The M2M. 15 Dots on the Map Provide a Foundation for New Apps. 18 The Smart Grid Power Play

Transcription

1 The M2M Opportunity Often considered the workhorse of the wireless industry, machine-to-machine (M2M) communications has been around for more than a decade, delivering small bits of data across wireless networks for certain key industries such as telemetry and asset tracking. But now the M2M industry is facing a resurgence thanks primarily to declining prices of M2M modules, a renewed focus on M2M from mobile operators, and perhaps more importantly, a better understanding of wireless networks by enterprises. In fact, Berg Research predicts that the number of wireless M2M connections will grow at an annual rate of 25.6 percent to reach million connections in Although many of the M2M vertical markets hold great potential especially utilities (smart meters) and healthcare there are significant challenges. In the mobile health arena, there are still questions about who will pay for the services. Patient and doctor willingness to adopt mobile health solutions is tied directly to whether or not insurance companies will reimburse for these solutions. In the smart grid space, President Obama s stimulus package, which provides $4.5 billion in funds, has helped propel the industry. The funding will help launch 100 smart grid projects in the next five years. But, there are regulatory hurdles and utility companies are notoriously slow moving when it comes to technology. Nevertheless, this focus on M2M from the various vertical markets adds up to a prime opportunity for M2M firms. Analysts expect to see consolidation in this space, primarily because it will take scale to succeed (many enterprises want global capability, which is difficult for smaller firms without global network connections). Indeed a global presence seems to be a growing necessity and the reason behind some of the partnerships and joint ventures that we have witnessed in the past year or so. For example, in 2009 AT&T partnered with Jasper Wireless to provide an M2M service platform. Sprint Nextel created a new business unit for the M2M market and partnered with M2M DataSmart, a wireless data service provider to help build its business. And finally, Verizon Wireless partnered with Qualcomm to form the joint venture nphase, which offers an M2M application and service platform for large-scale enterprise deployments. In this ebook, which focuses entirely on M2M communications, FierceWireless will take a close look at the overall potential for this market, profile some successful M2M implementations and look at some of the compelling vertical markets such as mhealth, smart grids, and telemetry and asset tracking. Sue Marek Editor-in-Chief /// FierceWireless Thank you to our sponsors: 3 The M2M Resurgence 1 June Wireless Operators & Their Customers Embrace M2M 9 The M2M Renaissance: An Executive Interview with AT&T s Chris Hill 11 Broadband Evolution: 1.8GHz WiMAX for Utilities *Sponsored Content* 12 Business Model a Challenge for mhealth Market 15 Dots on the Map Provide a Foundation for New Apps 18 The Smart Grid Power Play June

2 The M2M Resurgence BY Peggy Albright Ubiquitous wireless networks are creating a renewed interest in M2M connections in many different vertical markets. Machine-to-machine communications is an established business that has functioned behind the scenes and drawn little attention in the past. Today, however, M2M is experiencing a period of change and growth. M2M s resurgence is attributed to the widespread availability of wireless technologies, which make it possible to reach equipment in locations that were too remote or too costly to reach before. The trend is also driven by regulatory incentives to employ M2M in certain markets, such as energy, and entrepreneurial drive to create innovative and consumer-focused solutions in others, such as mhealth. Despite its allure as a new business opportunity, M2M is a broad field and hard to categorize. It has potential to touch many devices, from those found at the farthest reaches of the utility grid to vending machines in public places. It can use a variety of wireless technology options, which will be deployed and configured depending on the need at hand. Because of its near-ubiquitous availability, cellular network technologies will find relevance in Application development is the most problematic and challenging part of the M2M market. many M2M markets. RFID scanning has found some specific markets, such as asset tracking. The short-range, low data rate wireless sensor networking standard known as ZigBee is designated for use in the smart grid and various other industrial markets. Some industrial automation and control applications will use new wireless sensor networking technology standards developed specifically to serve those needs. As the number of devices connected wireless technologies grows, the number of devices connected via wired networks will diminish. The main benefit of the introduction of standards-based wireless technologies, whether you re talking about wireless sensor networking or cellular, is that it expands the scale and scope of devices and sensors that can be brought into these networks, said Sam Lucero, practice director for M2M connectivity at ABI Research. Because the new M2M market will be more diverse than before and because it is still forming, it is creating a new ecosystem. Watch for consolidation as the market builds and companies seek to gain advantage over one another. This has already started, but slowly. Last fall Silver Spring Networks, a smart grid solutions provider, acquired Greenbox Technology, which provides web-based energy management software for utilities and residential customers. A year earlier, Sierra Wireless, a leading wireless modem manufacturer, acquired Wavecom, which had embedded wireless technology for the M2M market. Cellular network technology will play a vital role in M2M because it can serve many purposes. M2M cellular modules that used to serve this market suffered greatly from the recent economic collapse, which hit during this market s formative years. According to ABI Research, M2M cellular module sales grew at a 30 percent annual rate from 2003 through 2007, but growth slowed to 4 percent during 2008.That year, 25.5 million modules were shipped. Sales figures for 2009 will likely come in under previous projections of 29.5 million units placing the growth rate somewhere under 15 percent. But this is still a very early stage market. Beginning in 2010 and 2011, the M2M cellular module industry will return to normal growth levels in the low- to middouble digits, according to ABI. So far, just a handful of operators have formed business models to serve the sector. Those leading the way include NTT DoCoMo in Japan and Orange, Telefonica and Vodafone in Europe. In the U.S., operators have established formal M2M strategies, allocating significant resources to this line of business and finding partners to act as solution providers or MVNOs to help accelerate adoption by businesses. Sierra Wireless, a leading wireless modem manufacturer, acquired Wavecom, which had embedded wireless technology. During 2009, for example, AT&T partnered with Jasper Wireless to provide an M2M service platform. Sprint Nextel created a new business unit for the M2M market and partnered with M2M DataSmart, a wireless data service provider, Beginning in 2010 and 2011, the M2M cellular module industry will return to normal growth levels in the low- to mid-double digits, according to ABI. to help build its business. Verizon Wireless partnered with Qualcomm to form the joint venture nphase, which offers a M2M application and service platform for large-scale enterprise deployments. M2M communications do not carry much data and the transmissions are typically short and bursty. The service does not generate high average revenues per connection, but it provides important value to continued on page 5 3 June 2010 June

3 fiercewireless.com continued from page 4 operators because it promises low churn and minimal customer-care costs. M2M will also offer operators valuable use of their 2G and 3G networks as they shift their consumer and enterprise users to LTE. These networks that were built a long time ago have been amortized and paid for, said Andy Castonguay, a director for It s not so much a technical gap but a market gap. The business connections haven t been made. Sam Lucero, practice director, M2M connectivity, ABI Research Yankee Group s Anywhere Network research group. Regular and predictable M2M traffic on those legacy networks will be a great profit center for operators, he said. While the U.S. cellular industry has embraced M2M, product manufacturers and businesses in this market may not be fully ready to jump into the market yet due to pricing concerns. There is still a challenge in the marketplace to convince enterprise of the efficiency of M2M and the cost-benefits, Castonguay said. Currently, the wholesale price for low-end GSM modules runs about $20 per unit, and CDMA modules range from about $27 to $32, Castonguay said. The upfront investment for these devices, which are typically purchased in high volumes, is a financial burden to many com5 June 2010 panies. As manufacturing volumes grow and manufacturers work the price points down to about $10, however, the market should find additional momentum. Application development is the most problematic and challenging part of the M2M market. Presently, enterprises tend to use custom-designed software to manage data and provisioning the decision-making and messaging requirements peculiar to M2M systems. Large enterprise software vendors have not yet developed software platforms for this market. Fortunately, some small companies offer hosted platforms suitable for a variety of M2M sectors, but this part of the market still needs to broaden and mature. It s not so much a technical gap but a market gap, Lucero said. The business connections haven t been made. l Expand your boundaries of Can. See what s possible when you partner with AT&T. Learn more and sign up to launch your emerging technologies on AT&T s network by visiting att.com/edo. Vending machines such as this Coke dispenser are commonly outfitted with wireless monitors that inform owners when the dispenser is out of certain products. Cellular connections in the m2m market (Millions of Cumulative Connections Worldwide) Selected Segments Telematics Smart Meters Tele-health Home Security ATM Point-of-Sale Vending Machine Total Source: ABI Research 2010 AT&T Intellectual Property. Service provided by AT&T Mobility. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo, and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

4 Wireless Operators & Their Customers Embrace M2M BY Tammy Parker Fragmented marketplace may be a win for operators if they can be flexible and provide support for this growing area. Though wireless operators long shied away from machineto-machine, they now recognize that this business offers a vast and largely unexploited market opportunity, which they are well positioned to meet. And not only does M2M bring welcome new revenue streams to carriers, it also offers diverse benefits to end users, such as peace of mind, monetary savings and a more green approach to business. If you look at M2M as a universe right now, it s kind of at critical mass. Carrier pricing is where it needs to be, module pricing is where it needs to be, the solutions are where they need to be. So it s all coming together, and the market s exploding right now, said John Horn, director for M2M at T-Mobile USA. T-Mobile jumped into M2M during Because the operator understood that M2M application developers and end users were not necessarily wireless experts, every decision that we ve made for the last seven years has been based upon taking down the barriers, being flexible and making it easy for people to support this business, Horn said. In April 2009, T-Mobile announced the first-of-its-kind, durable, embedded SIM for M2M. The size of a pin, the SIM was designed for telematics and smart-grid infrastructure solutions where environmental factors can reduce reliability and increase maintenance costs of removable SIM-based solutions. We now have four different SIM form factors to meet all the needs of all the verticals that come to us for business, said Horn. If you look at M2M as a universe right now, it s kind of at critical mass. john horn, director, m2m at t-mobile usa T-Mobile, which experienced 100 percent growth in its M2M business over the past four years, counts as one of its M2M success stories San Franciscobased Cantaloupe Systems. Cantaloupe provides wireless remote monitoring to the vending-machine industry. The company recently announced beta testing for a cashless vending offering as well. The number of vending machines equipped with Cantaloupe s Seed-branded monitoring system reached 40,000 in According to Cantaloupe, its vending customers average $35,000 in annual savings per route, can replenish 80 percent more machines per week and can reduce their carbon footprint by 40 percent by eliminating unnecessary truck travel and removing excess product from the trucks. People tracking gains traction Sprint Nextel has been involved in M2M for the past decade. The operator recently began focusing on reducing complexity in the M2M supply chain, said Tom Nelson, group manager of partner programs for Sprint Nextel s Emerging Solutions Group, which was formed in fall The new group provides a laser focus on M2M for Sprint, he said. Sprint s CDMA network provides communications transport for two of three devices sold for use with ComfortZone, a comprehensive location-management system designed for Alzheimer s patients and their caregivers. The Alzheimer s Association collaborated with Alpharetta, Georgia-based Omnilink Systems to create the service, which helps people living with Alzheimer s be independent for as long as possible, while at the same time provides peace of mind for the entire family, said Nancy Cullen, senior director of corporate initiatives and business development at the Alzheimer s Association. ComfortZone, announced in October 2009, is a Web-based app that works with dedicated location devices to communicate the whereabouts of a person with Alzheimer s within two minutes to 30 minutes, based on the family s selected service plan. Omnilink has a wholesale-type relationship with Sprint, enabling Omnilink to bundle its services onto a single bill for the end users who subscribe to the ComfortZone service. We refined this to be extremely user friendly, very intuitive to set up for a caregiver, who may not be the most tech-savvy person, and always have a safety net to call back to a monitoring center for both technical support as well as caregiver support, if they need that hand-holding more than just the self-service application, said Steve Hudson, Omnilink vice president, strategy and business development. It s revolutionizing the way a caregiver can manage their loved one, he added. It goes well beyond just location. It has that aspect of caregiver management and support that the Alzheimer s Association has been so good at for years, but adding the advantage of electronic monitoring to their program. Cantaloupe s Seed-branded devices provide wireless remote monitoring for vending machines. Fragmentation creating opportunities The largest US operator, Verizon Wireless, is tackling M2M via nphase, a joint venture it formed with Qualcomm in July 2009 with an eye toward creating a single source for end-to-end solutions. In January 2010, Verizon Wireless and nphase joined with Vodafone to create a strategic alliance to advance M2M across both European and U.S. networks. Wireless technologies are enabling companies to deploy smart-service solutions that gather predictive data, enabling those companies to become proactive rather than reactive, said Steve Pazol, nphase president. For example, nphase partner ABB, a leader in power and automation technologies for utility and industrial companies, uses M2M technology to remotely monitor customer installations, enabling it to detect urgent situations that require immediate attention or, conversely, to identify when a scheduled site visit is unnecessary. Despite similiarities across market sectors, M2M remains a considerably fragmented industry. Likewise, Pazol said M2M has considerable applicability in clean technology initiatives because companies can remotely monitor equipment to ensure it is operating efficiently and using the least amount of energy possible, thus saving money and slashing the environmental impact. Despite similarities across market sectors, M2M remains a considerably fragmented industry. I still think today there s not really a single M2M market. There s a bunch of vertical markets that (M2M) is an enabling technology for, Pazol said. Each market has different needs, different hardware, different value propositions, different bandwidth requirements, everything. Pazol predicts a looming shakeout in the fragmented vendor ecosystem that will ultimately make wireless operators the main go-to players for one-stop shopping. Not only do the operators offer their M2M software and device partners a vast distribution channel for their M2M wares, but wireless carriers also control almost all of the recurring costs. Thus, operators are at the key leverage position today, he said. l 7 June 2010 June

5 The M2M Renaissance: An Executive Interview with AT&T s Chris Hill interview with Sue Marek, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, FIERCEWIRLESS Thanks to the declining cost of modules and the increasing visibility of wireless networks, machine-to-machine communications is now viewed as a growth area by many U.S. wireless carriers. AT&T s Chris Hill, vice president of mobility, product management at AT&T s business solutions division, recently talked to FierceWireless about his company s view of M2M and the hot vertical markets that they see as having great potential. FierceWireless: How do you define machine-to-machine communications? How is your division different from AT&T s emerging devices division headed by Glenn Lurie? Hill: We have been doing M2M for a number of years. Glenn Lurie s organization focuses on the large consumer electronics opportunities. We work closely with Glenn s team. With respect to end devices, Glenn s division runs the gamut with emerging devices and connected devices. On the services side, when there are business services that would be part of the solution, that s when my organization steps in. In the utility sector for example the smart grid area we run that end to end. We won t handle the consumer end device but we will work closely with home area networks consumer solutions and consumer electronics tied to the home. Likewise, in the mhealth area we are developing platforms to support chronic disease management. My team is handling that platform, but Glenn s team is working with us to find suppliers for wirelessly-enabled glucometers. FierceWireless: Why do you think M2M is such a hot area now? Hill: M2M started as a niche business and we worked to support the needs of specific customers like FedEx. We got into the M2M business and built a platform for customers such as FedEx, but handed it off to our value-added resellers. Now as the wireless market started to mature, we saw this as a growth area. There are a few compelling factors. One is the cost of modules is coming down and the second is that businesses are starting to understand what they can do with wireless. The third factor is that we are starting to see metered plans for data and the economics are starting to prove themselves. Really, the network speed and bandwidth doesn t make a difference. About 90 percent of the applications are low bandwidth. At least 70 percent to 80 percent will use less than 1 Mb per month. The cost of a 2G module is down in the sub-$30 range so it is very economically feasible for the businesses to deploy. Thanks to the declining cost of modules and the increasing visibility of wireless networks, machineto-machine communications is now viewed as a growth area by many U.S. wireless carriers. FierceWireless: What verticals do you see as having the most potential? Hill: Telematics is the most mature vertical but it s maybe 15 percent penetrated in terms of total penetration. But there are large companies involved in this area. For example, tractor manufacturers and automotive firms are interested in telematics. We can help them offer services to end customers that can detect problems with an engine before there is a failure. And it s interesting to see support for companies globally. There is an opportunity to offer permanent roaming this is a class of roaming where the SIM permanently roams in a country. The SIM may be in a module in a tractor in Thailand; it will have an AT&T SIM but we will support it globally. The roaming rates are low for low bandwidth apps so the cost of roaming has dropped. Working with a single carrier globally offsets the additional rates a company may have to pay for roaming. Smart grid is another big vertical market. Utilities are just starting to ramp up. We can put a SIM in a meter and talk to the meter or work with a private mesh network and have a cellular modem in there as backhaul. In the mhealth vertical we break it into different areas: wellness, which are the Weight Watchers and fitness applications. And then we have chronic disease management, which is working with disease management organizations. For example, there are large nurse call centers that are paid for by corporations to manage chronic diseases such as diabetes. We have a couple of solutions with a wirelessly embedded SIM in a glucometer. The client on the device provides information to the patients on their blood sugar reading. And that information can also be transmitted to nurse call centers. It is rather reactive. It s about getting real-time data and working with software vendors to rework the protocols with United Health to manage the real-time data and avert a disaster. Partnerships are very important for us to foster a rich ecosystem and manage that ecosystem. We also are working with clinical trial management. There are large clinical trial companies that are struggling with real-time information management. They need to know how their tests are going. We have found that introducing mobility can get more real-time and accurate data back from clinical trial participants. They can input that information onto a device and capture what they believe is more accurate and real time. There is also prescription maintenance. We work with Vitality on their Glowcap pill top, which makes sure patients are following through and taking their medication. One of the challenges is getting the insurance companies to support these things. AT&T is helping that process because we have all these employees and we think we have a good way to test these things. We are conducting internal pilots. For example, we have well north of 50,000 diabetics on health plan. What better place to turn this out? FierceWireless: How important are partnerships to making M2M a success? Hill: Partnerships are very important for us to foster a rich ecosystem and manage that ecosystem. For example, we have broad certification platform for vendors that can certify devices on our network. We also have a co-sale relationship and we are seeing traction in that area where we have partner organizations that sign a co-marketing agreement and have technical overlay teams. If the solution really catches on, then we have a resale program where we bring the solution in-house, resale it and go broadly with the sales force. We also have developers developing specific software for different business needs. We also are working with clinical trial management. FierceWireless: What are some of the challenges to growing this business? Hill: I would say one area, as with every early stage technology, is to find the right mixture of industry awareness and savvy with deploying solutions. A number of companies just want to buy the components off the shelf and put it together with a deployment. While it should work, it hasn t been tested end-to-end. There are lots of issues in deployments where people don t realize the complexity of the solution both domestically and globally. We are constantly called in to unwind those deployments and rework them. l 9 June 2010 June

6 Broadband Evolution: 1.8GHz WiMAX for Utilities By Danny Danskin, Director of Service Provision, Vecima Networks Why WiMAX? Utilities require a number of key elements in their last mile solutions for the Smart Grid. Remote Monitoring and control devices require fast two-way communication. Utilities require Carrier-grade performance and reliability combined with high throughput levels (up to 21.7 Mbps in a 7MHz channel) with a predictably low latency. Implementing an open standards based solution gives electric utilities the flexibility to expand while maintaining interoperability. Range and applications support is another key requirement. Versatility is offered in the form of fixed and remote connectivity to a wide range of devices including video cameras, handheld devices and support for nomadic access. Scalability and reliability are other important factors to support and allow future growth. IP-based connectivity facilitates integration of applications and devices. WiMAX Timing The timing is right for Wireless broadband technology to overcome the challenges of today s demand driven Energy needs. Technology is able to extend the life of legacy systems by providing better control of the distribution and transmission networks and in communication in the form of automation of call centers. The efficiency of field workers and technicians is improved by new advances in the automation of work orders as well as in scheduling and mapping. With the advancement and implementation of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), Utilities will create a wireless broadband connection direct to the residential customer. Customers will have the ability to reduce their power usage and also benefit from incentive rates during prime power usage times. This connection will also allow for state of the art advancements in home appliances such as heating, air-conditioning, water heaters, and other usage control devices. On the Utilities side, automation of transmission and distribution grids offers new benefits both in remote territories and in urban areas. Video site surveillance and laptop communications with field workers enhances mobile services and safety; all based on IEEE wireless standards. WiMAX offers the broadband secure communications network that Utilities require and provides a wide area, high speed system to collect meter data from homes and substations. WiMAX will be an enabling technology that will be able to address the needs for M2M requirements such as overall Energy Management, Smart Grid and AMI. Industry Canada has sponsored content provided the 1.8Ghz spectrum for Utilities to license in Canada. In the U.S. there is a wide range of spectrum and wireless options for WiMAX although there is a lobbying effort to duplicate the 1.8GHz allocation from Canada. Vecima & 1.8GHz Vecima has successfully manufactured and implemented a 1.9GHz WiMAX solution in Australia and was well positioned to trial, test and supply 1.8GHz to the Utility Sector in Canada as the spectrum is allocated. Vecima presently has two ongoing 1.8GHz WiMAX trials with major utilities in Canada. Vecima has also set up a working 1.8GHz WiMAX Smart Meter and SCADA Demonstration system at its facilities in Saskatoon and are inviting interested companies and parties to visit this live demo system. The live system demonstrates VistaMAX connectivity to Smart Meters and SCADA Devices. Demonstrated elements include AMI metering, backhaul, substation automation, VOIP, video and field worker laptop access. Utilizing 1.8GHz spectrum connectivity with enhanced products such as Smart Meters and Smart Power Grids opens up new opportunities in terms of electrical power distribution and management, incorporating enhanced two-way communication and distributed computing capabilities. For more information on VistaMAX, robert.forget@ vecima.com. l Business Model a Challenge for mhealth Market BY peggy albright Mobile health holds a lot of promise for patients and care-givers but the lack of a concrete business model is hindering its progress. Mobile health is one of the most exciting segments in the machine-to-machine market. Suddenly, M2M communications, previously considered an industrial field, has become very personal. And hardly anything is more personal than one s health. Those participating in this new industry are passionate about it because emerging products are demonstrating tangible benefit to patient well-being and positive health outcomes. While it is still a nascent industry, it can already be divided into segments. One segment is general wellness and fitness, which includes applications that use M2M for exercise and other consumerfriendly products. The other is medical. This segment generally involves some participation from a healthcare provider. A sensor wirelessly transmits healthrelated patient data to a Web service, clinic or facility where care personnel review data and interact with the patient if there is a health need. Wireless M2M communications for healthcare has relevance everywhere. In developed countries it will help the vast numbers of people are affected by conditions such as diabetes or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and who need constant monitoring and attention from healthcare providers. M2Mbased remote services can improve patient health while reducing costs of care. In developing regions, M2Menabled health products can bring care into the regions where it doesn t exist. Conveniently, cellular services have found a way in to many developing regions that have little else in the way of services and will be used for many of these products. For these two different motivators, we re ending up in the same place, which is wireless, said David Aylward, executive director of the mhealth Alliance. The biggest challenge in mobile health is the busines model. azita arvani, founder of the arvani group MHealth advocates are excited about the emerging industry because it is on the cusp of commercialization. Azita Arvani, founder of the Arvani Group, which evaluates businesses based on a the availability of devices, networks and content, says the fundamental factors are in place to provide a good foundation for mhealth. The biggest challenge in mobile health is the business model, she said. Healthcare represents about one-sixth of the U.S. economy, but finding businesses willing to pay for mhealth products is not easy. The nature of medical practice in the U.S. is in many ways a barrier. continued on page June 2010 June

7 continued from page 12 The majority of medical groups have six or less physicians and function like small family businesses. They don t establish equipment budgets nor do they have notable IT resources. While most doctors do love technology, less than 20 percent of medical groups have a patient portal for fear patients will abuse it, according to Rosemarie Nelson, a consultant representing the Medical Group Management Association. Their willingness to adopt new innovations extends only to those reimbursed by their insurance providers. You have to follow the money, she said. That means getting a product approved through Medicare or private insurance companies before taking it to this market. CardioNet, whose Mobile Cardiac Outpatient Telemetry service has been used by 300,000 patients, is the poster child of mhealth s challenges. Despite proven benefits and approval by Medicare, substantial cuts in the Medicare reimbursement rate last year essentially took it out of the market. That shows the industry that you need a different approach to demonstrate healthcare benefits, and to make sure the model is flexible from a cost perspective so your business can absorb unexpected changes, said Donald Casey, CEO of the West Wireless Health Institute. Medicare coverage is desired because it represents a huge market and influences the private health insurance sector. But the bureaucracy is slow and hard to penetrate. Most agree that reimbursement will come sooner from more accessible private insurers. An even quicker path to market may come from stakeholders. For example, Express Scripts, a leading pharmacy administration company, is testing the Vitality GlowCap wireless devices for prescription pill bottles, which alert people who have serious diseases to take their medication. The product is expected to build customer loyalty and help increase sales. Don Jones, vice president for health and life sciences at Qualcomm, said companies should not be discouraged by reimbursement challenges. It s important, but only for a subset of solutions, he asserts. Reimbursement in itself is not a barrier in this space. The pharmacy industry s interest in the GlowCap, he added, affirms that that business partners will be available to help get products to market. Security and privacy concern many in mhealth. Yet Jones said that state-of-the-art client security architectures address these needs. Whether a particular service uses an architecture that is properly secured with encryption and identity management technologies is another matter. With good due diligence, businesses can assure their products meet health care s security standards, he said. Regulatory approval for devices is causing some issues due to Healthcare represents about one-sixth of the U.S. economy, but finding businesses willing to pay for mhealth products is not easy. potential jurisdictional overlap or conflicts between the FDA and the FCC. Agencies have not yet sorted through fundamental questions to determine, for example, if a mobile phone that runs a medical application might become a medical device and need FDA approval. Liability is a concern to mobile operators, who are seeking legal assurances that they will not become liable for personal medical data transmitted over their networks. And medical providers need assurances that the practice of mhealth across state lines when communicating via remote devices or health messaging tools that transmit patient data does not violate local regulations. Technology advocates that may have assumed products could drive this business now realize that it will take a coordination of efforts from both wireless and healthcare industries to break through the barriers so that mobile health can achieve its full promise. The conservation needs to move from gadgets to outcomes and that requires a holistic approach, West Wireless Health s Casey said. He also believes the industry needs a couple great success stories to get the business moving. It may also require simply getting involved. I urge everyone who is interested in this field to do their share to help move this forward, Arvani said. It is not the lack of technology that is slowing us down, it is these other issues. l A Few Examples of MHealth Products Remote Health Management Platform from BL Healthcare Body Manager from Ideal Life System One from Philips Respironics Text4baby Remote terminal and service platform for use in the home, which can collect data from devices measuring a patient s vital signs for use by health care team and the patient. Trials planned with Verizon Wireless. A body-weight scale that automatically sends a patient s body weight to a medical team. Now in pilot tests with Anthem Blue Cross, which is using it to help monitor congestive heart failure patients daily conditions. Device for sleep apnea patients that monitors a patient s breathing during the night and sends data via the AT&T network to a clinic for review. Device functions can be adjusted remotely via wireless programming if necessary to adjust patient breathing. National, inter-agency nonprofit program using free text messaging to send health information to pregnant women and new mothers. 13 June 2010 June

8 Dots on the Map Provide a Foundation for New Apps BY Tammy Parker Long considered the M2M workhorse, asset tracking and fleet management still show signs of growth. Asset tracking and fleet management were the initial services that got the machine-to-machine market rolling, and this market segment is still growing, thanks to the addition of new users as well as the deployment of increasingly robust applications. If you look at total number of connections, the industry would certainly be over-indexed in the context of fleet management, said Alex Brisbourne, president and COO of Kore Telematics, which bills itself as an M2M mobile virtual network operator. Even cutting out broadly used consumer telematics apps such as General Motors OnStar vehicle-safety service, overall fleet management and asset control still represents maybe north of 50 It s the most mature (business) in still an overall immature segment. alex brisbourne, president and coo, kore telematics percent of all the connections that there are in this industry, he said. Research firm C.J. Driscoll & Associates estimates that 3.6 million GPS/wireless devices are used to manage fleet vehicles, trailers, construction equipment and mobile workers in the United States. By 2012, this market will expand to over 6.5 million units and annual hardware and service revenues will grow to over $2.5 billion, according to the firm. Clearly the market for fleet management and asset tracking is far from becoming a stodgy cash cow exhibiting little growth. It s the most mature (business) in still an overall immature segment, Brisbourne said. For one thing, mobile players stand to gain from the migration of services from satellite-based communications, such as Qualcomm s OmniTracs, to cellular. The shift is occurring because applications are moving outside of simple trackand-trace into logistics applications with much richer content, Brisbourne said. Widespread availability of mobile broadband networks is enabling delivery of more data-intensive communications. New fleet management apps might incorporate wireless sensors, in-vehicle diagnostics and security information, while asset-tracking apps could add environmental monitoring and status sensors to ensure the integrity of a shipment. People want to know attributes about an asset in terms of sensory capability and other pieces of information that go with that, said Rick Burtner, senior vice president and general manager of location-based services for Atlanta-based M2M service provider Numerex. Widespread availability of mobile broadband networks is enabling delivery of more data-intensive communications. Clearly the market for fleet management and asset tracking is far from becoming a stodgy cash cow exhibiting little growth. They want to tie that into other systems, making sure that it s not just a one-dimensional where is the asset? application, he said. New apps focus on asset features that promote visibility, security, cost effectiveness and solutions for worldwide commerce, Burtner added. Transferring data across a ubiquitous platform or a platform that will interface with other mechanisms that people are used to using is going to transcend the traditional asset tracking and produce some exciting opportunities, he said. Asset tracking and fleet management could also get a boost from increased interoperability, which promises to vastly simplify the M2M value chain by removing the need for systems integration. Numerex s CTO Jeff Smith chairs the Telecommunications Industry Association s Standards Committee on Smart Device Communications (TIA TR-50), which is responsible for the development of standards to enable, monitor and ensure interoperable interfaces to the network. Interoperability between devices, networks and applications will enable much higher growth rates within those applications, Smith said. Yet there are still opportunities for the most basic tracking applications in what are as-yet unexploited, or at least underexploited, user groups. For example, although North American long-haul trucking has been deeply penetrated by M2M, there is still a virtually untouched opportunity among local delivery vehicles as smaller companies seek to increase their fleet productivity and slash operating costs. Of the 17 million or so local delivery vehicles, small to large, on North American roads, my guess is that in total less than 1.5 million of those have been equipped with M2M, Brisbourne said. And that s just delivery vehicles. People say we ve gone beyond just showing dots on a map, but believe me, there are still some mom-and-pop shops out there that just want to know where their vehicles are, and they will do very simple tracking applications, said Andrew Berman, senior vice president and general manager of Sierra Wireless AirLink business unit, which provides cellular gateways and routers running the company s ALEOS embedded firmware. Similarly, insurance companies may want to track how many miles a car is driven or the times of day that the vehicle is driven in order to offer usage-based coverage, and that will require only basic tracking and logging, he added. A lot of continued on page June 2010 June

9 continued from page 16 our solutions are still using 2G and 2.5G, Berman said. However, next-generation networks such as LTE or WiMAX should enable a bevy of data-intensive apps for those who need them. People say we ve gone beyond just showing dots on a map, but believe me, there are still some momand-pop shops out there that just want to know where their vehicles are... Andrew berman, senior vice president and general manager, kore telematics For instance, instead of downloading the day s videos from camera-equipped police cars at the end of a shift, law-enforcement personnel might be able to use a 4G network to stream video in real time directly to headquarters during an urgent public-safety situation. Similar exception-based communications could exploit new network capabilities without requiring fulltime dedicated bandwidth. My personal belief is that what s driving LTE is truly the PDA/iPhone applications, Numerex s Burtner said. In that scenario, wireless operators are expected to offload high-bandwidth consumer services onto their next-generation networks but will continue to support their current infrastructures, which will remain M2M workhorses for many years to come. l The Smart Grid Power Play BY Peggy Albright Utilities are looking to smart grids to optimize electricity distribution and minimize energy consumption. The electric utility industry is gearing up for system-wide communications technology upgrade, and wireless will play an important role. These new technologies will create what is now called the smart grid an interactive and dynamic communications system that utilities will use to optimize electricity distribution to customers to conserve resources and to give consumers tools to provision their own services to minimize energy consumption and costs. Wireless companies are excited to participate in this new market, which offers not just new revenue streams but a role helping the U.S. meet new green objectives. Because the smart grid concept is relatively new, companies still have to identify the best opportunities and learn how to craft their business strategies. The smart grid will use a multitiered communications system, with each tier of services governed by its own bandwidth, latency and other requirements. Getting into the market is not necessarily easy, because of painstaking regulatory hurdles, and parts of the smart grid will take years to build. Wireless companies, accustomed to operating at entrepreneurial speed, need to recognize that serving this market will not happen overnight. There is a concern that the whole smart meter smart grid thing has been a bit oversold, and that suddenly we ll have magical smarts and the network will work smoothly, said Bob Gohn, senior analyst at Pike Research. It s going to take some time. The smart grid area is drawing attention thanks to the stimulus package signed by President Obama in 2009, which provides $4.5 billion in funds, supplemented with matching financial resources from utilities, to accelerate commercialization. The funding will help launch 100 smart grid projects in the next five years. The smart grid will use wireless wide area networks to connect components that are located throughout the geographically dispersed transmission and distribution grid to the utility Wireless companies are excited to participate in this new market, which offers not just new revenue streams but a role helping the U.S. meet new green objectives. network operations center. Wireless WAN options will typically involve RF mesh networks that employ WiMAX or proprietary WiMAX-like technologies. Neighborhood area networks (NANs) will connect smart meters installed at the customer s home or business to the 17 June 2010 June

10 larger network. Also referred to as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), this part of the system will tend to use proprietary RF-based mesh networks. The data captured from these NANs can be backhauled via cellular or proprietary technologies. A third part of the smart grid is the home area network (HAN), which consumers will use to control and interact with smart appliances for billing and energyconservation applications. The low-power ZigBee standard is the most popular wireless option for these applications, although Wi-Fi and other short-range technologies will find use as well. The Obama administration has said it wants 40 million homes equipped with advanced meters as a result of the stimulus package, and hundreds of companies large and small are positioning themselves to provide related equipment and services. Smart meter deployments are under way in California and Texas, and beginning in the Southeast. As more programs come online and critical mass of meters is installed, utility companies will then begin to promote the use of smart devices in the home. Products could range from programmable thermostats to smart swimming pool pumps to terminals that consumers use to program their services or appliances. New software programs will emerge for this. Google and Microsoft, among others, are preparing to serve this market Because NANs will likely use proprietary RF-mesh networks and HANs will mostly use ZigBee, the opportunities for cellular technologies will be found in two types of applications. One is transmitting data aggregated from clusters of meters in a neighborhood. ABI Research says that 14.7 million cellular connections reach this equipment today and will grow to 61.4 million connections in Cellular s other role will be to provide a WAN alternative along the grid s transmission and distribution lines, where communications are needed to manage and automate equipment. Roughly three-fourths of utilities will build their own private networks The Obama administration has said it wants 40 million homes equipped with advanced meters as a result of the stimulus package, and hundreds of companies large and small are positioning themselves to provide related equipment and services. using WiMAX or similar but proprietary technologies, according to Gohn. The others will adopt use of LTE or commercial WiMAX services. Trilliant, which provides communications equipment for use at various levels of the smart grid infrastructure, advocates proprietary WiMAX-like mesh networks for this part of the network. Utilities are choosing to do this for various reasons, said Brian Jenkins, Trilliant s director of marketing. In general, utilities need real-time, very low latency communications capability and quality of service Wireless companies are recognizing the opportunity and beginning to meet the needs of the power companies to meet the needs for this business. bob gohn, senior analyst, pike research assurances they re not convinced cellular services can promise them. A utility-owned service gives the utility control of these issues while avoiding monthly service fees. In the last few months, cellular operators have started responding to these utility concerns, says Pike Research s Gohn. They re exploring how to craft service-level agreements for utilities, developing aggregated data plans that address service pricing, and creating specific smart grid business organizations to serve utility customers. Wireless companies are recognizing the opportunity and beginning to meet the needs of the power companies to try to meet the needs for this business, he said. Ambient Corp., which offers a communications platform for electric utilities, has partnered with Verizon Wireless for a variety of data communications services. Jay Ganson, business development manager at Ambient, says that cellular s role in the smart grid will increase in time, as it begins transmitting more data, more often, from devices like plug-in electric cars and smart appliances. These communications will require more bandwidth than the initial RF mesh networks can provide, he argues. The more things you expect from the grid, the more bandwidth you ll need, Gayson said. The more things you expect from the grid, the more bandwidth you ll need. jay ganson, business development manager, ambient corp. As with any new industry, many potential customers will want to see how new technologies work Trilliant s products, such as this GE KV2C smart meter, are used in smart grids. before settling on their own technology and service plans. The 100 smart grid projects funded by stimulus package during the next five years will help establish the leaders. That s going to do a lot to shake down the market, to show which technologies are working as they promised, and which ones are over promising and under delivering, Gayson said. l 19 June 2010 June