Along with a selection of their global partners, key personnel from Wireless Innovation will be attending the annual Iridium partner conference in Hawaii next week.

We’re actively seeking distribution partners for a range of our products and services and would be happy to meet with any interested Iridium partners at the event to discuss opportunities.

If you’re interested in learning more about partnering with Wireless Innovation, why not drop us an email to arrange a meeting?

We look forward to an interesting and informative week in Hawaii.

Exciting news from another one of our partners, Inmarsat have launched a new BGAN M2M service, a new two-way IP data service aimed at M2M applications.

The new real-time service provide a low-cost solution for applications sending between 1MB and 50MB of data per month which makes it ideal for a range of SCADA/ Telemetry applications as well as smart metering, asset monitoring and environmental data logging.

We look forward to learning more as the service rolls out.

With the M2M market expanding at such a phenomenal rate, the need for global M2M standards is more pressing than ever. In response to this, seven of the world’s leading standards agencies joined forces last week to set out common global standards for M2M communications.

The seven organisations are:

• TTA  - Telecommunications Technology Association (Korea)
• TTC  - Telecommunication Technology Committee (Japan)
• ARIB – The Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (Japan)
• ATIS – The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (USA)
• TIA – The Telecommunications Industry Association (USA)
• ETSI – The European Telecommunications Standards Institute
• CCSA – The China Communications Standards Association

We came across this excellent article recently that touches on many issues that are sure to grow in importance over the coming few months.

There are yet more figures here relating to the possible size of the market and the speed of its growth and unsurprisingly, they are contradictory. IDC are apparently suggesting that M2M apps will be a $16bn market while Garner point to a figure of around $25bn by 2015. One thing is for sure though, as M2M adoption increases it’s inevitable that the complexity of the M2M market will increase too.

New applications will inevitably be developed, new partnerships formed, new business models created and new entrants will enter the market. The end result of all this frantic activity could be additional layers of complexity and cost that may hinder the market in the short term if they’re not nipped in the bud. As the article points out, complicated strategic relationships and complex contracts will benefit no-one and the message seems clear – when you are looking for an M2M partnership, look for transparency and simplicity. Be sure you know who you are dealing with an work together for a clear, defined and achievable SLA.

Long awaited news came in over the Christmas period confirming that Globalstar had successfully launched six of its new second generation satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The new satellites were launched using the Soyuz-Fregat version of the Soyuz launch vehicle on Wednesday 28th December. Each of the six new vehicles was successfully injected into a low earth orbit of around 920km and the company has confirmed that in-orbit testing is underway and that all of the new satellites are operating as they should be.

It’s very welcome news for Globalstar as their planned upgrades have been beset by financial and technical troubles and unscheduled delays. The launch is the third of a planned series of four that will enable Globalstar to roll out the world’s finest quality mobile satellite and voice services. The new satellites have been designed with a 15 year life expectancy, twice as long as the spacecraft they replace.

“It is with great pleasure that we announce the successful third launch and continued deployment of our second-generation constellation,” said Tony Navarra, President of Global Operations for Globalstar, Inc. “We are now only one launch away from completing our four second-generation satellite launches and we look forward to the future services our new constellation will support. With these six new satellites now safely in orbit, we once again congratulate and applaud all of our Globalstar employees world-wide and thank launch provider Arianespace as well as our satellite contractor Thales Alenia Space for this launch success.”

The team at Wireless Innovation would like to offer our congratulations to Globalstar. They are a valued partner and we look forward to continued success.

The UK government has published a progress report on the state of the renewable energy industry in the UK and it shows clearly the economic benefits of investing in renewable sources.

According to last week’s report from the DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change), the renewable energy industry is responsible for more than £2.5 billion of investment in the UK economy and is set to create more than 12,000 new jobs this fiscal year. There is an EU wide initiative to source 20% of all energy from renewable sources by 2020 and, though the UK is committed to a smaller percentage (15%), this recent announcement marks a major step forward in meeting these targets.

A separate report from the European Commission provided further details on the UK’s progress:

• A threefold increase in the use of transport biofuels from 1% in 2007 to 3.3% in 2010.
• Greater use of wind generation, up by 46% from 7TWh in 2008 to 10.2TWh in2010.
• A 27% increase in renewable energy use representing 3.3% of total energy consumed.

We’ve mentioned before the massive growth forecasts that surround the M2M market. This article gives some serious thought to what that actually means for networks and network operators.

Research from Australia suggests that, though M2M data traffic is currently manageable, there will come a time in the near future when growth begins to ask some very serious questions of network operators. With forecasts suggesting that we can expect a 30 fold increase in data traffic, more devices sending larger pieces of data, the bottlenecks that currently existing networks will need to be addressed.

M2M traffic prioritisation will become a major concern for operators over the coming few years as M2M devices multiply. This will require greater control and flexibility which will require investment in the storage and handling of M2M data. It’s clear that standardisation is a critical factor in M2M growth and ETSI’s recent attempts here are a welcome step forward. More will  be required though and the industry is watching as operators begin to increase their investment in the M2M infrastructure.

Telemedicine and mHealth have often been touted as major areas of potential growth for the M2M market. For many years, this potential has been restricted by the regulations and procedures that (understandably) govern the healthcare market. Clearly, before gaining widespread acceptance in healthcare, any new technology has to be tested and proven.

It seems now, that M2M technologies are finally gaining ground in healthcare and finding acceptance among key healthcare professionals. A survey that was recently conducted by CompTIA, a non-profit IT industry group, has shown that healthcare providers are increasingly turning to tablet PCs, smartphones and mobile applications to help with their workload.

The study found that over 25% of providers were using tablets in their practice and more than half were using smartphones for work. While it’s certainly an improving picture and one that’s encouraging for M2M service providers and application vendors, there is still along way to go. Two thirds of respondents said that implementing more mobile technology was a mid to high level priority for 2012.

There are some wild forecasts about the potential size of the M2M market and predictions range from optimistic to barely credible. What disagreement there is here tends to be about the scale of growth. All industry analysts are in agreement that the M2M market will grow significantly, where they differ is on exact numbers.

This growth in M2M will have far reaching implications for mobile network operators, the companies whose networks and operations lie at the core of M2M connectivity. Already, over the last few years, MNOs have had to rethink their business models due to the rise of non-voice traffic. This has stretched their ingenuity and networks to the limit as they find ways to cope with and monetize a huge rise in mobile data traffic.

Figures just released from the GSM Association suggest that  more than 12 billion devices will be connected over the mobile network and that the M2M market potential for its members lies somewhere around the $1.2 trillion mark.

So how will MNOs adapt to this new market? That’s a big question and it’s going to require MNOs to break out of their comfort zone and come face to face with a host of new devices, tariffs and packages. They’re going to need to be commercially flexible, technically adaptable and willing to fit themselves to a host of (as yet uninvented) business models.

We came across this great article recently which should be taken as a stern warning for UK based utility companies as they attempt to roll out smart grid technologies.

It’s basically a tale of woe based on the experience of US utilities and their apparent inability to sell the benefits of smart metering to their customers. The lesson is quite simple, focusing solely on savings is not going to convince a sceptical customer base to buy into the smart metering ideal. In doing this, several US utilities have fallen into the trap of trying to justify a significant upfront investment with a relatively small customer saving. The example cited here is Connecticut Light and Power trying to sell the idea of a $411 meter against a 20 year customer saving of just $11!

Instead utilities should be focusing on the increased reliability and OPEX improvements that smart metering provides and should also be less dismissive of genuine consumer concerns around privacy. Smart metering appears to be quite a difficult sell in the US. A pressure group in Illinois has just released a 4,000 signature petition calling for a referendum on the roll out of smart meters. So, UK utilities have been warned, it’s time to get their best marketing people on the job.