DT launches M2M marketplace: EE launches M2M Management Platform and “market ambition”
Deutsche Telekom (DT) and Everything Everywhere, the UK operator joint venture half-owned by DT, have both announced initiatives in the M2M space.
DT has launched an M2M partner portal to 150 partners, with a dedicated section on its M2M portal. Deutsche Telekom said it is offering partners an opportunity to present their M2M applications to hardware and software providers, service providers and systems-integrators and to market these applications globally. The portal is also intended to enable potential new partners from the M2M environment and customers to obtain information about existing products, find the right partner companies and develop new ideas themselves.
“Our partner platform follows the creation of the international M2M Competence Center and the international M2M Service Alliance as another milestone in the implementation of our strategy for the growth market of machine-to-machine communication,” said Rainer Deutschmann, Senior Vice President of Core Business Products at Deutsche Telekom. “We are creating an M2M marketplace between our constantly expanding global partner network and our customers, who can find solutions for their specific usage scenarios here.“
The Deutsche Telekom M2M portal launches with solutions from 40 partners and 16 countries, showing solutions from the nine areas of application of the Telekom M2M Competence Center, namely energy, vehicle telematics, healthcare, retail & commerce, industrial automation, public sector, security, transport and logistics, and consumer electronics. A solution finder allows users to search for partner solutions by country or area of application, as well as by using keywords.
Everything Everywhere (EE), meanwhile, has launched its new M2M Management Platform, something it described as a major step towards its goal of becoming partner of choice in the M2M space. The M2M Management Platform is a propriety M2M platform developed in partnership with Transatel and is intended to enable businesses to securely manage their accounts and connections wherever they are.
Everything Everywhere also announced a new specialist M2M partner, Redtail Telematics, which it said would expand its ability to provide connectivity solutions for customers in a number of new service areas, including the telematics and automotive market.
Marc Overton, Vice President Wholesale and M2M, Everything Everywhere said, “The launch of the M2M Management Platform is a key step in our ambition to become the number one partner of choice for M2M services. Companies of all sizes are asking for solutions that are easy to deploy, with a self service platform that puts the control back into their hands. We are expanding into new markets and innovative areas of service that will help companies to transform their business through mobility. As part of this we are thrilled to be working with Transatel and Redtail and are actively seeking other expert partners around the world to help us to achieve Everything Everywhere’s ambition to provide customers with instant access to data wherever they are.”
The M2M Management Platform and self-service web portal includes:
• Connection profiles: including identification of relevant services for the user
• Tariffs: bundles can be shared across connections and subscriptions can be added
• Call Detail Records: providing customers with records for every SMS and GPRS call within one hour
• SIMs: that can be ordered directly via the M2M Management Platform
This is the first phase of the M2M Management Platform launch, and it will be followed by the release of the API to allow customers to integrate M2M operations into existing CRM systems and other business applications.
Accompanying the API release, Everything Everywhere will also encourage innovation and the incubation of new M2M solutions, by supporting the developer community. They will be provided with free SIM cards loaded with credit for testing, and given access to Everything Everywhere labs in which to work on their projects.