department, but also the company’s services, operations, marketing, R&D and accounting.” “It’s all about creating these efficiencies and solving the customer’s problems,” said Bastolich.
Opportunities in business models and user cases “One of the biggest opportunities I have experienced is the growing recognition that IoT innovation requires technology integration and development to become more user-case driven, facilitated by multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder and often multi-company engagement,” explains Goulden. Goulden argues that user-cases need to be complemented with dynamic, value-driven business models that are designed to grow and develop over time – as the IoT value proposition itself evolves. “IoT is so new that a lot of business models are not very well developed so you have to go in and do a lot of work in building the value proposition,” notes Grant. “At Telenor Connexion, when we design solutions, we always start with the end user in mind. What benefits should it bring, who are the different stakeholders, what are the company USPs we can promote? The technical solution behind this is then tailored for these needs, with the infrastructure at the heart of the solution,” Sroczynski said.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
Laetitia Jay, VP of M2M, Gemalto
Complexity challenges Delivering IoT projects is challenging due to ecosystem complexity, which requires established partnerships and a solid understanding of the issues involved. “It takes time to evolve yourself in the industry. It’s not a quick break-into area. Most applications involve numerous partners to accomplish the solution,” Bastolich explained. As a cellular hardware provider, Netcomm Wireless collaborates with carriers, operators, platform providers and application developers. Bastolich doesn’t believe that the IoT will ever be a one-stop shop because of its complexity. Breaking into the space requires “substantial knowledge and connections with these ecosystem partners”.
“IoT plays to people who have a strong design aesthetic, to understand what customers need, and who are prepared to work in multidisciplinary teams.” Nina Bhatia, British Gas
Kelly Gay, president, security solutions at Numerex, backs up this view, emphasising that “so many elements” of the value chain need to align in order to deliver effective solutions. Although this presents a challenge, Gay believes women are able to distinguish themselves here through “capably delivering innovation.” Another tricky area is understanding and educating clients that are new to IoT. “Many established industries still operate within a predominantly closed or siloed organisational mindset, with little experience of their customers playing an active participative role in their business,” Goulden explains. “In most cases you need to think through the design and security issues, who you are going to share the data with, how you are going to handle your customer’s data. You need to understand a lot of issues,” said Grant.
“Capably delivering innovation.” Kelly Gay, Numerex
Opportunities to redress the imbalance The IoT is unfortunately a male-dominated industry, as with IT, telecom and engineering. Women can, however, take advantage of opportunities in the IoT to start redressing the gender imbalance. The client base itself is changing from what it was in pure M2M, with a growing proportion of female clients. As such,
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Lorna Goulden, director, Creative Innovation Works
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PROFILE Andrea Sroczynski, head of region, Germany, Telenor Connexion
Svetlana Grant, project director, Future IoT networks, GSMA
“Speaking from personal experience, the opportunities are huge.” Nina Bhatia, British Gas
“50% of my team are women.” Vinnett Taylor, Telefónica UK (O2)
women are key if we are to cater to this part of the market. Then there is overlap between the IoT and sectors that are traditionally better represented by women, such as education and marketing. As collaboration increases between the two you will see higher female representation in the IoT, according to Grant. “It could be that we need to do a bit more to earn the same level of recognition,” said Jay, pointing out that sometimes there is a feeling that as a woman you need to justify your position. A big challenge is encouraging younger women to look at engineering and coding as core skills rather than niche skills. “We have an opportunity to create much more surprise around women engineers and designers. I’m very keen to make these sorts of careers accessible, exciting, and interesting to women who might otherwise go to the more traditional occupations like marketing or commercial professions,” said Bhatia. Bhatia believes that to point girls towards engineering, science and coding is vital, by showing them that they can develop the products they use on their smartphones (from which they can’t be separated). “I’d rather my two teenage daughters learn code than French. If they suddenly found these careers interesting, that would be terrific. Because speaking from personal experience, the opportunities are huge,” she explained. “There is a lot of job opportunity in this sector going forward. To have the skills that everybody is going to need is going to position them very well for the future,” said Grant. Grant believes there are ways of bringing women into coding, writing apps and thinking about the connected economy. “There’s software out there that helps to write apps in a very visual way, Dragon Draw type of programming and that can be the entry point to something more complicated later on. It’s not massively scary but it looks very real, and then that set of skills can be built on.”
Anna Vega, writer and analyst
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“Like all tech sectors, this industry could use more role models – whether through professional
women’s networks that encourage and motivate, or through education,” Taylor said.
Advice for women considering entering the IoT space Delivering IoT cannot be done by one person alone, says Vinnett Taylor, head of M2M and IoT sales specialist within Enterprise at Telefónica UK (O2). “It takes a team of people to deliver an IoT solution and I believe every successful team will have an even split of men and women. At Telefonica today, nearly 40% of staff are women and 50% of my team are women,” she said. “An innate curiosity for the IoT and technical world should be part of your character if you want to enter this sector,” Sroczynski said. Then it’s a matter of identifying the part of the value chain you are most interested in, be it on the technical or communication side, with business cases or products and support. “You need to be able to code, you need to be able to design in an online world and you need to know your way around mobile, but those are learnable skills,” said Bhatia, who set up Connected Homes with no technical background so there was a steep learning curve. “If I stopped to think that I didn’t have any of these skills when we set it up I would never have done it.” It is not a case of needing to leave your current area to join the IoT, rather the other way around, according to Goulden: “Move beyond a purely technological perspective to understand the broader implications, in particular from a system thinking perspective, a user perspective, and how this is set to impact the sector you are currently in.” “I would say go for it! This is an especially exciting time for the IoT market. The opportunities are endless as long as you have the drive and come with innovative ideas, a passion for the industry and drive value wherever you see the chance,” Taylor said. “The IoT is set to become one of the most dynamic and potentially disruptive shifts of the coming decade – across all sectors. This also makes it an incredibly exciting area to be in right now, as much as it will be an unavoidable aspect of our future. So the sooner you get involved the better,” Goulden concluded.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
INSIGHT REPORT
mHEALTH Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications improving healthcare efficiency
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Machina Research
GLOBAL ADVISORS ON M2M, THE INTERNET OF THINGS AND BIG DATA
Mach hina Research is the ZRUOG¶V leading provider of market intelligence and strategic insight on the rapidly emerging Machine-to--Machine (M2M), Internet of Things and Big Data opportunities. Staffed by industry veterans, we provide market intelligence and strategic insight to help our clients maximise the opportunities created by the grow wth in new connected devices.
In November 2014 Machina Research launched an expanded portfolio of research services covering all aspects of Machine-to-Machine, Internet of Things and Data Analytics. Our catalogue of Research Streams now comprises:
IoT Strategies
Analysis of the evolution and impact of the emerging concept of the Internet of Things. Topics covered include software platforms, application development, data management, and key players in this new emerging field.
Connected Car
Vertical sector analysis of the 11 Application Groups related to connected vehicles including Fleet, Stolen Vehicle Recovery and Usage-Based Insurance. Includes analysis of factory-fit OEM services and aftermarket applications.
Connected Health
Vertical sector analysis of the 8 Application Groups related to healthcare, ranging from consumerŽƌŝĞŶƚĞĚ ͚tŽƌƌŝĞĚ tĞůů͛ ĂƉƉůŝĐĂƚŝŽŶƐ͕ through to complex clinical implementations.
Connected Cities
Vertical sector analysis of the 5 Application Groups that support the concept of the Smart City. Includes Public Transport, Road Traffic Management, and Environment & Public Safety (e.g. CCTV and Street Lighting).
Connected Industry
Vertical sector analysis of a diverse range of 16 Application Groups related to industrial sectors including Agriculture, Extractive Industries, Smart Grid, Retail, Vending Machines, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain.
Enterprise IoT
Examines how enterprises should prioritise and approach selecting and implementing IoT applications and solutions in various domains. Explores partnerships, enabling (data) technologies and protocols, and SLAs.
Connected Living & Working
Vertical sector analysis covering 17 Application Groups related to connected home and office environments, including Smart Metering, Building Automation, Security, White Goods, and Consumer Electronics.
M2M & IoT Regulation
Country-by-country analysis of the regulatory issues relevant to M2M and IoT, including licensing, roaming (including permanent roaming), numbering, spectrum availability, and data sovereignty.
M2M Forecast Database
Our comprehensive quantitative guide to the M2M market, featuring forecasts of connections, technology, traffic and revenue for 200 countries across all 60 Application Groups covered in our ͚ ŽŶŶĞĐƚĞĚ͛ programmes.
M2M Strategies
Commercial and technical best practice in all aspects of the provision of connected solutions, including devices, networks and service providers. Covers topics such as new technologies, value chain positioning, pricing and M&A.
Smarter Cars
Focuses on key issues for the evolving connected car, including operating systems, OEM strategies, new business models, alternative vehicle-related applications and new developments such as autonomous driving.
Future Wellness
Addresses the corporate wellness market, examining how organisations can apply technology to improve healthcare amongst stakeholders, including employees, customers and patients..
Smart Cities
Provides city managers with critical tools for deploying smart cities, including recommendations over thresholds and context for deployment of different smart city applications, best practice for implementation and case studies.
FOR MORE INFORMA ATTION, VISIT MACHINARESEARCH.COM, OR EMAIL ENQUIRIES@MACHINARESEARCH.COM
CONTENTS
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23
INSIGHT REPORT
KEY DRIVERS
30 COMPANY INSIGHT: ORACLE
31 REGULATION, SECURITY AND PRIVACY
34 M2M NOW MONEY TALKS: mHEALTH
INSIGHT REPORT 22
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M2M NOW INSIGHT REPORT In this edition’s Insight Report, Andy Castonguay, principal analyst at Machina Research, discusses how M2M communications are improving healthcare efficiencies SEIZING THE POTENTIAL OPPORTUNITY FOR M2M IN HEALTHCARE Connected healthcare offers critical tools to combat the sector’s complexity and costs mHEALTH DRIVERS Key drivers of the healthcare sector: We highlight the potential for M2M integration
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COMPANY INSIGHT Oracle’s IoT platform for a connected world
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REGULATION, SECURITY, AND PRIVACY Arif Mohamed asks questions about how to protect mobile Health data, and where the responsibility for it lies
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M2M NOW MONEY TALKS: mHEALTH Don’t miss this thought-provoking event on December 9, 2014 in Washington DC, co-located with the mHealth Summit
INSIGHT REPORT
Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications improving healthcare efficiency
With its size, complexity and strategic importance to countries around the world, the global healthcare sector simultaneously presents one of the greatest business opportunities and challenges to machine -to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) solution providers. The sheer scale and structure of the global health sector make it one of the largest potential buyers of M2M and IoT technology in the world today. In 2012, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that annual global expenditures on healthcare reached US$6.5 trillion, despite radically different levels of expenditure among nations. For more developed countries, the cost of healthcare has risen significantly in the last decades, with the United States representing the largest global healthcare market. Having failed to curtail the rise in health costs, the US spends 18% of its GDP on health-related activities, while still struggling to ensure comprehensive health services to its entire population. While the US is unique in the scope and challenge of its health spending, it is not alone in the challenge of ensuring cost effective and well distributed access to care for its populace. Public sector spending is under pressure throughout the developed world, notably as a result of the recent financial crisis, but also often due to imbalances of a more structural nature that have developed over time. Health accounts for a significant proportion of public spending in nearly all developed economies, accounting for an average of 9.3% of GDP for OECD countries (as illustrated in Figure 1-1). As such it is a priority area for many governments to achieve cost savings.
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Figure 1 1: Healthcare spend as a percentage of GDP in OECD countries, 2011 [Source: Machina Research and OECD, 2013]
20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Australia Austria Belgium Canada Chile Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Israel Italy Japan Korea Luxembourg Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Poland Portugal Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom United States OECD AVERAGE
Connected healthcare offers critical tools to combat sectorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s complexity and costs
Health Expenditure as % of GDP
1
Andy Castonguay, Principal Analyst, Machina Research
The size and the global nature of the healthcare market present the M2M and IoT ecosystem with a remarkable opportunity, but it also comes with the added challenges of sector complexity, restricted budgets, comparatively stringent levels of regulation and necessary certifications, and high levels of organisational idiosyncrasy at national, regional and institutional levels. Even though this confluence of factors makes the short-term adoption of M2M in the healthcare sector a challenge, M2M solutions also represent one of the most profoundly impactful tools available to effectively extend healthcare services to underserved populations, reduce the cost of care delivery, improve patient engagement and compliance, and lead to improved clinical outcomes. This report will explore the key drivers and challenges facing M2M adoption in healthcare today as well as highlight several use cases that underscore the real value being delivered by M2M and IoT solutions in the health sector today.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
INSIGHT REPORT
1.1
Sizing the potential opportunity for M2M in healthcare
Machina Research forecasts that the installed base of M2M connected devices within the health sector will approach 847 million by 2023. With the US market leading the way, the North America will be the largest region for the duration of the forecast, with a share of worldwide connected medical devices peaking at 61.2% and falling back to 45.6% by the end of the forecast period, as growth in Europe accelerates. Revenue for M2M connected healthcare applications will total US$936 billion1 in 2023, with the North America region accounting for 49% of global revenues, Europe 29% and Developed Asia Pacific and Emerging Asia Pacific markets accounting for 9% and 6% of revenues, respectively. The US also tends to be a relatively early adopter of new technologies, and benefits from the network effects that derive from the relative homogeneity of that market. Europe and Developed Asia present a significant opportunity, as illustrated in figure 1-3 below. Combined, these two regions offer almost as great an opportunity for M2M healthcare applications (332 million connections in 2023) as does the North American region with 386 million connections in 2023. Figure 1 2: Global M2M connectivity in the health sector by region 2013-2023 [Source: Machina Research, 2014]
Figure 1 1: M2M devices and revenues in consumer and non-consumer healthcare markets [Source: Machina Research, 2014]
However, the majority of revenues will be accounted for by the non-consumer segment, due to the significantly higher average capital cost of such devices. Connected devices in medical environments (for example, hospitals) alone are forecast to account for US$903.5 billion in revenues in 2023. However, the bulk of this revenue will only be addressable by established medical equipment manufacturers (although related revenues opportunities will be available for systems integrators and potentially certain niche platform providers).
2 Key drivers of the healthcare sector highlight the potential for M2M integration The following factors will drive growth in the market for M2M connected healthcare: • People’s concern for their health and well-being. This is the single most significant driver behind the largest M2M healthcare opportunities.
Unsurprisingly, given the dynamic growth in consumer-based activity trackers, sensors and non-clinical home solutions, the majority of M2M connected healthcare devices will be accounted for by consumer-oriented applications. As illustrated in Figure 1-2 below, in 2023 consumer oriented applications will account for 606.9 million connected devices, or 65% of all M2M connected devices in the healthcare sector.
• Government belt-tightening. Public sector spending is under pressure throughout the developed world, notably as a result of the recent and ongoing financial crises, but also often due to imbalances of a more structural nature that have developed over time. • The ageing population placing further strain on healthcare systems worldwide. In 2010, there were 207 million people worldwide aged over 75 years of age. This figure will rise to 265 million by 2020.
1 It should be noted that the majority of revenues in the market for M2M connected healthcare relate to the sales of devices, rather than monthly service fees, or fees for connectivity.
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INSIGHT REPORT
• Regional shortages of healthcare personnel. Due to the aging demographics, the US and other developed countries are facing future shortages of nurses and physicians that will force healthcare systems to recalibrate its resources to be able to meet future demand.
2.1.1 M2M solutions improving the quality of healthcare While the adoption of M2M technologies in the global health sector is still in its nascency, mounting evidence demonstrates the positive impact that connected technologies can have on tasks and functions throughout the healthcare spectrum of care. Overall, M2M technologies can be expected to enable more and better measurement and monitoring, which, when properly integrated to healthcare workflow and process, can result in better care for the individual patient. With the tremendous pace of technology improvements related to miniaturisation, sensor accuracy, wireless technology pervasiveness, device energy consumption and costs, the role of M2M will continue to expand to include medical facilities, emergency response, healthcare clinics and increasingly the patient’s own home. With this extended and connected healthcare environment, M2M technologies will permit increased frequency and accuracy of monitoring readings, increase the level of trust and reliance that physicians place in data (particularly data gathered by patients themselves), support the extension of clinical environments into a patients’ home through remote monitoring, and enable the effective remote monitoring of patients. Recent studies such as the UK Whole System Demonstrator and analysis by the Veterans Administration in the US are adding to the body of evidence2 that support the value of remote monitoring for individuals with chronic conditions, including: • • • • • •
35-56% reduction in mortality; 47% reduction in risk of hospitalisation; 6 days reduction in length of hospital admission; 65% reduction in office visits; 40-64% reduction in physician time for checks; and 63% reduction in transport costs
Accordingly, we forecast that global embedded connections for Clinical Remote Monitoring applications will reach in excess of 138 million connections worldwide by 2023, limited mostly by the size of the addressable market which mainly consists of those suffering from coronary heart disease, pulmonary disease and diabetes.
In particular, M2M solutions can improve the quality of healthcare in several ways: • Permit the taking of readings for monitoring with increased frequency, particularly in the case that the patient is outside a clinical environment (for instance at home). With an increased frequency of readings, and quicker analysis of data, it is more likely that adverse healthcare events can be averted. • Reduce the recidivism of patients to emergency rooms and medical facilities through improved patient adherence to prescription medication and physical therapies. M2M devices such as connected blood glucose meters, asthma inhalers, automated medication dispensers and other innovative products can establish a clear record of patient compliance as well as remind and encourage patients to follow medical guidelines more effectively and on schedule. M2M devices show promise as a key method to achieve improved compliance levels among patients of all kinds. • Allow physicians and nurses the opportunity to utilise time more effectively with patients to assess behavioural, environmental and other contributing factors to health problems, rather than spend time updating vital signs since machines/devices can achieve this task more efficiently. • Provide the ability to take vital signs and other health condition status readings at regular intervals, regardless of a patient's location, living situation and other factors that can challenge consistent data gathering. • Monitor overall patient adherence to medication and prescribed activities as well as support an increased level of accuracy for clinical monitoring readings, particularly readings that would otherwise be provided by the patient themselves (where a patient may lack the technical skills to accurately take readings, or may 'fake good' readings). • Increase the level of trust and reliance that physicians place in data. This is particularly important when there are a few outlying readings, which may potentially indicate an underlying problem, but which might be attributed to errors in measurement. • Support the extension of clinical environments into a patient’s home through remote monitoring. Through targeted, secure sharing sites, patients can also share their results and data with family and caregivers on a more
2 Cleland et al 2005; Lee R, Goldberg et al, 2003; Scalvini S, et al., 2001; Elsner et al, 2006; Van Ginneken et al 2006, and as summarised by the European mini-programme PEOPLE
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INSIGHT REPORT
consistent basis, which can help alert family and friends to changes in a person’s medical status. With greater monitoring these systems can contribute to patients’ ability to ‘age in place’, i.e. stay in their homes longer than they might normally do. Many elderly or infirm patients go into nursing facilities in order to gain a better level of safety monitoring, but with dynamic monitoring systems to track their health and activities, seniors can stay in their homes longer. A further positive effect of M2M in healthcare relates to the improved nature data analytics facilitated by the growth of sensors monitoring patients’ physical condition, behavior/activity and other important factors. Where good quality and granular data can be aggregated for a single patient with multiple sensors/monitors or from across a base of potentially thousands of patients, then this data can be analysed to identify outlier conditions, precursor events, or combinations and sequences of readings that tend to indicate that a patient is about to experience an adverse healthcare event. By monitoring patient readings in (near) real-time, physicians can use data analytics techniques to support a move from the historically reactive approach to medicine to a targeted pre-emptive approach, improving patient outcomes (and reducing costs associated with emergency hospital admissions, or procedures). The potential benefits related to data analytics will depend on a number of underlying factors such as the effective, secure and efficient sharing of patient data across the various departments and groups within a medical system and its complementary service partners in pharmacy, home health care, nursing facilities, outpatient clinics and other partners. With the multiple connected devices applicable to each of these partners and their associated medical environments, M2M can contribute a robust stream of patient data that can be integrated with big data analytics tools and algorithms to achieve new understandings related to medication, treatments, improved healthcare pathways and treatment protocols.
2.2
M2M healthcare solutions are already generating important value to healthcare providers and vendors
The future potential for M2M integration into the healthcare sector is substantial, but due to the fragmented and complex nature of healthcare systems and the often slow adoption of new technologies, the implementation of M2M solutions is lagging behind the progress in other sectors such as automotive, energy and buildings. Despite this trend, current
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
deployments and emerging technologies are not only showing promise, but are also producing results related to reduced costs, expanded services and improved healthcare outcomes. This section will highlight a number of case studies that demonstrate the unique benefits achieved through M2M healthcare implementations.
2.2.1 M2M Telemedicine tools are closing gaps of healthcare delivery in developed and emerging economies M2M Telemedicine is being deployed in urban and rural areas in both the developed and developing world to improve access to healthcare services, whether for primary medical services or for specialist treatments. Historically, telemedicine involved video conferencing to provide real-time physician consultations for patients in remote areas where medical infrastructure was either absent or lacking in capacity. More recent generations of telemedicine platforms involve highdefinition video as well as a wide array of connected diagnostic tools to permit detailed physical examinations of patients, most often with the assistance of a nurse present at the patient’s remote location. In the developing world telemedicine usage is driven primarily by the fact that demand for medical services in such regions typically exceeds supply. This is due to the often severe lack of medical support in remote and rural areas of poorer developing nations, combined with a shortage of qualified medical staff within the country as a whole. Disparities in the quality and availability of medical service within a developing nation can also be driven by the often substantial disparities in per capita wealth between urban and rural areas. M2M telemedicine applications typically provide increased levels of support for a decentralised healthcare community, which accordingly can be educated and trained to lower standards and so deployed more quickly and at lower cost. For example, such solutions might allow for simple and efficient rules-based escalation of cases that are not within the competency of the local caregiver, or for remote expertise to be made available to local caregivers challenged by technical tasks such as the effective use of a microscope, or to interpret x-rays. Current M2M telemedicine solutions in the developing world are typically niche in nature, and funded by means of aid, charity, and local or national government investment, although the private sector may also be engaged. A few examples of current projects include:
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INSIGHT REPORT
Table 2 1: Examples of Telemedicine projects around the globe [Source: Machina Research, 2014] Telemedicine project
Geography
Apollo Telemedicine networking foundation
India & Africa
125 telemedicine centres supported by 'Medintegra WEB' EHRs and medical specialists
Medical focus
Tamaulipas Telehealth Initiative
Mexico
Remote specialist consultations, medical imaging, remote health treatment support
Africa Teledermatology Project
Multiple countries in Africa
Providing dermatological diagnostic support and treatment services to underserved communities
Telemedicine Support to Promote Maternal and Newborn Health in Remote Provinces of Mongolia
Mongolia
Provision of high-risk pregnancy consultations, prenatal ultrasound diagnostics, foetal monitoring, and screening
Teletrauma
Ukraine
Remote specialist consultation for trauma injuries
an expanded private practice to remotely engage with Chinese patients through telemedicine. For Partners Healthcare in Massachusetts, telemedicine has similarly allowed their psychiatrists to nearly double their patient rosters by facilitating more convenient video conferencing for psychiatric ‘visits’ and consultations. Through secure telemedicine platforms and equipments, patients are able to have a live video conversation with their physician without disrupting their personal and work schedules, while leading to significant productivity gains for medical practices. With the expansion of connected diagnostic equipment into the home, the role of M2M telemedicine will play a major role in aiding healthcare systems to treat growing populations of patients without the need to hire significant new numbers of physicians and nurses. As a result, M2M telemedicine is positioned to play a major role in redefining medical practice operations while also facilitating new levels of productivity in the face of growing demand for medical services.
In the developed world, telemedicine also serves to improve access to medical practitioners, especially in countries like the US, Canada and Australia where more remote populations typically have access to core medical facilities, but most often lack in medical specialists. As high-tech healthcare becomes more centralised, people in rural areas and smaller cities can find they have to travel significant distances for consultations and even the need to make an appointment and then attend a set location can be regarded as a significant inconvenience and also lead to disruptions in planned consults. For physicians specialising in unusual facets of medicine, e.g. paediatric urological surgery, large urban medical centres often serve as a hub for patients in regional cities at great distances from the primary medical centre. This results in consistent physician travel to regional cities to visit and treat patients who cannot travel easily. M2M telemedicine provides the means for specialty physicians to conduct consultations with regional patients but with a greatly reduced demand for travel.
2.2.2 Connected medical environments are leveraging M2M connectivity to improve medical equipment reliability and reduce costs
Physicians at Stanford Medical Center in California, report that by utilising Cisco’s Healthpresence telemedicine platform they have been able to drastically change their medical practice to treat remote patients. With the video and diagnostic tools, Stanford doctors stated that they have doubled the number of patients they can consult due to the significant reduction in travel time and last-minute patient visit cancellations and postponements, typical of the conventional structure. In addition, Stanford is leveraging the Cisco platform to develop
• Expanded patient data collection. Clinicians benefit from the facility to automatically collect, store and analyse readings and other information that is detected by a range of clinical equipment. This may be achieved through the connection of devices to an intelligent aggregation point, such as a tablet or Wi-Fi hub. If these are transferred to a cloud computing platform, the results are then easily available to all relevant parties using any web-enabled device.
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One of the most promising areas for M2M to yield operational and cost benefits is in the field of connected medical environments, which encompasses the connection of medical devices, patients and staff within a clinical setting. There are three main drivers behind the connection of medical devices: • Improved workflows and medical supplies inventories. Hospital workflows benefit from information on where equipment, staff and patients are physically located, and whether equipment is fully functioning and sufficiently sterile or awaiting repair or cleaning, as well as the facility to remotely interrogate, reconfigure and update equipment.
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INSIGHT REPORT
• Increased reliability of hospital capital equipment. Manufacturers may benefit from remotely monitoring the performance of individual pieces of equipment, and a facility to interrogate equipment, in order to support preemptive maintenance and remote problem diagnosis/resolution as part of a value-added services. The Swedish company Elekta, which manufactures large radiation machines for the treatment of cancer, has aggressively retrofitted equipment already in the field and has designed all new equipment for performance sensors to monitor machine activity and component condition. Through the addition and integration of connectivity into its medical equipment, Elekta has gained the ability to perform consistent, comprehensive machine diagnostics and implement data-driven preventive maintenance schedules. Through these design and process improvements, Elekta has reduced on-site repairs by 30% and been able to shift maintenance visits increasingly to non-operational hours thus reducing service disruptions for clients and permitting increased ‘up time’ for its radiation machines. In addition to location and tracking of equipment, personnel and other assets, connectivity in the medical environment facilitates a broad range of patient monitoring equipment. San Antonio, Texas-based company Airstrip has deployed an FDAcleared platform which allows patient information (including waveforms and other critical data from Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), bedside monitors and devices, pharmacy, lab, and other clinical information systems) to be securely accessed by physicians and nurses on their smart phones or tablets. Initially deployed for obstetrics and cardiology applications, the platform is now used for many types of waveform monitoring (cardiac, blood oxygen (SPO2), ventilator, arterial line, etc.), combined with vital signs, medications, fluid intake and output (I&O), lab results, allergy lists, and EMR data for patients in areas such as intensive care units, critical care units, post-anesthaesia care units, operating theatres, and emergency departments. Overall the financial case can be compelling. Since installing RFID equipment tracking technology, Bon Secours Richmond Health System, from Richmond, Virginia, has saved almost $2 million annually throughout their network of four hospitals, which comprises 875 beds. The savings achieved mainly resulted from: • Reducing the quantity of rental equipment used in the four hospitals by 38% • Decreasing the incidence of lost and stolen equipment by 50% • Reducing equipment service costs by 15%.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
2.2.3 Clinical remote monitoring extend medical services into the home As technology advances, remote monitoring will increasingly be ‘prescribed’ on a pre-emptive basis to people who are otherwise well, but are at increased risk of suffering certain diseases, and often well in advance of any potential acute event. We class such use cases as Clinical Remote Monitoring, given the attendant clinical grade technical, performance and commercial risk implications. Remote monitoring is possibly the highest profile M2M healthcare application, and the one that people first think of. It is easy to see the benefit of being able to monitor a treatment’s progress without needing the patient to make a journey to the nearest clinic. Existing solutions vary greatly in terms of functionality and scope. Here are some prominent and/or innovative new products and solutions for the clinical remote monitoring industry: • BL Healthcare has worked with Verizon and Sprint and provides a comprehensive healthcare services solution that enables the linking of patients, health advisors, service providers and caregivers for the monitoring and management of wellness and disease in the patient's home and also in locations such as schools and airports. It includes a touch-screen interface, two-way video and audio communication, tools to support development of care management plans, and the potential to connect to around thirty different wired and wireless medical devices. There is a Software Developer's Kit to assist with the delivery of 3rd party services on the BL Healthcare Remote Healthcare Management platform. BL Healthcare has expanded its line of connected devices to include several medical peripheral devices such as: • Blood glucose meters • Pulse oximeters • Blood pressure monitor • Weight scale • Spirometer • Examination camera • Telefonica has been active in developing and expanding its remote healthcare management programme through new partnerships and acquisitions. In February 2013, through its Telefonica Digital group, Telefonica acquired Brazilian healthcare monitoring company AxisMed giving the MNO a substantial presence in the Brazilian home health
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INSIGHT REPORT
monitoring market. Leveraging its Brazilian mobile operations, under the brand Vivo, Telefonica’s AxisMed group monitors key vital statistics (e.g. blood pressure and blood glucose levels) for more than 180,000 Brazilians and offers a platform that Telefonica intends to expand into its other Latin American operations. In addition to AxisMed, Telefonica announced a global partnership with Capita to leverage the company’s healthcare record and decision support platform. • Reflexion Physical Therapy – A California start-up, Reflexion has developed a software platform that targets patients who are undergoing physical therapy (PT). The software utilises the Microsoft Xbox 360 and its Kinect camera sensor accessory to visually guide, track and record a patient’s exercise movements related to prescribed PT movements. Using the Kinect to map a patient’s body, the software tracks and analyses movement and compares those movements against the examples of perfectly executed exercises. Through this analysis, the Reflexion system points out any movement errors and helps the patient correct those movements to gain the maximum benefit out of the therapeutic effort. Through the Reflexion approach, patients are able to do their PT in the comfort of their own home while also having a specific feedback mechanism as well as a video record of their efforts for review by their therapists and doctors. The service is designed to reduce costs by reducing patient visits to the PT centre, improve patient compliance with the exercises and provide real-time feedback to the patient to ensure more accurate movements and speed recovery. Current testing indicates that the PT platform can reduce treatment costs by as much as US$9,000 due to the efficiencies of the approach.
2.2.4
Connected treatment and monitoring devices gaining traction within chronic pulmonary condition care
One of the most promising segments of the remote monitoring segment focuses on prominent pulmonary conditions sleep apnoea, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) more than 300 million people suffer these medical conditions with countries such as the United States facing even higher incidence rates.
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Table 3 2: Global addressable market of prominent pulmonary conditions [Source: WHO, Machina Research, 2014] Medical condition
World population with condition
Sleep apnoea
Estimates between 1% and 6% of the world population
• Recurring episodes of upper airway obstruction resulting in significant reductions in airflow and oxygen intake. • Contributes to poor quality and quantity of sleep and is linked to cardiovascular problems and increased morbidity
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
64m (est. in 2004)
• Incurable, life threatening lung disease • 3m people died of COPD in 2003 • 90% of COPD deaths occur in lowand middle-income countries • Primary cause of COPD is tobacco smoke
Asthma
235m
• Most common non-communicable disease among children • Increasing prevalence due to urbanisation and increases in air pollution
Key characteristics
With a combined global population of asthma and COPD sufferers estimated to be approximately 300 million globally, the addressable market for intelligent, connected solutions is substantial. One of the earliest pioneers in this space is New Zealand-based Nexus6 with its portfolio of wirelessly connected ‘Smartinhalers’ and supporting software platform and applications for mobile and PCs. Having received FDA clearance for its Smartinhaler in 2009, Nexus6 has expanded its range of devices to include metered dose inhalers, dry powder inhalers, nebulisers and ‘puffer’ format inhalers. Connectivity for these products is primarily facilitated by Bluetooth or Bluetooth LE incorporated into the inhaler devices, which are subsequently linked to smartphones or by the Smartinhaler hub which uses cellular connectivity to upload inhaler usage data into the company’s cloud-based server application: SmartinhalerLive.com. A more recent arrival in this category is the US-based company, Propeller Health, formerly known as Asthmapolis. Based in Madison, Wisconsin and with offices in San Francisco, Propeller has developed an inhaler-based solution that houses an FDA-approved sensor to monitor the frequency and level of usage of the inhaler, and then uses that data in its smartphone application to guide and educate asthma and COPD patients to maintain better health. The product is designed to fit onto a medicated inhaler and capture usage behaviour data so that every time the inhaler is used the Propeller sensor records date, time and location data and then syncs that data wirelessly with the Propeller smartphone app or data hub. This process creates a detailed
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INSIGHT REPORT
compliance record of the patient’s actual medication usage that can be shared with medical personnel, eliminating the need for manual keeping of asthma treatment logs typically requested by physicians and frequently ignored by patients. While Propeller Health initially focused its efforts on the asthma community, it has been expanding its strategy to also include COPD sufferers. According to Propeller’s CEO, David Van Sickle, with greater adherence to COPD protocols facilitated by the company’s inhaler and software, patients can reduce the rate of exacerbation by approximately 20%. Additionally, the usage patterns of the inhaled applications are also used to predict a patient’s worsening condition and likely need of emergency room visits or interventions and therefore establish a 4-5 day lead for the patient and his/her clinician to address the problem. For asthma patients the solution appears to be effective in raising medication adherence as much as 80%, according to the company. This represents a significant improvement among asthma patients as studies indicate that as many as 55% of asthma patients do not have their condition under control3.
2.2.5
Remote cardiac monitoring and treatment options reduce service costs with M2M platforms
In addition to remote monitors in other specialty areas, wireless connectivity has become central to the monitoring and maintenance of implanted cardiac devices such as pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). Despite being a highly specialised field, the volume of cardiac implants has become significant, as highlight by the table below. Table 2 3: 2009 market data related to global pacemaker implants [Source: Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology, 2011;34 (8):1013-1027] Type of Implant
Total
New
Replacements
Pacemaker
1,002,664
737,840
264,824
Defibrillator
328,027
222,407
105,620
Totals
1,330,691
960,247
370,444
For OEMs of these highly specialised devices, the business model of including wireless telemetry results in multiple benefits in terms of patient service quality, product quality monitoring, as well as financial efficiencies specifically related to product maintenance and repairs. One of the defining
characteristics of pacemakers and other implanted devices is the ability to work reliably for many years. Towards this end, OEMs such as Medtronic offer service warranties for the lifetime of the implant patient. Under such warranties, since the geographic scope of implants is truly global, implant device manufacturers are often required to send technicians to visit the patient in order to perform data retrieval, software/firmware updates and other repairs. As a result, prior to the adoption of wireless monitoring in pacemakers and ICDs, the medical device companies faced more substantial costs associated with maintaining those devices across the globe. With the development and implementation of M2M platforms, implant makers such as Medtronics have significantly reduced their costs to diagnose and resolve implant device problems, since there is no longer an automatic need to physically send a technician to the patient’s location in order to assess a problem with a device.
2.2.6
Pharmaceutical compliance platforms are crucial to future improvements in healthcare spending and outcomes
For patients with multiple health concerns and conditions, the daily task of maintaining faithful adherence to their prescription regimen, which often involves dozens of pills per day and at specific schedules, can be significant challenge. For may elderly patients and others with declining memory capabilities, the task of complying with their prescriptions can be overwhelming and present a significant risk to their health. With the inclusion of connectivity in pill bottles, pill dispensers and even the pills themselves, wireless technologies and associated applications are beginning to change the tide of pharmaceutical compliance. Pharmaceutical compliance and security One of the greatest challenges to effective medical care is the lack of patient compliance with prescription medication. Studies indicate that non-adherence to medication regimes accounts for elevated annual costs due to exacerbated physical conditions of patients, avoidable hospitalisations, nursing facility admissions and premature deaths4. Important facts regarding the impact of non-compliance [Source: Annals of Internal Medicine5, Machina Research] • 20-30% of prescriptions are never filled • 50% of medications for chronic illness are not taken as prescribed • In the United States, an estimated 125,000 annual deaths, 10% of hospitalisations, and increases in mortality are attributed to improper adherence to prescriptions • Non-adherence contributes to an estimated cost to the US health system of between US$100 billion and US$289 billion
3 Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2007 Jun;119(6):1454-61
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INSIGHT REPORT Table 2 4: Pharmaceutical adherence approaches utilising connected sensors and/or devices [Source: Machina Research] Strategy for improved adherence Core tactical elements Connected pill bottles and dispensers
Pill dispensers and pill bottles with wirelessly connected sensors, open/close/security mechanisms, and/or physical alert systems
Smartphone and tablet applications
Programmable alert dashboards send text, email or other alerts to the patient to remind him or her that he/she is due to take specific pills or other medications. These applications may or may not be directly linked to pharmacies and doctors’ offices.
Next generation pills
The coming generation of pills will be available with sensor-based technology, allowing for automatic compliance records with each use (e.g. Proteus Digital Health)
The ramifications of non-compliance with prescription medicine are significant in their costs to health systems and physical and mental well-being of patients. There are several strategies gaining prominence in the market aimed at improving compliance with medication regimens, including devices and applications that have been developed to provide
better engagement with the patient to ensure greater adherence to prescription protocols, outlined in Table 2-4 below. While pill dispensers can aid patients become more consistent with the pill usage, there the connected pill bottle still does not guarantee that a patient has actually consumer the pills dispensed by the machine in the correct quantity or at the appropriate times. California-based company, Proteus, is taking a radically different approach to pharmaceutical compliance monitoring with its sensor pills designed to wirelessly signal a receiver patch, worn on the body, when a pill has been ingested in the stomach. Proteus Digital’s unique approach is gaining support from large pharmaceutical companies and holds the potential to disrupt the conventional approach to pill design and compliance records. The core design of the Proteus solution produces pills with embedded elements that are similar in size to a grain of sand that communicate with a body patch receiver when the pill has made it into the stomach of the patient. Once in contact with stomach acid, the embedded metals on the pill react to the acid, generating just enough electricity from the reaction to send a message to the receiver body patch, attached to the outside of the patient’s stomach. By communicating only when the medication hits the stomach, Proteus’ approach creates a valuable compliance record for its patients, detailing which medications were consumed and at which specific times and location.
www.machinaresearch.com 4 Osterberg and Blaschke, “Adherence to medication,” New England Journal of Medicine, August 2005. 5 Ann Intern Med. 2012;157(11):785-795
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IN ASSOCIATION WITH ORACLE 30
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
mHEALTH SECURITY
mHealth regulation, security, and privacy Who’s responsibility is it? Mobile mHealth devices present prolific opportunities across the board. However, it could be just a matter of time before a public data breach that rocks the industry – such as a massive identity theft or large-scale insurance fraud, reports Arif Mohamed for M2M Now.
As an indicator, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently warned medical device manufacturers and healthcare professionals to protect their equipment against ‘cyber-security vulnerabilities and incidents.’ Equipment includes network-connected pacemakers and defibrillators, the cybersabotage of which would have unimaginable consequences. A more widespread concern is that health apps collect personal information
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
that could be shared with third parties or, worse still, stolen by criminals. This could lead to targeted advertising at best, or at worst: identity theft, declined insurance, or employment discrimination. A malicious attack could, in theory, reveal where the patient is located, plus their regular daily movements, how they feel, and even how and when to get into their house, one industry observer commented. In the case of an mHealth data breach, the biggest casualty will be consumer trust. Gareth Tolerton, CTO at TotalMobile, a provider of mHealth solutions, believes that “there will be a backlash.” He also said that consumers and medical practitioners need to feel confident that the technology is clinically certified and secure. ▼
As the market for mHealth devices grows, so will the potential threat. According to Juniper Research, in just five years there’ll be more than 100 million smart watches in use worldwide. Also, mHealth interfaces, like Apple’s HealthKit and Samsung’s SAMI, are forecast to help propel the global healthcare accessory market to US$3bn by 2019.
Catalin Cosoi, chief security strategist, Bitdefender
Mark Hall, public sector director, Redcentric
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mHEALTH SECURITY
But where does the responsibility lie to secure mHealth apps, devices, assets, and users? Some commentators feel that the end user should be responsible for their own data usage. “If I’m using a device to capture my health data, it’s my choice. The consumer has a responsibility,” noted Tolerton.
User education Gareth Tolerton, chief technology officer, TotalMobile
Paco Hope, principal consultant, Cigital
Mark Hall, public sector director at Redcentric, agrees. Redcentric is a cloud service provider to N3, the UK National Health Service’s secure network. Hall said: “Since mHealth is concerned with the use of mobile to deliver health services, security lapses tend to occur due to user indifference or lack of education. It’s here that security is at its weakest.” “Users need to understand the potential risk to their data however their chosen application providers transmit it; how they process it, and where it goes. Users also need to ensure that they educate themselves on how data can be easily shared in error using new applications and services such as Apple HealthKit,” he added. Other experts believe the app and device makers are the ones most responsible for customer data security. Paco Hope, principal consultant at app security firm Cigital, said: “The responsibility lies squarely with software makers. If they do not build a feature or a security control, the user cannot do it themselves.”
Steve Hegenderfer, director of developer programs, Bluetooth SIG
“The right answer is to give users clearly explained controls that cannot be overridden by the apps or the firms,” said Hope. He recommends securing data in transit using Transport Layer Security encryption correctly. “No one suffers if data is encrypted unnecessarily. There is always risk that unencrypted data can be used in ways we didn’t anticipate when we decided not to encrypt it.”
Regulation control
Tushar Bhatnagar, project manager, Tech Mahindra
Data encryption certainly lies within the scope of the app, device or network service provider, rather than the end user. However, experts agree that action is needed at all levels to mitigate the risk of a data breach. Catalin Cosoi, chief security strategist at Bitdefender, said that businesses, app developers, security vendors, privacy regulators, healthcare organisations, and patients should be working together to assess risks, prevent healthcare data loss, meet legal requirements, and secure IT infrastructures. Cosoi added that privacy regulators need to play their part in creating new laws with tougher penalties for data loss incidents to ensure compliance by hospitals and healthcare organisations.
Arif Mohamed, freelance journalist
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The main security threats will come at the point where the devices and apps offload the data they collect to a smartphone, via a
Bluetooth or WiFi connection, Cosoi said. “This makes them vulnerable to identity theft, unintentional data leaks, traffic sniffing and man-in-the-middle attacks.” End-to-end data encryption is the answer, securing data during transmission, with proper authentication and encryption protocols at both ends of a communication channel.
Data policy Regarding Bluetooth, Steve Hegenderfer is director of developer programs at Bluetooth SIG – the body responsible for developing the wireless standard. He said that the connectivity technologies used in mHealth Bluetooth have all the tools to build a very secure solution. “For example, any actual personal data being sent by a Bluetooth Smart-enabled device uses AES-128 CCM cryptography to provide strong encryption and authentication of data packets.” Hegenderfer argues that the issue is more one of data policy, and cited Apple recently posting privacy policy rules for developers working with its HealthKit platform. “These rules, which ban developers from selling data obtained from apps within the platform to third parties, prove that Apple is trying to proactively change the conversation and get out ahead of this,” said Hegenderfer. He added that other major players such as FitBit are now doing this as well from a ‘health & wellness’ device perspective. Setting the right policies is a step forward, but the question remains as to whether mHealth devices will come under the ruling of national and federal bodies, such as the US Federal Trade Commission. But Hegenderfer also noted that: “Too much regulation however, can potentially stunt the growth of this industry. mHealth can provide consumers with so much value that it would be a waste for it to be legislated away.” Two industry bodies that can help with mHealth data security standards and best practices are Workgroup for Electronic Data Exchange (WEDI), and the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), suggested Tushar Bhatnagar, project manager, Digital Healthcare Solutions at IT services firm Tech Mahindra. He commented: “The healthcare industry is witnessing an explosion in mobile based healthcare applications. Clinicians are using smart devices for monitoring patient data but unlike other industries, such as banking, the standards are yet to be embraced across the industry.” It’s uncertain whether or not the industry will be able to avoid a headline-grabbing mHealth data breach. Yet, with the right security, data standards, policies and end-user practices in place, we can but try. M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
Vodafone Global M2M We enable our customers to deploy remote monitoring and control service solutions m2m.vodafone.com/home/americas/
Vodafone Power to you
M2M Now Money Talks: mHealth, Tuesday December 9th 2014 Co-located with the mHealth Summit in Washington, DC, December 8-10, 2014 Chris Wasden, Executive Director of the Sorenson Center for Discovery and Innovation at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah
M2M Now Money Talks mHealth Conference – On December 9th, the M2M Now Money Talks: mHealth Conference will present thought-provoking sessions centred around the future of digital health. Industry luminaries will lay the foundation for implementation of an App Formulary Model, showcase real life examples of proven success and participate in “The Great Debate” - should digital health apps and devices be prescribed? Representatives from the entire mHealth value chain including: clinicians, payers, researchers, solution vendors, wireless network operators and the ultimate patient advocate will be among the participants. The 6th annual mHealth Summit, the largest mobile health event in the world, provides an unmatched value for shareholders across the mobile health ecosystem. The event brings together healthcare and technology leaders in government, the public sector, industry, academia, providers and not-for-profit organisations from across the mobile health gamut to advance collaboration in the use of wireless technology to improve health outcomes, reduce costs and create a new standard in health care delivery both in the United States and globally.
Chris Dancy, Most Connected Human on Earth. Chief Digital Officer and Senior Vice President at Healthways, Inc.
Proven Models for Digital Health Success Chris Wasden, Professor of Innovation & Executive Director of the Sorenson Center for Discovery and Innovation at the University of Utah, will lead panelists of the M2M Now Money Talks: mHealth conference in a fascinating and engaging debate centred around the future of digital health and the business case for implementing an App Formulary Model – showcasing real life examples of proven success, and debating – should apps be prescribed?
12:30 PM Session 1: The Future of Digital Health: Is an App Formulary Model the Answer?
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In session one, Wasden lays out the model of the App Formulary, which includes four different classifications in which to categorise apps/devices. Representatives within each classification will then discuss their respective business models and views on prescribing apps and devices: • Front of the Store: Fitness Trackers – Woody Scal, FitBit • Over the Counter: Vital Signs Monitors – TBD • Behind the Counter: Prescribed – Anand Iyer, WellDoc • Controlled Substance: Prescribed and Monitored – Dr. Dave Albert, AliveCor 2:30 PM Session 2: Supporting & Enabling Digital Health Business Models Successfully Session two begins with “The Most Connected Man”, Chris Dancy discussing how he captures real-time data about his life utilising wearables, devices and apps; then applies the data to improve his health and wellbeing. Digital health enabling-technology vendors such as Vodafone, Gemalto and Kore will then reveal how their respective companies are successfully supporting digital health apps and devices, as well as the where they fit in the Formulary Model outlined in session one. 3:45 PM Session 3: The Great Debate – Should Apps be Prescribed?
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Here Wasden leads a group of influential healthcare leaders, including a prescribing physician, a digital health physician, a payer, an academic researcher and the ultimate patient advocate in “The Great Debate” among physicians, payers and patients. Should physicians prescribe apps/devices that are paid for by 3rd-party payers? • Prescribing Physician: Dr. Jeff Dobro, CMO of RedBrick Health • Digital Health Physician: Dr. James Mault, CMO at QualcommLife • Payer: Lawrence B Leisure, Strategic Advisor at KPCB • Academic Research Organization: Dr. John Langell, Executive Director at University of Utah • Digital Patient: Chris Dancy, Most Connected Man
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Panelists will join sponsors and delegates at an evening reception at Harrington’s Bar (just opppsite the Gaylord Hotel) where they can continue to deliberate the issues or just relax and network among friends. Register now at www.m2mnowevents.com
5:45 PM Session 4: Reception
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M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
SECURITY
Laetitia Jay is vice president, M2M Solutions & Services, Gemalto
Chris Rommel is executive vice-president of IoT & Embedded Technology at VDC Research
Gemalto – Securing the IoT through secure designs The foundation for the Internet of Things (IoT) is being laid through the evolution and increasing intelligence of embedded systems. Expectations for omnipresent connectivity and real-time, contextual computation are changing the face of embedded devices and the technologies that engineering organisations use to bring those products to market. These new connected device types and use cases, however, are also presenting new layers of security risks to OEMs, enterprises, and end users, as Laetitia Jay of Gemalto, tells Chris Rommel at VDC Research. More than ever, engineering organisations must identify ways to mitigate risks through secure product design best practice. Unfortunately, for many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), security remains an afterthought, exposing the organisations to long-term risks of both financial and brand damage. This dynamic is beginning to change, however, especially in highly regulated industries where the public and private sectors are working together to lay a foundation for a more secure IoT. Gemalto’s vice president of M2M Solutions & Services, Laetitia Jay, recently discussed the company’s strategy and approach with Chris Rommel of VDC Research.
more of an industry-by-industry concern. When you look at the energy market, which is moving to connected smart meters and connecting home automation, you have an intrusion into the private fears of consumers. You have consumers on one hand, but they are directly connected to utilities or connectivity providers.
Laetitia Jay: As more industries adopt M2M technologies, there are concerns that security is
The automotive industry is another that is concerned with regard to their systems. They are
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
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Chris Rommel: What are the key security concerns facing the M2M and connected system marketplace?
The big question for the end user is guaranteeing the privacy of their data – how much energy they are consuming and how that energy is used by the smart energy manager. The security and privacy of their energy consumption data and how that is used by the smart energy manager, but the manager also wants to make sure their infrastructure is secure with regard to system intrusion that could damage the overall industry infrastructure.
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SECURITY
“The point is … to secure only what needs to be secured and to the right level.” Laetitia Jay, Gemalto
A third industry with growing security concerns is healthcare and mobile health, where there are tremendous security concerns about the privacy of the data. A patient is in contact with a doctor, administration staff, and an insurance company. If they are using mobile health devices to take heart beats or glucometers if the patient has diabetes, then doctors need to have access to all of the medical information gathered by those devices. The administration staff then also needs to collect some of that information as well for its records. Meanwhile, the insurance company needs to ensure that devices are being used properly for patients’ safety. With each one of these groups of stakeholders needing different levels of access to the data, security is at stake to ensure the patients safety and privacy. There are more certifications and regulations developing to manage data security and privacy in these settings. As such, it is becoming more important for device makers to think more about the endto-end solution’s security beforehand, during development. But so far, one of the main trends to emerge in the IoT is that even if an industry does have that regulation, then security often remains an afterthought, not by design. CR: The current recognition of security issues varies market to market, but our research showed that almost 70% of OEMs said security is important to their design. However, only about 30% of those respondents indicated that their organisation made any changes in people process or tools to improve security. Is security still generally an afterthought or are behaviours changing? LJ: Everyone is now talking about security. In 2013 people were still in denial. In 2014, however,
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The point is not to put too high a level of security into the infrastructure, but to secure only what needs to be secured and to the right level, depending on what you have to secure and for which threats you have to develop countermeasures. We can address those varying levels of security with the solutions in our portfolio, from our software-based security to ITbased security to our tamper-resistant secure element. The key thing is to put the right level of security where it has to be put and to not kill baby IoT with excessive security. CR: Automotive OEMs often don’t have the expertise in house to effectively address the security risks surrounding new IoT use cases. Do you find yourself needing to provide your clients with consultative support and services in addition to your products? LJ: Within Gemalto, we have been dealing with security in IT for governments, banks and mobile network operators since the early stage with our smart cards. We have learned how to secure infrastructure and that the inclusion of smartcards alone is often not enough. It is like putting a lock on a paper door – you just have to break the paper door. After 25 years, we have acquired knowledge and expertise. We start with our core asset, offering risk evaluations in white and black boxes for devices (for physical and logic attacks). We then also have the capability to evaluate the risk of an overall infrastructure, analysing how a box is connected to something else. In a car, for example, if the telecommunications box is connected to the multimedia infotainment unit which has an end user interface to download an application, what happens if an end user downloads an application that is malware? The malware could penetrate the overall automotive system and damage the brakes or the software on the other electronic system. Capabilities for risk evaluation of entire systems become critical. We always start with a risk evaluation. We are sharing our expertise in those key embedded elements within an asset and linked to a system. Once the risk evaluation is done, the second phase is to recommend the security ▼
specialists in dealing with security of the internal systems – when the car is not connected. But now going toward connected car, they want to ensure that the connections to the outside world do not open up any back doors into the car or any communications to the underlying infrastructure. The future of the transportation industry will rely on communication and security between cars and street lighting systems. Those 150-year-old industries are now moving into a new area of IT telecommunication that is facing new threats, so now they have real concerns, securing their assets from the end users and then securing the end users from the systems.
there are more doubts and consciousness that infrastructure is not secure, and that there are threats that are not covered. Security is always a matter of balancing investment and threats; that is why a security strategy has to start with the assessment of those threats and the assessment of the security of an overall infrastructure. It’s about risk evaluation. Then you can assess what are the appropriate countermeasures and the elements of trust and security that must be placed into the infrastructure.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
countermeasures to undertake, which can range from basic software security countermeasure up to a highest level of security with tamperresistance elements linked with the infrastructure behind it. The third step is to implement the security elements of trust, from a software token to a hardware token to a tamper-resistance token. CR: Gemalto has a presence in a number of industries from automotive to healthcare, among others. How would you assess the relative maturity of the various industries in terms of their ecosystems and standards to help enterprises to develop, deploy and manage safer and more secure systems? LJ: The energy market is extremely conscious of the risks they are taking, but they have been forced to add additional security into their infrastructure because it is regulated. The EU has issued two main elements into IT security specifically for metering and energy, which is one for data privacy of small data and for specific recommendations for the deployment of smart meters and smart energies. The first countries that have implemented are Germany, France and UK. Germany was first and specified a Common Criteria protection profile so that every smart meter deployed there must align with the profile. In the UK, the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) spent the last three years consulting with the ecosystem as it wrote the SMETS2 specifications for smart meters and gateways. The DECC asked IT companies and system integrators and equipment providers and component suppliers to contribute to the specifications. Government initiatives are forcing energy utilities to establish the necessary security elements to protect the privacy of data for end users and to ensure national security and critical infrastructure. In this market, the evolution of the M2M technology has brought on new risks and threats, but the government is taking initiatives for counter attacks. It is not the case in all areas, but many other countries (including the US with the FCC) are now looking at the work done by the EU to establish their own best practices. CR: What is coming next in terms of the types of security the market would look for organically, and how do you expect Gemalto to evolve its solution set to address those needs? LJ: There are initiatives like oneM2M, but the risk of such standard bodies is length of time to standardise the full ecosystem. Everything that can be hacked will be hacked. There are too many motivations for hackers – from fraud to financial gain to simple glory. Because of this dynamic, we see security evolving in the IoT, with big corporations moving first to implement security measures due to the
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
risks on their brand and business. This will help advance the concepts of security and what to secure from what. The growing number of devices already in the market that are becoming connected will introduce additional security weaknesses into the infrastructure. Today, in the IoT, it is still mostly one object connected to one infrastructure – it’s point-to-point connectivity. With more objects becoming interconnected the security needed for a seemingly innocent device is becoming more important, from large enterprises to start-ups. Within home automation, for example, thermostats, washing machines and connected lamps, can also provide a back door to utilities and overall infrastructure. The automotive, health and energy markets are conscious of the problems that can occur. There is still a lot of evangelisation to be conducted for the other types of IoT use cases, however. The development for many of the next generation of IoT devices starts with and is focused on the applications, without thinking about end-to-end system security. Today’s markets are dynamic and require experimentation and iteration based on in-field testing and feedback. As such, security is only valid for a period of time. Given the extended deployment lives of certain types of devices, security needs to be updated over the life of devices and infrastructures. It will become increasingly important for OEMs to think about how both the functionality and security needs of their devices will evolve. CR: How will the planned acquisition of SafeNet fit within Gemalto’s current security portfolio and strategy? LJ: SafeNet will be a perfect fit. Thinking of M2M and overall security in IT, wherever you connect a PC, a phone, a machine, or a web asset, having a wider range of complimentary offerings is quite beneficial. Gemalto assets are historically more about securing the edge, but SafeNet’s tools and offerings allow us to extend further into the core of networks and IoT information systems.
“Security needs to be updated over the life of devices and infrastructures.” Laetitia Jay, Gemalto
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AN EVENT OF
SECURITY
Strong but adaptable IoT security built on M2M foundations In discussions on the future of the Internet of Things (IoT) there has been a lot of justifiably intense attention paid recently to security vulnerabilities and the potential loss of control of personal privacy. Despite all the experience available in implementation of security solutions for M2M, however, the options for action discussed are often limited to a reaction of panic or to finding ways to bolt extra security capabilities onto existing IoT architectures, according to Haydn Povey and Jon Howes of Beecham Research Ltd. The latter can seem to offer a way to a more secure future, but looking more closely at the threats and the realities of the IoT leads us towards very different conclusions where systems must be made adaptable in the face of rapidly evolving attacks.
But fundamentally we need to get security in at the ground up if we are going to create an environment where the Internet of Things is actually going to function as needed.
Threats emerging and increasing Threats are emerging in the many different use cases of IoT and in the changes of style that are complicating the security issues, decisions, and architectures of the past M2M scene.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
Source: Beecham Research Ltd
We can look back at StuxNet, which was very clever, and allegedly made by the best experts inside the security services. But here the very attack technologies used to protect us are being refarmed and retargeted by those who threaten our IoT systems. This greatly increases the number, strength and capabilities of attacks. As the IoT increases in sophistication the threats are not limited to targeting a single type of connectivity. The new IoT capabilities relate to many connectivity types, and the interactions and the mix of those connectivity types in multiple networks.
Massive vulnerability Heartbleed also showed that we are massively fallible to the complexity of modern systems. While this specifically impacted the world of IT, it's a fundamental issue at the heart of all protection technologies. In that case larger appliances got fixed, but a lot of ‘things’, the
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The challenge we face is that we have to change the way that we think about IoT security as an industry where solution specifications are not as clear and fixable as for M2M. Far too often security is something which product developers try to bolt on later on, and you can do it in some ways with Secure Elements and SIMs that have also been used for carefully architected M2M systems. You can solder them into products, or you can have subscriber modules in trays, as we do on phones and you can depend on the past M2M experience of leaders like Gemalto and Giesecke & Devrient.
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SECURITY
The authors are Haydn Povey and Jon Howes of Beecham Research Ltd. The company is based in Cambridge, UK with offices in London and Boston, USA.
routers, were just binned. But you can't bin stuff that becomes part of your infrastructure, embedded deeply in everything you are doing, and that's where the IoT is heading.
Little impact, so far The impacts of those attacks affect us all differently. Traditionally, IT attacks have very little impact on our daily lives. They are down at the lower levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It's food. It's warmth. But it's still liveable with, you can get away with it. However the IoT has the ability to impact every level of needs throughout our lives – and to do that extremely rapidly. It's far more costly, disruptive, and it can be practically immediate. So the food in your fridge, or the supermarket shutdown, disruption of the food chain, these things can be rapidly affected and denied to you, and they really matter. With ‘9 meals’ being described widely as the length of the food supply chain, any disruption by a successful attack could leave us close to anarchy. And that is true for warmth and shelter, too.
Securing our IoT future So the industry really requires some form of holistic approach. We need to extend beyond the essential encryptions of data at rest and in flight that people are realising are necessary. We need to make sure we have interoperability of identity, of authentication, and of authorisation. In taking that holistic approach we need to work with all stakeholders in the brave new world of IoT.
The long term lifecycle of IoT systems is also key. These things are going to go into place and stay there for 10 years. As well as remote monitoring for anti-malware, we need to presume that all systems will suffer successful exploits as a result of prolonged and sophisticated attacks. IoT security needs to be about low-cost architectures, right down from the secure nodes, avoiding the use of random microcontrollers which can't protect themselves. We must work to embed a deep root of trust that can be relied upon out to the top levels of the cloud. In truth all of these requirements are simply implementations or extensions of the best practices identified in the 20 Critical Security Controls by the Council on Cybersecurity, the global NGO tasked with leadership in the IT domain. However, as we all know, there is a massive gap between best practice and real implementation.
Reacting to exploits: The need for remediation We have to assume in the future that devices will become compromised. They will fail to deny attacks. Although we do need to deny the attacks as strongly as possible, we also need to plan for failure. And we need to make sure we have methods for reset and remediation of those failures when attacks succeed, enabling us to regain control and then build our defences higher. These will be technology requirements for the next generation of silicon, for the next generation of devices. So, we have to be able to reset the IoT devices, we have to regain control, and we have to remediate. That has real cost issues down at the silicon level. It means that you have to have very strong identification alongside very strong cryptography. You then have to take an encrypted update package, you have to decrypt it on-the-fly. So you have to have enough memory to do that. You have to have all of the necessary cryptography capability. And then you have to have a multi stage boot with a very strong root of trust to instantiate that.
Source: Beecham Research Ltd
www.beechamresearch.com
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We also need to really go deep though. We need to have a deep root of trust, and secure foundations built around that.
All of these things have a real cost impact on devices. But it is incredibly valuable from an IoT security perspective to have that, and allows a new set of services to be put in place. We have to deal with these security issues in the Internet of Things. And we have to deal with them now, before it's too late. Change is needed before many of these IoT systems are implemented and out in the field without the right levels of security.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
INTERVIEW
Exchanging locationenhanced data between devices and powerful cloud applications is a fundamental goal of IoT Thomas Seiler is chief executive of u-blox, a provider of wireless and positioning semiconductors and modules for the automotive, industrial and consumer markets. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s products enable people, vehicles and machines to locate their exact position and wirelessly communicate via voice, text or video. Seiler has served as a member of the board of directors since the incorporation of u-blox Holding AG in 2007 and has been chief executive and head of marketing and sales since 2002. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) and an MBA diploma from INSEAD, France. In 1987 he was appointed a member of the executive committee of Melcher Holding and was chief executive from 1991 to 1998. He then served as chief executive of Kistler Holding from 1999 to 2001.
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As the Internet of Things (IoT) starts to take off, Seiler tells M2M Now that u-blox, with its broad portfolio of chips, modules and software is well-positioned to allow OEMs to develop innovative solutions that enable mobility quickly and cost-effectively.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
Thomas Seiler, chief executive of u-blox
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INTERVIEW
“The IoT is the fastest growing market sector in the history of electronics.” Thomas Seiler, u-blox
M2M Now: The IoT market looks to be turning a corner and starting to gain momentum as a large scale, mass market proposition. Do you agree that is happening? What is u-blox's strategy for IoT? Thomas Seiler: Yes, clearly the IoT is the next big development in the internet. In the near future there will be more machines and sensors communicating over the internet than there are people. We have been preparing for this development for many years now, expanding our business as the global leader in satellite positioning components based on our own semiconductor intellectual property to become a major vendor of both cellular and short range wireless communication modules. It is clearly recognised that location is one of the most important pieces of information in the IoT, making all other data much more valuable. Exchanging this data between devices, and between devices and powerful cloud applications is the fundamental purpose of the IoT. The foundation of our business is providing these three key hardware functionalities to IoT system developers: cellular connectivity, short-range connectivity, and global positioning. A key differentiator between u-blox and our competitors is that we focus on the best semiconductor solutions to solve IoT problems. Our business strategy is not to develop our own IoT services or applications: this is our customers’ market space, whether they are developing their own applications or working with third party application providers. As a hardware vendor, we have a strict nocompete policy with our customers and partners. Our products are protocol-neutral and will seamlessly work with our customers’ IoT application of choice. M2M Now: Some consolidation is happening in the IoT market and most recently we've seen Qualcomm acquire CSR. How does that impact on u-blox? Do you see consolidation as a threat or an opportunity? Is it necessary to add scale and would u-blox look to become a consolidator?
www.u-blox.com
TS: Our rapid growth in recent years has been a result of consolidation: We have acquired six companies over the past five years, allowing us to quickly expand our market position in the automotive, telematics, industrial M2M and consumer connectivity markets. Our acquisitions have brought us significant new intellectual
property, products and some of the most knowledgeable experts in the industry. This has enabled us to serve our customers with a wider range of chips and modules that support every link in the IoT, and the knowhow to help them implement our technology quickly. Such acquisitions are essential for the continued development of our product and service offerings to our customers. They expand our technology core and enhance our competitiveness. This has made us a stable provider of technology unaffected by unpredictable decisions of partners, and allowing us to maintain full control over the future of our product roadmaps. In contrast to large mergers, the steps we took provide additional value to our customer base. They avoid the common pitfall in a large merger when a customer is suddenly faced with a drastic change in the product strategy and offering, and a significantly altered supplier landscape. M2M Now: You've recently announced a product-grade strategy. Please can you tell us about it and explain how it addresses the needs of the industry? TS: As a Swiss company, u-blox is extremely quality-focused, and in this aspect we have no equal in the industry. Our very large range of customers, however, wants to buy the product that precisely meets their needs and their budget with the appropriate features and environmental tolerance required by their application. It is for this reason that we have recently developed a product grading associated with each of our chips and modules: Standard, Professional and Automotive. With this new colour-coded classification, we make it instantly transparent to our customers which products are most suited for their design and cost requirements. M2M Now: How do you see the IoT market developing over the next 24 months? TS: The IoT as a megatrend encompasses a wide range of applications including factory and home automation, medical, security, metering, personal health, logistics and systems for connected vehicles and people. Literally any application that can benefit from intelligent connection to the internet will eventually be connected. The overall result is what we are already experiencing today: considered as a whole, the IoT is the fastest growing market sector in the history of electronics.
IN ASSOCIATION WITH u-blox 42
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
INTERVIEW
Jim Dunlap is CEO of Cycle30
Time for a fresh look at IoT connectivity Jim Dunlap, CEO of Cycle30, tells Robin Duke-Woolley of Beecham Research that Internet of Things (IoT) service providers are overlooking significant business opportunities if they confine themselves to mobile cellular connections.
JD: Yes, we do. A little history to explain why. For eight years I was a CIO in the telecom and cable industry. Our parent company, General Communication Inc (GCI) agreed to fund and spin off Cycle30 as a wholly-owned subsidiary but independent operating company. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been on both sides of the fence, both as an operator and dealing with the issues that operators face, then as a service provider. RDW: Looking at it now from these two viewpoints, what is it that the service providers are doing in the IoT space? How are they thinking about connectivity? JD: I would say primarily this is wireless cellular. Not even just wireless, but mobile. I think that is a limiting perspective.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
RDW: Can you explain what you mean by that? JD: There are a couple of reasons. Firstly, large scale commercial solutions can very easily be fixed wireless solutions, Metro WiFi for example. There are many solutions to be developed in the public and private sector that just do not need to move around, so mobile connectivity is not the only answer. Secondly, coming out from the cable industry, you recognise quickly the very significant bandwidth that the cable industry has. They`re waking up to that and starting to deploy commercial enterprise solutions that really take advantage of that bandwidth. And of the cost advantage of it. RDW: Do you think that relying on mobile cellular connectivity is too limiting? JD: Yes I do. Mobile cellular is an important part of this sector. However, it is not likely to be the lowest cost connectivity option for many situations. We
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RDW: The Cycle30 platform caters for cellular mobile connectivity, but do you also have an interest in non-cellular connectivity for M2M?
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INTERVIEW
Robin Duke-Woolley is CEO of Beecham Research
Through API sets for provisioning, activation, usage data collection and usage management, we have the ability in the platform to cater for multiple connectivity types and they can be running in parallel Jim Dunlap, Cycle30 think there is a need to look at the design of a solution from the ground up and build in the redundancy and flexibility to help you migrate as technology changes and as the cost structures change. In typical wireless models, once your solution is on that operator’s network, you’re locked in. What if instead, down the road, you have the ability to make that a WiFi solution? If you had already built that in to your solution design, you could then shift over to a lower cost operating model. What if you had the opportunity to make that a Bluetooth connection? Or you’re in the maritime industry and wanted to have initially satellite but eventually a WiFi connection? There is an opportunity to take a broader view on future connectivity needs.
JD: Very much so. The advantage really sits with those that have fibre already in the ground and that’s predominantly the cable industry and so we’re working to develop solutions specific to the global cable sector. It’s an area we are very focused on and we see almost no competition at all. RDW: What sort of M2M applications would that target? JD: Mainly commercial, industrial type applications – the parking meter example I think is great where they have a metropolitan WiFi network or even a wired network where you could provide electronic parking meters all on a cable network – they wouldn’t need to be on a cellular mobile network. RDW: So these are cable networks in cities?
JD: I’m talking mainly about OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). If you’re a global OEM and building, for example, a global parking meter business you really want to think whether you only put SIM connections into that device. Should you build it with capability for WiFi, or other types of connectivity? We`re trying to work with innovative thinking OEMs and distributors, like Arrow Electronics, to look at devices as connectivity agnostic and try to work with the OEM to build in that flexibility, to future-proof their technology. We believe the OEMs with that sort of forward thinking will survive and do very well from the lowest operating cost for connectivity. Otherwise, if your entire model is mobile wireless only, you’re really at the mercy of the operator. RDW: So among other forms of connectivity do you see a role for the cable industry in M2M?
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JD: Yes, every city has one now. They are broadband providers who are providing some kind of broadband cable network and we think many of them are developing metropolitan WiFi as part of that. It’s a trend in the sector and they can begin to supply commercial solutions over that kind of connectivity. RDW: That’s very interesting. There’s not a lot supporting that type of connectivity yet in M2M, I think. JD: Yes, we are working with cable companies to build out proof of concepts for the cable sector and then taking them out and showcasing them. RDW: That looks like a diversification for them. Are they looking at this as a mainstream revenue opportunity? JD: Yes, and that’s where our background is very relevant. We’re part of the fraternity and we know what they are looking for. They are looking for ▼
RDW: So who do you think in particular this would benefit?
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
“You can take any parameter and make it into a chargeable event.” Jim Dunlap, Cycle30
cheaper ways to provide greater value over the network instead, not simply television and cable content. They’re finding ways that they can move in to the commercial enterprise sector and provide valuable solutions. That is an important direction for their future.
we need to prove that in effect in an informal SLA (service level agreement) with our customer. We want to let the customer know where their container is, when it will arrive at port, when it will get through customs, and when it will get to their distribution facility or manufacturing facility.”
RDW: So that’s a business-to-business play as opposed to a business-to-consumer play. Are they comfortable in that environment?
She said: “If I can track that sort of information and I can make that available to a customer, I have increased my value to them exponentially.” So if we take that model and we think about a ship going overseas, the ability to use satellite technology initially for the core communications down to the ship, the ability then to use a broadband WiFi network throughout the ship to collect data off of those containers and then even more specifically there could be a Bluetooth type of application that you use within proximity of the device.
RDW: Turning now to multiple connectivity types, there’s the possibility of using cellular and different forms of cellular, the possibility of using WiFi and then various forms of fixed lines, as you’ve just mentioned. Can you switch between those? JD: Through API (application programme interface) sets for provisioning, activation, usage data collection and usage management, we have the ability in the platform to cater for multiple connectivity types and they can be running in parallel. To illustrate that, I am thinking of a particular example of a maritime executive I was talking with recently. This is a multi-million dollar company, shipping goods all around the world. I asked her, “What is the biggest challenge that you have in your industry?” She said, “It’s something that most people don’t understand. We are taking containers full of materials and we know what they are, we know the value, we move them around the globe. We want to ensure that if that container needs to stay at a particular temperature that it’s done and
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
In addition to this, let me tell you about a different set of data. She said, “If you can layer on to that the ability to help me operationally with Health and Safety issues – where are my employees? Are we tracking where they are on the vessel? Where are our assets? Help me track our assets and know that our assets didn’t leave at the last port.” Those sorts of interesting challenges lend themselves to a model where you have cellular activity, satellite activity. You have cellular in port, you have WiFi within the ship and then you may have a Bluetooth application all in one maritime solution. These things also apply to the oil and gas industry. Lots of things like that where you can use a combination of connectivity types based on the lowest cost and the most appropriate set. That’s what we do. RDW: Do you then actually manage the connectivity or are you looking more at the data that comes off and making value out of that data or are you doing both? ▼
JD: They are aspirational in that environment. They need to be there and be a serious player. Where they could start talking immediately is to the home control market using their broadband network and that is a business-to-consumer play.
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INTERVIEW
Our role in the process is to manage the activity and usage and then to alert if you are not getting usage out of particular devices Jim Dunlap, Cycle30
JD: We’re doing both. We’re not the underlying network operator although we work very closely with them to integrate directly in with their network provisioning platforms. RDW: What about the connectivity management to make sure you are getting the data from the right sensors whatever form of connectivity it is coming over? JD: Yes, we do that ourselves. Our role in the process is to manage the activity and usage and then to alert if you are not getting usage out of particular devices. We have a threshold alerting set of functionalities in the platform which tells us, based on business rule pre-sets, the data you are supposed to be getting in a particular frequency at particular times. The example I like, although it’s a little gruesome, is if you’re monitoring cattle the idea is you are monitoring – where is my cow? And, is my cow pregnant? What happens if you are no longer getting data on moving – if that cow is no longer moving? If it has been sedentary for a period of two hours, what does that tell you? Does it tell you that the cow is sleeping? Or does it tell you that the cow is no longer pregnant – that the cow has delivered, or worse that the cow is no longer alive? We manage the usage analytics around that data and what the data is telling us and then we push that up to a visualisation layer to do things like mapping, reporting, charting, graphing – all to aid the management process. RDW: Can you also connect that into the revenue side as well? For example, identifying a chargeable event? JD: Absolutely. A good example of that would be we’re now seeing the forward looking people in the oil and gas sector starting to put electronic markers into their fuel at the refinery because they want to be certain it has not been diluted as it makes its way through the process to sitting in a retailer’s pump. There is still a very significant amount of petroleum delivered by trucks from a refinery over to an actual retailer. The problem is that it is fraught with fraud from diluting the
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petroleum. It is one of the biggest problems facing the petroleum sector globally. How do you charge for the value of insuring the validity of that petroleum? Well, maybe you charge based on gallons. RDW: You measure what’s actually being delivered? JD: Yes, you measure the markers and ensure that it has not been diluted. Maybe you charge based on how many gallons of undiluted fuel are delivered. RDW: So these markers, are they sitting in the fluid that’s being delivered? JD: Yes, they are. The leading company in it came out of the Sandia National Lab Group in New Mexico. It’s developed some very innovative markers that can be inserted into fuel at the refinery, that do not in any way affect the quality or the veracity of the fuel itself. Instead, what they do is just allow you to track that this fuel has not been diluted. It uses chemical composition analysis to identify that there is no water in the fuel or whatever else they use to dilute it. There are all sorts of unique industrial applications. It will have great value but you need a way to read them and you need a way to ultimately bill for them. RDW: So, part of what you do is to look at new types of sensors that can add value to the overall process? JD: Yes. New sensors and new business models. The reality is that those sorts of solutions do exist and they are of extremely high value ultimately for the companies who produce those types of commodities, like fuel. The point is, we can connect diagnostics and actual data and not only do it just for the device but also for the revenue model. You can take any parameter and make it into a chargeable event and that has tremendous new value.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
DECEMBER 2014 / JANUARY 2015
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PLATFORMS Next gen connectivity platform becomes an IoT ecosystem for better service margins LATEST NEWS & VIDEOS AT www.m2mnow.biz P R O F I T
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Winner of Frost & Sullivan's 2014 Global Internet of Things Application Enablement Technology Innovation Award
TALKING HEADS
Next generation connectivity platform becomes an IoT ecosystem for enhanced service margins
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Nigel Chadwick is chief executive of Stream Technologies, provider of state-ofthe-art, end-to-end wireless network services for connected devices, globally. The company has recently launched IoT-X, a next generation connectivity enablement platform. As Chadwick tells M2M Now, Streamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s IoT-X is enabling network operators and multi-national organisations via creation of a fast expanding, value enhancing and unique IoT ecosystem spanning multiple wireless connectivity and related technologies.
Nigel Chadwick is chief executive of Stream Technologies
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
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TALKING HEADS
Nigel Chadwick, Stream Technologies
M2M Now: Stream Technologies has recently launched IoT-X which enables wireless carriers (cellular, satellite, WiFi, low power radio network operators) and large scale organisations to effectively and efficiently manage a diverse range of connectivity solutions. This meets all their present needs whilst also preparing them for future developments in IoT and M2M connectivity. How does IoT-X differ from other types of connectivity enablement platforms? Nigel Chadwick: IoT-X is unique amongst connectivity enablement platforms. It goes beyond solely connectivity enablement. It facilitates significant value enhancement for mobile network operators because it enables them to move up the value chain and derive highly appealing margins from offering M2M end-to-end solutions as well as superior connectivity options. Importantly, those margins can be significantly larger than those generated by providing basic airtime or connectivity. IoT-X is far more than a service subscription enablement platform because it addresses the needs of operators and large organisations looking for the complete, holistic, connectivity platform. One of the key differences with IoT-X is that it’s agnostic in terms of its wireless network management capability. In particular this is important for large organisations that seek a single management and control portal for all their connectivity networks, irrespective of brand or location of deployment. For carriers, the agnostic aspect means simple and easy integration of their network infrastructure onto the platform. The vast majority of future IoT connections are going to be across non-cellular – such as WiFi, low power radio and other bearers – rather than traditional cellular operator types of network. That means IoT-X is useful and valuable to both the traditional carriers used for M2M, as well as alternative, new and emerging data transfer infrastructures. IoT-X is very inclusive and they can all participate in a far wider ecosystem of trusted solution providers by adopting IoT-X, which will enable them to connect their customers’ projects across a wide scope of different wireless media. However, for either operators or large scale organisations to have trust in a provider like Stream is critical. To be successful, solutions previously integrated within the IoT-X ecosystem via the platform will already have demonstrated reliability, efficiency and resilience in terms of operability. These capabilities, together with the connectivity and reporting characteristics inherent
within the IoT-X platform, have already been proven through deployment into the market in other parts of the world. M2M Now: You mention that IoT-X is already in deployment. What sort of organisations and applications are you seeing relying on the platform? Are their particular sweet spots for the proposition? NC: Stream is experiencing strong demand from mobile network operators for solutions comprising smart meters across utility sectors, asset tracking and other security requirements. Mobile operators and other organisations that seek solutions to market but face economic and demographic problems in terms of generating sufficient margin from M2M, can engage directly with third party solution providers and OEMs, in the knowledge that the solutions will work with proven connectivity and ready-to-go control and management features on the IoT-X platform. If a mobile operator decides to adopt the IoT-X platform, the end customer may effectively connect across all the different wireless technologies from cellular to WiFi and less mainstream options such as ZigBee or satellite. That’s disruptive in itself but only encapsulates part of the value proposition. Additional value is provided by the platform because, as soon as we integrate another operator, that operator becomes both a beneficiary and a contributor to the wireless services integral to IoT-X. We’re fostering a unique and growing IoT ecosystem and, from a platform viewpoint, the more wireless carrier integrations, the more services can be offered, and the more attractive it becomes to all. M2M Now: IoT-X is evidently far more than a simple connectivity platform. How do you see its true value being delivered across a wide ecosystem of applications and value-added services? Will that be enough to change the economics of supporting M2M and IoT for service providers? NC: There is a fast growing range of value add services integrated with IoT-X. We believe we have an outstanding connectivity platform providing a single source of integral services. Stream has developed a complete IoT-X service entity, which offers billing, multiple apps, analytics and enablement tools, uniquely fused with our connectivity enablement platform - in other words
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“IoT-X is based on APIs which are quick and efficient and technically noninvasive.”
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M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
a complete IoT ecosystem. The benefit of this is that it comprises solutions to be chosen according to the individual needs of the operator or large organisation. ARM’s EmbedOS, wot.io’s data exchange service and ThingWorx are just a few of the third party value add integrations. IoT-X is based on APIs which are quick and efficient and technically non-invasive. Operators seeking fast M2M market entry often seek out the technical and market expertise vested in Stream. Our team can help ensure optimisation of network services as well as helping networks to deliver high margin solutions. They are fast working out that the higher margin exists in a solutions play rather than connectivity – mhealth, smart metering, utility management and vending solutions in particular are sectors network operators around the world are pursuing. The really interesting thing we are doing through APIs is creating a platform that is future-proofed. If an operator chooses Stream, they can integrate their network onto the platform within weeks to a Proof of Concept (PoC) stage. This is a minimal cost and low risk model to allow network operators to try out IoT-X. And it doesn’t matter what type of connection, the platform is agnostic – very open and it’s very fluid and that’s what captures the imagination and is gaining the attention of networks right now. They don’t want a cookie-cutter, inflexible platform solution. We collaborate with our network customers and can create bespoke functionality and branding quickly because of our in-house development team. We can roll this out rapidly. Within six weeks we can make live a PoC, at a very attractive price point. There’s no risk, a network operator can get up and running with minimal upfront investment and start to develop their M2M business. We’re seeing a real need and accelerating demand for this. M2M Now: Can you give an example of how IoT-X could benefit a large organisation, including System Integrators (SIs)? NC: Large organisations and SI’s are increasingly deploying products and services across a wide range of countries and continents. These include amongst others auto makers, white good manufacturers, smart city infrastructure/solution providers and many others also. Across geographies there is often a requirement for connectivity by a variety of cellular operators or in some instances a mix of wireless network types. This is particularly the case when different
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
low power radio networks are backhauled over 4G/LTE or satellite, or even Wi-Fi/fixed line. IoT-X can integrate with and manage all these network types and multiple carrier brands, providing a single web portal to view and control. IoT-X can also overlay multiple types of other platforms, thus effectively offering an elegant solution and easy control interface for large organisations seeking a single view and control solution that also yields multiple connectivity options worldwide. This is an incredibly flexible and valuable platform for such organisations. M2M Now: Why does Stream have the ability to bring all this together and become the trusted provider of a connectivity platform that brings operators and large enterprises together into a mutually beneficial ecosystem?
George Malim, is a freelance technology writer and editor of VanillaPlus
NC: Put simply we have unique network operations and IT technical know-how blended with M2M device connectivity expertise. Our technical excellence comprises a unique blend of deep expertise and understanding of wireless network technologies including: network operations and IT of cellular, satellite and low power radio operations and infrastructures. That is coupled with our experience and proven delivery of connectivity across the entire spectrum of M2M solutions and device verticals. It’s worth emphasising that Stream Technologies is a high-tech company that has immense insight and technical knowledge as far as connectivity for IoT is concerned. We have a strong and focused development team dedicated to the continued development of our IoT-X platform. This is supplemented by experienced network infrastructure specialists and device specialists. We are the only company to operate an IoT TechLab, available for use by not only our customer base, as well as customers of network operators that are adopting our platform. Together this expertise, experience and focus combines to create technologies that are truly unique and leading edge – we believe we are helping shape the future of IoT. We are now providing network operators and large organisations access to the benefits and value of deploying the IoT-X platform and vertical solutions in their home markets. Our experience means they can deploy with confidence, participating fully in the ecosystem. They can quickly, and with minimal risk and cost, move up the value chain in terms of the margins they can generate from IoT.
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INTERVIEW
Jens Wiegand, Kontron’s CTO
Kontron: A long history of embedded systems for the future of the Internet of Things The momentum of the Internet of Things is growing strongly and its transformative power starts to appear clear to many industries. Certainly, there are challenges to be faced in terms of technologies and business models, but the Internet of Things (IoT) industry is committed to unveiling the enormous potential of the IoT vision. Saverio Romeo of Beecham Research has visited one of those players, Kontron.
Saverio Romeo: The Internet of Things (IoT) vision is getting momentum in a variety of sectors. It starts to be seen as a moment of transformation for many industries. What is Kontron’s position in the IoT vision? The author, Saverio Romeo, is principal analyst at Beecham Research
Jens Wiegand: Kontron is a world leader in embedded computing technology. We engineer, service and supply global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and System Integrators
(SIs) in a variety of markets, including: avionics, defence, energy, industrial automation, healthcare, retail, telecom and transportation. Our broad portfolio ranges from boards and systems to platform solutions and services. When you look at the verticals we serve, as well as our product portfolio along with engineering capabilities, the attraction for Kontron to the IoT space is that it’s a natural fit. We are experts in delivering platforms and solutions that securely connect devices, meet SWaP (Size, Weight and Power) requirements and give our customers faster time-to-revenue (TTR) by helping to reduce their research & development (R&D) costs and create new business models. SR: Currently, which are the IoT applications you are involved in? JW: As I mentioned, Kontron serves many verticals. Our clients are mainly exploring or adopting IoT solutions. There are specific drivers for those projects with a vertical specificity. The
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With headquarters in Augsburg, Kontron is a global developer and manufacturer of embedded computer technology. Kontron offers a wide range of hardware elements at the edge and gateways integrated with software solutions and an open ecosystem of applications developers. It is also present in the cloud offering SYMKLOUD platform, a standards-based networking platform providing scalability, high density and work load performance. But, in order to know more about Kontron and its approach to the IoT, we talked to Jens Wiegand, Kontron’s CTO.
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retail segment is undergoing a complete change with the integration of brick & mortar stores and the digital shopping experience. In industrial automation, collaborative initiatives such as Industry 4.0 and new business models around asset optimisation are spurring the IoT growth. In the healthcare segment the promise of wearable sensors and the home health market will fuel the growth. In the vehicle segment; autonomous driving and farming are leveraging IoT to become reality. SR: What is the most novel IoT service that Kontron has been involved in setting up? JW: Kontron developed the first IoT development kit based on Intel Fish River Island. The projects range from in-flight infotainment to remote asset optimisation and intelligent farming. In the latter, soil sensors collect and report data. The system will load a fertilisation map. The agriculture vehicles, controlled by autopilot, will then do the job based on the data and the map. There are also systems designed for greenhouses where sensors measure data as humidity, moisture, EC and PH to manage the optimised amount and application of fertiliser automatically. Kontron set up a Proof of Concept with Salesforce.com to directly integrate asset information into the cloud-based service solution. One of the most interesting applications in the medical sector was to control humidity and count flies to reduce diseases, which is cloud-based. It starts with mosquito wing beat frequency determination by intelligent image processing to identify the mosquito species, and ends with patient remote monitoring and consulting. SR: But the IoT vision is not only exciting solutions, there are challenges to face. Which are the most important ones in your opinion? JW: Difficulty in implementing scalability across vertical markets is an important challenge. Market fragmentation is the main root of that difficulty. The market is composed of many different vertical industries and their applications tend to have little overlap, making it difficult to scale solutions. There is also complexity and customisation requirements, as the technologies involved in creating intelligent systems are extremely broad and complex, and most solutions do not provide a seamless realtime end-to-end experience between the business backbone and the system or device domain, and thus must be customized to some degree. Finally, the integration of different IoT architecture components is also a crucial barrier. Interoperability in IoT is an important matter and it requires collaboration – such as Industry 4.0 and IIC – and partnerships in which Kontron strongly believes and pursues. SR: How do you see the IoT evolving in terms of applications and impacts on sectors?
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
JW: Today, we are living the beginning of a long story. The IoT is a societal phenomenon, it will impact all levels of our daily life. Therefore, it will become ubiquitous from a sector perspective. For example in the utility sector, distributed energy sources such as solar and wind power approach 10% of total generated power, maintaining quality power becomes incredibly difficult without a dynamic demand mechanism to manage customer consumption in response to supply conditions at critical times, market price or demand situations. Suppliers need the ability to plan for contingencies with some margin for error given the unpredictable nature of wind and solar power. This can only be addressed by the use of intelligent devices that collect and analyse massive volumes of data. IoT monitoring and control enables the smart grid to adjust to ever-changing conditions with higher reliability, security, and performance than ever before.
“One of the most interesting (cloud-based) applications in the medical sector was to control humidity and count flies to reduce diseases.” Jens Wiegand, Kontron
In automotive and in industrial markets, through sensors, IoT communication and real-time data streaming, intelligent systems can send alerts when a key component needs repair. This capability increases efficiency by better managing inventory and decreasing stock costs. It also provides lots of predictive information to optimise additional processes and goods quality. In healthcare, smart M2M devices, enable through IoT architectures new sophisticated services, and applications allowing healthcare professionals to understand patients’ conditions and make accurate, timely, and realistic recommendations. In some cases actions can be taken – insulin for diabetes, for example, or perhaps a caregiver can be alerted. There are hundreds of IoT-based healthcare service opportunities in hospitals, doctors’ offices, homes, and also on mobile applications. Vending machines can communicate via RFID for inventory replenishment, cutting the cost and inefficiency of restocking to schedule rather than need. And those are just some examples, the only limit to the potential applications will be our creativity. SR: We have years of changes and transformations in front of us, how is Kontron preparing for that? JW: The process of change the IoT vision is bringing into our life and economies should be based around innovation and trust. The term IoT is often misused and misinterpreted. Our industry has to have a high level of customer intimacy in order to deliver the right solution, the one that meets the customer needs. Kontron can do that because we have worked around embedded systems for the past 20 years and we know all the challenges of embedded systems including connectivity, mobility, security and certification processes. Kontron will continue to offer to its customer base trust and knowledge and a continuous innovation flow able to always stay at the cutting edge of embedded systems.
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PLATFORMS
The IoT needs M2M M2M service platforms make IoT happen The M2M platforms used to support the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) market are now playing centre stage with a number of key technologies and alliances springing up to widen development. Writing for M2M Now, Antony Savvas looks at some of the main platform players.
Sigfox uses unlicensed radio spectrum and existing mobile operator masts to offer basic internet connectivity to IoT providers, which can include car makers, utility companies, smart home operators, and others firms paying a subscription for the privilege.
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The company reckons it will be able to offer a service to "half the world" within three years. Spanish security company Securitas is already using Sigfox’s network to connect smart home security systems. As well as Spain, Sigfox also already offers coverage in France, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and parts of the US.
Alliances vital in M2M Alliances will be key to delivering widespread M2M/IoT connectivity. This can be seen with the deal between global satellite firm Inmarsat and Stream Communications, making it an Inmarsat M2M distribution partner. This partnership reflects the growing convergence of satellite ▼
To illustrate the backing that M2M/IoT platforms are now getting, Sigfox, the French technology start-up, is in talks with investors to raise funds to help build a dedicated global network for the IoT. The company is aiming to raise at least €50 million (£42m / US$62.9m) to fund the building of a cellular network to support sensors attached to the IoT. It previously raised £13 million (€16.5m / $US20.8m) for network development.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
communications with existing GPRS, 3G, and 4G technologies in connecting M2M applications worldwide. Nigel Chadwick, founding director at Stream Communications, said: “Our partnership with Inmarsat will combine GSM and satellite technology to deliver anytime, anywhere M2M. Satellite connectivity can no longer be viewed as a niche component within the M2M space. To offer our customers the most affordable, consistent and seamless service across multiple territories, satellite services must be considered a vital element in the M2M mix.” Satellite M2M, says Chadwick, offers assurance against mobile network outages, and is not just a tool to address mobile "not spots". In today’s increasingly connected world, he says, connectivity failure can have "serious consequences". Vodafone has also given global approval for the use of Kontron’s M2M smart services developer kit on its cellular networks. OEMs can use this application-ready M2M platform to connect their distributed systems via GSMbased 2G and 3G networks to the IoT and embedded cloud applications. "The Vodafone certification is a decisive factor for our global OEM customers, as it enables the quick and cost-efficient market introduction of their cloud-based remote supervision and management appliances," said Kevin Rhoads, vice president of Kontron’s embedded products business unit. The Kontron kit provides scalable processor performance, and cellular network connections to cloud applications are offered with pre-installed 3G connectivity, which can be extended for higher bandwidth applications via a 4G module. Another operator/M2M platform alliance has seen Interoute, owner of Europe’s largest fibre network, strike an M2M connectivity deal with Wyless. The Wyless Porthos Management Platform will be used across Interoute's Virtual Data Centre (VDC) offering to support Wyless customer services and connected devices. Porthos on Interoute VDC in New York is supporting Wyless’ partnership with a large mobile operator in the US, who will use the Porthos Management Platform to manage its M2M services. A second Interoute VDC site in London will add global capability to the Wyless platform and serve as a failover for the US location.
Securing the IoT On the security side of things, Oberthur Technologies (OT), a leader in digital security solutions for the mobility space, is partnering with Cumulocity, the IoT platform provider, to extend the security it already offers in smartcards, banking and mobile to the IoT space. OT is providing a solution to help Cumulocity customers securely collect data from any connected object over any network, manage those objects in real-time – including remote
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
configuration and software updates – and easily develop business applications. "By joining forces with Cumulocity we are extending our offer beyond connectivity and security and moving up the M2M value chain,” said Marek Juda, managing director of the solutions business unit at OT. Bernd Groß, CEO of Cumulocity, said: "The Internet of Things is going to be based on open cloud platforms to integrate real time machine and sensor data with existing IT systems, mashups of internet services and new applications. In close collaboration with OT, our customers will be able to capitalise on the IoT based on secure, mobility-oriented and highly extensible software-as-a-service offerings.”
Nigel Chadwick, founding director, Stream Communications
Herding the IoT Not only things, but animals are now being served by M2M/IoT platforms. ThingWorx, a PTC group-owned business, recently announced that Vital Herd, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution provider for animal health and nutrition management had selected its technology. The ThingWorx application platform will be used to power M2M non-invasive individual animal monitoring technology, through sensors that the animals swallow.
Marek Juda, managing director, solutions business unit, Oberthur Technologies
This technology will offer advanced intelligence and analytics to dairy and beef operations to improve animal health and nutrition management, which until now has been largely done by visual observation. Vital Herd is offering ePills which contain a novel sensor that captures real-time vital information from each cow, for the life of the animal. Vital Herd is using the ThingWorx application platform to develop the data, create vital benchmarks for each animal, and then deliver this information back to the producer in an easy-to-understand, actionable dashboard format. Brian Walsh, CEO of Vital Herd, said: "Being able to collect individual animal data economically that can provide early insights into health or nutrition is vitally important, and can make a very meaningful impact on productivity. We chose the ThingWorx platform because we are able to rapidly develop intuitive applications that highlight what action may be needed before possible disease or nutrition becomes a clinical problem." The animal theme continues with leading IoT player Telit Wireless Solutions, which has been involved in a tracking solution for koala bears in Australia. LX Design House, an Australian IoT and M2M contract electronics design consultancy, has been working with the Australian Koala Foundation's conservation programme to develop “the ultimate koala tracking collar” using Telit technology. The small and lightweight Telit GSM HE910 module is being used to track the animals with location accuracy of less than 2.5m. In addition to GPS co-ordinates the tracker provides veterinary staff with information on activity levels.
Antony Savvas, freelance technology writer
For more M2M/IoT developments, see the contract Hot List on page 8
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PLATFORMS
Better than a crystal ball Service providers can’t know the future so it must be made easy to add and integrate new features
David Friedman, co-founder and chief executive of Ayla Networks, tells M2M Now why it’s time to stop attempting to re-invent the wheel, endlessly writing specific software for specific applications and devices, and instead turn to easily-configurable, end-to-end platforms that can scale up massively as M2M and IoT deployments reach their potential of billions, not millions, of connected devices.
Dave Friedman, Ayla Networks
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M2M Now: There’s a lot of discussion about helping customers avoid re-inventing the wheel by supplying them with an end-to-end platform so they don’t have to build everything themselves. What does it mean to build a truly end-to-end platform? David Friedman: Most of our customers are focused first on building an internet-connected service stack. For example, if you consider an HVAC provider, it may seem mundane but when the device is first brought to a home, issues such as how it finds the network and how security is addressed are fundamental. Basic networking has to happen in order to maintain a set of applications for a device such as a thermostat that sits on a wall.
shared elements and each company shouldn’t have to be building those themselves. We have customers that have launched a product and service but are turning to us now as they are running into issues with scalability. It’s fine to launch a service for 10,000 or 100,000 people but beyond that things start to become a problem. M2M deployments are not static so how do you design a system that future proofs smart products, even after they have been deployed?
It becomes more complex because this has to be done in a very, very scalable way with massive amounts of data being created and managed and 100% uptime achieved over a broad geography.
DF: This is one of the areas in which Ayla Networks is different from our competitors. For example, with a thermostat, it’s hard to know what features the customers may want next year. In fact, in any market, it’s a given that we can’t know what features will be important so, given the deployment lifespan of many devices, it’s critical that it should be easy to add and integrate new features.
It’s certainly possible for our customers to build a demo but it’s often difficult to move beyond that into production devices. Whether something is going to be a thermostat, a water heater, or a dog water bowl monitor it actually has so many
Ayla Networks has a very configurable platform and we don’t write software for a specific company. Think of it as like Salesforce. That’s software that tracks sales but they don’t write software for a specific customer, they write the
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“Following a reusable and configurable endto-end platform approach, IoT platforms enable a path for customers to rapidly launch new products in a way that scales as the market unfolds.”
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
David Friedman is co-founder and chief executive of Ayla Networks, which provides an end-to-end platform that allows manufacturers to turn home controls, HVAC, appliances, lighting and other every day products into intelligent devices that are managed in the cloud and controlled by mobile applications. The company has more than 350 man-years of experience in building cloud-based software with some of the largest vendors in the world.
sales tracking software and it’s about the customers using and configuring that software to suit their needs.
what you’re going to do with the data at deployment to set yourself up with the right platform to extract useful insights.
For example, a device such as a washing machine can be configured to download a new, high efficiency wash programme while deployed. A device can then be further updated to deliver significant flexibility and enable it to be continuously enhanced and enabled to iterate the best service.
For instance, something as simple as which features customers are using and which they aren’t can be extremely valuable. There is so much value buried within the data that, after launch, customers can start to explore and apply data science to that device data bringing the insights to light.
Manufacturers now have the ability to collect data that historically they have never had access to. There are potentially huge advantages associated with that but it’s one thing to collect data and another to make sense of it. How do you enable customers to take complete advantage of their data? DF: It starts with another situation in which it’s productive to avoid reinventing the wheel. In our service we have created data platforms and doing that is very hard for the customer. The architecture can absorb massive volumes of data and the first part of the challenge is to store it. However, data is not the first thing customers care about. Their main motivation is to get the thermostat – or whatever other product they have – launched. They do, though, understand that it will have value. Significantly, extracting some of that value doesn’t have to be particularly complex. There is so much low-hanging fruit in data that it’s not necessary to have brilliant algorithms in place, you just need to have some relatively simple tools to analyse the data. It’s not necessary to know
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
How do you see the market developing as customers mature and recognise the need to address the immense requirements of M2M scalability? Do you see the supplier side of the market becoming more streamlined? DF: There is no doubt that the market for connected devices is taking off like a rocket, but there is still a tremendous amount of friction in developing these connected devices as there is an array of different technology layers and standards in the market. However, as more and more manufacturers enter the IoT, we are seeing increasing pressure for standardisation that can help bring some order to the space. The older model of creating a unique solution for each customer doesn’t support the scalability requirements as the market matures. In our view, the market will experience some consolidation where we see the IoT space driven by a lead pack of platform providers. Following a reusable and configurable end-to-end platform approach, IoT platforms enable a path for customers to rapidly launch new products in a way that scales as the market unfolds.
M2M Now Jargon Buster: HVAC: Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning IoT: Internet of Things M2M: Machine-tomachine communications
www.aylanetworks.com
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PLATFORMS
IoT platform market drivers The cloud, alliances, and standards M2M platform suppliers are increasingly looking to the cloud to extend their products' reach and improve the operations of their customers as they move to the Internet of Things. The cloud, along with evolving standards and trends covered here, is set to dominate the market, reports freelance technology writer, Antony Savvas.
As the efficiency and speed of wireless networks improve, the ability of the cloud to control large-scale device deployments will also be enhanced The cloud offers enterprises and network operators the scalability and flexibility they need to update and manage M2M (machineto-machine) devices, as well as providing the online capacity to store, process and analyse the data collected from those devices.
Felix Marchal, chief product officer, Telit Wireless Solutions
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This is extremely important as the number of M2M devices spirals â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as the Internet of Things (IoT) starts to become a reality â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in the enterprise and in the home. A cloud-based management platform, that can be located at a single point, can control multiple M2M applications and provide the necessary analytics to get the most out of this data for the benefit of enterprises.
This contributes to efficient business processes and cuts M2M operational costs. Further, as the efficiency and speed of wireless networks improve, the ability of the cloud to control large-scale device deployments will also be enhanced. M2M change-configuration settings, software updates, troubleshooting through device log files, and device performance analysis can all be done quicker through an automated cloud-based front end.
Alliances The delivery of such cloud-based solutions will often be enabled through industry alliances across communications hardware and software specialists, analytics software leaders, and mobile operators. For instance, a significant alliance is the one between Ericsson and SAP, who have invited mobile operators to join them in jointly selling one-stop shop cloud-based M2M solutions to enterprises. This offering combines Ericsson's device connection and service enablement platforms and SAP's cloud-based HANA data analytics system. â&#x2013;ź
The Cloud
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
To further demonstrate the importance of alliances when it come to pushing forward the Internet of Things, leading server and data centre virtualisation software firm VMware and M2M leader Jasper Technologies are collaborating to make it easier for enterprises to deploy, monitor, manage and secure connected devices across the IoT using enterprise mobility management (EMM). The partnership encompasses VMware's EMM platform, AirWatch, and Jasper Control Centre, a leading IoT service platform. The combination of mobile services management from Jasper and device management from AirWatch addresses a need across enterprises for an integrated IoT/EMM solution. Providing businesses worldwide with automated, real-time control over device and service costs, availability and security will enable them to "make smarter, real-time operational decisions", the partners say. “As a customer of both Jasper and AirWatch, this bridging of technologies will provide realtime, practical management capabilities for Schneider Electric’s investments in the Internet of Things,” said Arindam Sen, senior vice president at Schneider Electric. “This partnership will help further drive our initiatives with connected devices.”
Standards On the standards front there has also been major progress from mobile industry association GSMA, with an embedded SIM specification for M2M and the Internet of Things that will "accelerate" the market, according to analysts. The GSMA eUICC Embedded SIM Specification has been welcomed by analysts Beecham Research in a report. The report was launched in association with the GSMA, to coincide with an announcement that leading mobile operators, along with SIM and module manufacturers, have all launched solutions compliant with the new specification. Those backing the "over the air" provisioning standard include mobile operators AT&T, Etisalat, NTT DOCOMO, Telefónica and Vodafone, alongside SIM and module manufacturers Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Morpho, Oberthur Technologies, Sierra Wireless, and Telit. Ericsson, Jasper Technologies, and Telenor Connexion are also expected to climb on board. The use of traditional handset SIM cards presents challenges for insertion and replacement in M2M products for transport, consumer electronics, utilities and other applications, which can add cost and create barriers to sales.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
Embedded SIMs To overcome this, a non-removable SIM, embedded at the point of manufacture, enables remote provisioning of a user subscription profile by the operator providing the connectivity. This eliminates the need to replace SIM cards over the lifetime of each M2M product, reducing ongoing operational and logistical costs and helping to streamline the retail process. "Gemalto sees tremendous benefit from the implementation of the GSMA Embedded SIM specification. Our M2M solutions are compliant with the GSMA specification, and we are excited about the easier roadmap this will bring to commercial projects leveraging this standard to meet growing M2M demand,” said Benoit Jouffrey, VP for on-demand connectivity solutions at Gemalto. The Beecham Research report examines particular opportunities in the auto, consumer electronics and smart metering sectors, among others. “The availability of the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification is a big deal for the connected devices market,” said Robin Duke-Woolley, CEO of Beecham Research. “This is targeted primarily at the OEM community to make it easier and more streamlined both to build cellular connectivity into their products and to sell them through many more channels to market."
Robin Duke-Woolley, CEO, Beecham Research
Benoit Jouffrey, VP, on-demand connectivity solutions, Gemalto
He added: "The solution also considerably opens up the second-hand market in cars and other products for continued use of support services by second and subsequent owners.” The estimated uplift in the installed base of connected devices by 2020, as a result of using the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification – as opposed to proprietary embedded SIM solutions, is calculated at 34% according to the report. Olivier Beaujard, VP of market development at Sierra Wireless, said: “A number of our 3G and 4G LTE M2M and automotive products are compliant and ready to be released to the market based on the GSMA Embedded SIM Specification. We have worked closely with the GSMA and industry partners to create products that adhere to a globally recognised solution that will avoid unnecessary fragmentation, and ensure the M2M and automotive market grows rapidly.” Felix Marchal, chief product officer at Telit Wireless Solutions, added: “The unique environmental requirements of M2M and automotive applications have long pointed to the need for an industrial quality SIM solution. We are grateful to the GSMA for their work in creating a standardised embedded SIM specification, pleased to have been a part of its definition, and delighted to be among the first to offer a commercial solution based on this standard.”
Antony Savvas, freelance technology writer
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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW “You can argue which one is number one or which is number two, it doesn’t matter anymore since we are all part of the same company…so immediately, one plus one equals three” Bill Zujewski
Bill Zujewski is PTC’s SVP of IoT Marketing and Strategy
The Inside Story on PTC’s acquisition of Axeda - and what happens next … A few months ago, Axeda made big news by becoming the second US$100 million+ acquisition in the IoT space for software company PTC. PTC, which has historically been known for 2-D and 3-D design, product lifecycle management (PLM), and service management solutions is keen on becoming known as the leader in helping its customers capitalise on the value of IoT. James Brehm recently had the opportunity to sit down with Bill Zujewski, formerly the CMO of Axeda and new SVP of IoT Marketing and Strategy for PTC. Here is his report.
So the last time we talked, you were a completely different company. Can you share with us a little bit about what happened, how the organisation now aligns, and your new role? BZ: Sure. So, let’s go back to the beginning. The craziness was that we couldn’t really divulge everything while you were here, since PTC is a public company, but a couple of days after you left our office, or a day maybe, PTC publically announced their intent to acquire us. That transaction went through in August. I know on the surface, for a lot of people, it
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sounded redundant, like ‘Why are they buying the two leading platforms in the IoT market?’ (PTC had just spent $117 million acquiring ThingWorx.) You can argue which one is number one or two, it doesn’t matter anymore since we’re a part of the same company. Axeda had focused on our agent technology and the connectivity remote service applications around remote monitoring software management, etc. We didn’t have a developer environment with mash-up or drag-and-drop tools, and that’s where ThingWorx focused. So, immediately, one plus one equals three. And because we (Axeda) embraced open standards around services, you can start building ThingWorx applications on top of Axeda’s Device Cloud and Axeda’s data right out of the gate. So where I’ve landed is that I’m SVP of IoT Marketing and Strategies, the new IoT Division of PTC headed up by Russ Fadel. ▼
JB: Bill, the last time we spoke was the morning of July 23rd in Axeda’s offices. We had a great discussion about the state of the market, our research, and what Axeda was currently doing. But at the end of that meeting, you mentioned that we should watch for some news that would be released in the coming days. I think it was later that day or the next PTC announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire Axeda.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
If you look at PTC’s history, they became a hot high-tech company in the ‘90s with their flagship CAD product, ProEngineer. It was the market leader, enabling manufacturers to do three dimensional drawings and modelling of products they were building. Then they acquired a company called WindChill that did product lifecycle management. So they were playing to manufacturers, and over the last five years, they bought Servigistics, ArborText, and acquired a few other service lifecycle management companies and became focused on discreet manufacturers. So, to get into connected products made a lot of sense for them strategically with their background and focus on strategic products. What’s going to happen with the Axeda technology is that it’s going to totally be preserved. Pieces of it, the remote service applications, remote monitoring and remote login management, will go into the service lifecycle family of products. In fact, the Axeda brand lives on as PTC rebrands some of their older products and re-launches them under the Axeda brand. At PTC, Axeda will be synonymous with connected service. And our agent technology and device cloud will get rebranded under the ThingWorx brand name. So now PTC has ThingWorx, a product line focused on the IoT platform, and Axeda, a product line focused on remote service applications. The good news for our customers is all our agent and connectivity is 100% preserved, and on the roadmap for enhancements. They will be able to use Axeda’s connectivity in their products, knowing they’ll fully support devices in the ThingWorx environment. JB: That’s great. You said you moved over into the IoT world under Russ. What’s the old Axeda look like now, and how’s that going to be structured and aligned under PTC? Is that going under a different group as well? BZ: It’s a matrix organisation, a 6,000 employee company with more than $1.6 billion in revenue, so there’s a massive support organisation. Dave Hart, who’s our SVP and CTO, has now been appointed head of engineering for the M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
unified ThingWorx organisation under Russ. I’m going to be running marketing for ThingWorx IoT, and David Canavan and our partner management team will stay under Russ as well. Support, finance and services roll into the horizontal PTC functions. And the Axeda sales team goes under a global sales force – which is great for us, because all of a sudden we go from having eight sales people at Axeda to having almost 400.
PTC is a big believer in a channel approach as well, so we’re probably going to be enhancing the relationship with AT&T
JB: Axeda had done some interesting things, specifically with AT&T as a partner, to help you out from a sales standpoint. Is that a relationship that you bring over to PTC and enhance? BZ: PTC is a big believer in a channel approach as well, so we’re probably going to be enhancing the relationship with AT&T. We’re also interested in doing some OEM deals. In the next couple of quarters, you’ll probably hear about a couple deals in Europe and Asia OEMing the ThingWorx stack. That will be an important for us moving forward – it’s almost a two-prong strategy. PTC now has a holistic story around connected products with the PLM, SLM, and other PTC products, offering a true connected products story. And we’re still very interested in niche IoT platform markets, things like smart farming and digital signage using ThingWorx. JB: Your solutions and services have penetrated a lot of markets that PTC wouldn’t ordinarily touch. How is PTC going to take advantage of those? Are there markets that Axeda had that PTC wants to get into? You’re a horizontal platform, so is there a vertical strategy at play? BZ: Yes, there absolutely is. We segmented our sales force. First is the strategic accounts force calling on about 6,000 out of the 28,000 PTC customers. That’s basically our vertical focus on discreet manufacturers. Within this group, there’s definitely going to be some focus on medical, industrial, and high-tech, which has been the traditional sweet spot for us, but a new market for us is consumer products. PTC has thousands of companies that are making bikes, appliances, things in the home, vehicles, motorcycles … there are all these consumer products that we’ll now have relationships with. We’ll expand beyond our traditional markets and go into consumer markets more. So that’s the strategy within that organisation. ▼
At a high level, acquisition made a lot of sense for PTC. Axeda’s sweet spot was discreet manufactures – people who build smart connected products. And sure enough, that’s where PTC’s sweet spot is too.
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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW “Data and Analytics seem to be next on the list (for PTC).” James Brehm, James Brehm & Associates
This interview was conducted by James Brehm, Founder of James Brehm & Associates
JB: Does the acquisition change any of the focus on the developer community? You guys launched Axeda University, and that seemed to me like it would be a ‘home run’ with the developers and the makers. BZ: Yeah, this is where we were way ahead of ThingWorx. But, stay tuned, because we’re going to be re-launching www.thingworx.com in the next month or so with a developer experience. There will be a try and buy pass … so people can kick the tires. Longer term, we’ll try to figure out how to reconcile what we have with the Axeda community with the PTC and ThingWorx communities and try to create a new IoT community. We haven’t worked all of the details out on that yet. JB: As an analyst, I have to look at things as qualitative and quantitative; if I looked at it purely quantitatively, how big are you? How many endpoints are hanging off there, you know, wireless, wired, whatever, how many connections do you guys have? How big is this combined thing? BZ: Well, we’re well over 200 customers. We hope to at least double that with our pipeline within the next 12 months. We’ve got 2 to 3 million assets connected to us and we hope to double that number as well in the next 12 months. We’re not the gorilla in the industry now, but I would say that we’re the safest bet because of having an install base of 200 plus customers. JB: So, what’s keeping you up at night, Bill? BZ: Probably not moving fast enough. It’s amazing, I’m doing one or two corporate meetings a week now, where people talk about
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IoT strategy. We didn’t have that at Axeda. It’s a little scary. JB: That makes sense. If the acquisition is meant to create one of the largest centres of excellence in IoT, which I believe it is, then what will be your strategic focuses, over the short term and over the long term as this thing develops? BZ: Short-term is basically go out and communicate our strategy and story to the world. Bring a comfort level that PTC is not going to absorb this into its own product line. That PTC is about the IoT segment standalone. That’s key to our strategy, to preserve the ThingWorx brand and that Axeda remote services brand. I feel like there’s a land-grab going on right here, so we want to go and establish ourselves with pilots, prototypes, and be on the leading edge. And continue being that product leader that people can lean on; so, we can get the prototypes and proof-of-concepts that really count. That can definitely accelerate the growth of the company, of the IoT division. JB: It seems like companies that historically focused on providing connectivity solutions in M2M, like Jasper, have started to rebrand themselves to say that they’re an IoT player. And, they seem to be branching out and trying to acquire a sales force that allows them that capability. What they don’t have is the horizontal platform or the mash-up engine that you guys have put together. But, is there anything missing, from the tools that you have now that would just create the killer thing? BZ: I think the only thing that, and CEO Jim Hepplemann has been public about this, is there definitely is an analytics opportunity in IoT. I wouldn’t be surprised if we partner with an OEM or acquire a company in order to offer specialised analytics. ▼
Then there’s a small group of about eight people doing business development around the big deals like AT&T, Hitachi, and a couple of others that you’ll see coming up.
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
We don’t want to be a horizontal player that competes with Splunk and these big data warehouse solutions, but we may want to have some analytics capabilities around predictive maintenance and quality parts analysis and things specifically related to IoT use cases. JB: That’s the name of the game right now. We’ve moved beyond the focus on connectivity and figured out that the value is in the data. BZ: You guys are some of the few analysts who have seen the products and understand the technology. But if you went to both of our homepages (Axeda and ThingWorx) we sounded the same. Even Jasper sounds like us, and you know they’re nothing like us. So when you strip away the marketing hype, what we did was pretty different. As the Head of Marketing, I have to get that word out. The FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) is going to be out there saying that it’s going to take a year for Axeda, PTC, and ThingWorx to reconcile all the redundancy they have. That’s totally not true, but I can hear that FUD coming from our competitors already. JB: Is there anything else that you want to convey to the readers? BZ: The only thing you didn’t ask was how were the two companies getting along? (Laughs). Because we were indirectly competitors for a while and it was awkward for maybe 24 hours, but when we started working together and saw what we could do together, it’s worked out really great. The two cultures are interacting well – so far so good from that perspective. JB: That’s great. How does a small guy like ThingWorx integrate into a bigger company like PTC? I think there might have been more of a cultural challenge there, rather than with you guys, even though you kind of did compete. You could always claim that it was a competition, even if you guys weren’t directly competing.
decision was we only need one brand representing an IoT platform. ThingWorx had some caché about being a little younger and landed on ThingWorx being the IoT platform brand. That was the right decision and people have gotten over that. The good news is, a month later, they decided to preserve the Axeda brand and leverage that under the service product family and have Axeda branded as the next generation service. It was a win-win, in the end.
We don’t want to be a horizontal player that competes with Splunk and these big data warehouse solutions Bill Zujewski, PTC
JB: One last question, how big a party was it when the acquisition was announced? BZ: You know, most people were happy and had shares in the company, so it was a good exit. JB: Well, I thought you seemed in pretty good spirits when we were out there. Congratulations. BZ: Thanks, James.
Brehm’s verdict There has been a lot of confusion and speculation around PTC’s acquisition of Axeda and ThingWorx, two of the best known brands in M2M. But throughout the discussion and through our ongoing research, we believe that the value of the acquisition is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. The success or failure of an acquisition is in the planning and implementation of integration. And because PTC is not a newcomer at the M&A process, integration should not be a huge hurdle to cross. The steps they have taken thus far and the unified message coming from the acquired leads us to believe this is one entity to watch for years to come. What’s next? Only those in the boardroom for PTC know for sure, but Data and Analytics seem to be next on the list.
BZ: One thing that hurt a little was … the hard
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
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PLATFORMS
EXPERT OPINION:
Developing your own M2M/IoT applications made easy ILS Technology just celebrated the first anniversary of being part of the Telit family… and what a year it has been, says Fred Yentz, president and CEO of ILS Technology. The integration has been highly positive on all fronts – innovation has accelerated and our products and services are now fully aligned to offer our customers a unique “ONE STOP. ONE SHOP.” experience.
“Performance data collected from coolers and freezers allows for predictive maintenance.”
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GETTING STARTED IS EASY Connecting your “things” to the Cloud has never been easier when using Cloud-ready Telit Wireless Modules, m2mAIR Mobile wireless connectivity and the m2mAIR Cloud service that simplifies the creation of end-to-end applications for M2M and the Internet-of-Things – from rapid-prototyping to basic entry-level solutions and full scale enterprise-grade deployments across the globe. The m2mAIR Cloud Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), powered by the popular deviceWISE Application Enablement Platform (AEP), lets you connect, collect, and control anything with bi-directional data transfers between your things and the Cloud.
complexity and cost versus building your own custom point-solutions. If you’re starting out, the easy-to-use portal has all the necessary visualisation tools that you will need for most remote tracking, monitoring and control applications across all industries and markets, right out of the box. m2mAIR Cloud also meets the most stringent requirements of global organisations that rely on mission-critical reliability, security, scalability and enterprisegrade performance for the Internet of Things.
THE POWER OF deviceWISE
REDUCE RISK, TIME, COMPLEXITY AND COST
Leveraging the power of deviceWISE, m2mAIR Cloud includes a comprehensive set of functions that are considered the industry benchmark for M2M/IoT deployments:
A simple “pay-as-you-grow” usage-based subscription plan gives you unlimited access to all features and capabilities of a proven and mature platform – reducing the risk, time-to-market,
Thing Integration: Connect, collect, and control virtually anything – new or old – using a variety of software agents and APIs with built-in drivers ▼
The author is Fred Yentz, president and CEO of ILS Technology, a Telit company
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
and edge intelligence, including: Cloud-ready Telit modules, Gateway Agent software, and Open APIs. Device Management: Complete remote updates and configuration management – run campaigns to single devices, groups or all. Network Integration: Integration with MNOs’ M2M provisioning platforms allows a simplified user experience across any wireless network. End-to-End Security: Configurable security settings for device and user authentication and registration, role-based permissions, encryption, and audit and reporting. Cloud Data Storage: Comprehensive management portal and scalable data storage. Application Integration: Open APIs for web-based and mobile apps and dashboards, from simple functions to big data analytics. Enterprise Integration: Built-in Enterprise Gateway technology for integration with enterprise systems from IBM, SAP, ORACLE, Microsoft, Any SQL, Webservices, etc.
DO-IT-YOURSELF Designed for easy-of-use, m2mAIR Cloud provides all that’s necessary to build your own M2M/IoT solutions – from prototyping to commercialisation. • • • • • •
Extensive developer resources and support Self-registration and configuration Intuitive customised management portal Click-to-Cloud configuration and visualisation tools Evaluation Kit for advanced rapid-development Unlimited access to the thriving deviceWISE community
A THRIVING ECOSYSTEM Customers looking for a little extra help or a turnkey solution can also leverage our ever-expanding network of recognised M2M/IoT technology and product developers, system integrators and telecom carriers, as needed. Resources include deviceWISE Ready hardware and software, professional services and integration support, wireless network services, custom point solutions and applications, and end-to-end commercial deployments. In practical terms, the deviceWISE community represents all aspects of the entire M2M/IoT ecosystem whereby all parties benefit from the interaction and collaboration around a common technology and commercial platform – allowing participants to focus on business innovation, not “plumbing”. For example, the power of the deviceWISE open ecosystem means that m2mAIR Cloud customers can get to market faster with instant access to a virtual market place for their products and services. Similarly, Application Service Providers (ASPs) can promote and market turnkey applications for telematics, energy, agriculture or any other market segment as plug-and-play solutions across a growing number of mobile networks that are powered by deviceWISE around the world.
ONE PLATFORM, MANY MARKETS m2mAIR Cloud serves customers – large and small – in many industries, including asset tracking, telematics, vending, energy demand response, restaurant operations, building automation, smart metering, agriculture, food and beverage, energy conservation, access control, secure monitoring, automotive manufacturing, and data centre management. The following compelling use cases illustrate how m2mAIR Cloud, powered by the deviceWISE Application Enablement Platform is deployed in the real world:
M2M Now - December 2014 / January 2015
Smart Building Automation: Florida Atlantic University is committed to sustainability in its curriculum as well as its operations. The college of engineering and computer science is the first academic building in southeast Florida designed and built to LEED Platinum standards. The university wanted to use the building as a living laboratory and showcase to provide a foundation for Smart Building and sustainability research. To facilitate student use of the system, FAU needed state-of-the-art instrumentation, data collection and visualisation. By choosing deviceWise, FAU reduced energy and water costs as well as maintenance costs. By sharing energy usage with a global community on any device from anywhere in the world, FAU is educating students on sustainability and precious resources. Asset Tracking and Telematics: InventureTrack Systems is a leading edge cellular-based GPS solutions provider. InventureTrack needed to provide its customers with a way to extract real-time, critical business information from a single web-based portal in order to make more informed business decisions. By leveraging the deviceWISE AEP, the InventureTrack system extracts data and provides critical, time-sensitive information including event alerts and usage. InventureTrack customers are able to manage all their assets from a single Web-based portal, and make informed decisions based on up-to-the-minute, event-driven alerts and data. Cold Chain Logistics: Health organisations depend on the medical cold chain to safely store and transport blood, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals critical to patient health. Temperature changes at any point can comprise patient safety and result in loss of critical supplies. Cooler devices must be monitored at all times for power outages and temperature changes. By using the deviceWise AEP, medical suppliers can monitor a high number of cooler devices located across an extensive geographical area, potentially spanning several regions. They can use the power of deviceWise to monitor device health ensuring optimal temperature and reducing risk and costs associated with device failure or downtime. Fleet Management: Companies that manage automotive fleets need better insight to improve customer service, maintain the mechanical health of their vehicles, improve fuel efficiencies, monitor driver behaviour, and provide faster emergency response. They need to collect real-time information about their vehicles such as location an operational status. deviceWISE helps automotive fleet operators monitor vehicle location and operation including fuel and battery level, ignition and door state, and driving patterns. Big Data Analytics: deviceWISE is used to monitor and control commercial refrigeration equipment with real-time analytics on Cloud-based applications using SAP HANA to reshape the management of cold storage in industrial and retail markets. Food and beverage companies can use the software to help control the quality, temperature and freshness of their inventories – whether during production, while in transit, at distribution centres, or at retail. They can also monitor real-time demand and inventories and improve production scheduling and logistics, resulting in sizeable operational efficiencies and profitability. Additionally, performance data collected from coolers and freezers allows for predictive maintenance that can significantly extend the uptime and life of the equipment. We know there is an unimaginable number of ideas out there that ONE STOP. ONE SHOP. will bring into being. We will continue to add value with improvements in features, capabilities and integration of the ONE STOP. ONE SHOP. , the industry’s new gold standard.
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A shift from technology to business Users show keen interest in new solutions The 8th M2M Summit held in Dusseldorf in October 2014, with its 60 exhibitors and around 800 participants from more than 35 countries, was most of all an informative industry gathering for businesses that want to use M2M. Eric Schneider, Chairman of the M2M Alliance, reveals some of the interesting and evolving perspectives from the event. Supported by Hannelore Kraft, MinisterPresident of North Rhine-Westphalia, amongst others, those attending this year’s M2M Summit conference and exhibition - Europe's largest event of its kind - weren’t talking about future technologies with great potential any more. Instead, they discussed omnipresent technology that brings users many advantages. Eric Schneider, chairman, M2M Alliance
The event’s sessions offered a panel discussion on the customer experience, and guided tours showed participants what can already be realised with today’s technology, including aspects of the Internet of Things (IoT), its future, and the benefits of M2M in the Industry 4.0. “Our goal was to promote the exchange between suppliers and users this year,” said Eric Schneider, chairman of the M2M Alliance. “And we succeeded. Now that the users see a benefit for themselves and accept new technologies, M2M applications have become an important part of our everyday lives. As we were told by the 60 exhibitors, the demand of the actual users was bigger than ever.” In addition to this new focus - the needs of the customers - Schneider sees the changing approaches within companies as one of the reasons for the increased interest of the user. “Today, the M2M projects no longer start in the IT department, but on management level. The companies are focusing much more on the actual benefits for the business,” said Schneider. “M2M solutions are also being increasingly used in the field of recreational sports and wellness.” Internationally renowned experts such as; Vasanth Philomin, Philips CityTouch; Dr. Alexander Lautz, T-Systems International; Prof. Uwe Kubach, SAP; Matt Hatton, Machina Research; and Helmut Schnierle, Telefónica presented the latest solutions, trends, and research around topics such as smart cities, intelligent energy management, automated farming, wearables, and connected cars.
SERVICE DELIVERY
Driving a common approach to IoT The GSMA’s Connected Living Programme is designed to help network operators accelerate the delivery of new connected devices and services in the M2M market which is set to reach 244 million global connections this year according to GSMA Intelligence. GSMA’s Graham Trickey writes, we want to enable the Internet of Things (IoT) and create an environment where consumers and businesses can enjoy rich new services that are connected by an intelligent and secure mobile network.
The author is Graham Trickey, head of Connected Living, GSMA
We’ve experienced significant momentum in recent weeks with the announcement of two initiatives designed to accelerate the adoption of M2M services and ensure mobile networks are safeguarded as the IoT grows. The GSMA Embedded SIM Specification was first released in December 2013 and has now received the support of leading global operators and ecosystem partners who have all announced solutions compliant with it. The specification facilitates over-the-air operator provisioning which allows mobile network operators to provide scalable, reliable and secure connectivity for M2M connected devices that are often hermetically sealed. It highlights that the industry is moving towards a
single, common and interoperable specification that will accelerate the M2M market. We have also published IoT Device Connection Efficiency Guidelines that outline how devices and applications should communicate via mobile networks in the most intelligent and efficient way. The guidelines are intended for use by all players in the mobile ecosystem and have been formed to ensure that mobile networks can efficiently accommodate and support the ever-increasing number of connected devices and services that we’re seeing with the rapid growth of M2M. The GSMA continues to work closely with its operator members on both of these initiatives, which are already having an impact across the industry. If we unite all stakeholders behind common global standards, we can accelerate the growing M2M market and deliver the positive benefits to everyone.
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