Orange rolls out machine to machine comms over UK, France and Belgium

Orange has now rolled out its machine-to-machine communications service from the UK to France and Belgium, via Wavecom and Alcatel, and says it will cover all of Europe by the end of this year. It’s a first in Europe. M2M Connect is a combined network and data platform that will make the concept of automatic machine-to-machine communications across wireless networks for remote monitoring and control cheaper, and much easier to implement and use. It’s not that this kind of telemetry hasn’t been done before; it’s that typically it’s only been done by specialists where absolutely necessary in niche applications, like oil and gas and the utilities – and configured with some ingenuity and considerable effort and cost. This is not just about fire alarms, parking meters and vending machines returning data on consumables, takings and trends; it’s also about machine health, scheduling and so on. In the UK, for example, M2M Connect is helping Bombardier Transportation to run train maintenance more efficiently. On board M2M systems are used to transmit details of how individual carriages are performing and metrics indicating when they’ll need maintenance. Factors such as wheel adhesion levels, door closing times and engine performance are monitored. Vincent Smedley, engineering director at Bombardier Transportation Services says: “With reliable, timely and accurate data, we can now supply the rail industry with business critical information. The Orange M2M Connect platform is helping us to plan our daily maintenance schedule more efficiently, which allows us to smooth the workload for our staff and target issues much more accurately.” Orange makes the point that other more basic machine-to-machine solutions currently available simply offer a SIM card and telemetry tariff. M2M Connect combines these with a data gateway, based on an Internet interface, on which applications can be developed and supported. The platform removes all the difficulties, and makes the whole process of building and managing machine-to-machine solutions much more feasible. Also, businesses operating across Europe get a single point of entry into the Orange network with centralised reporting and monitoring, and unified European pricing and service levels. Machine-to-machine, is a growth market: analyst Frost and Sullivan suggests that 13 billion devices across Europe have the potential to communicate. Philippe Bernard, VP of Orange Business Solutions, says: “Together with our partners, we are creating the standards for the machine-to-machine market and making it easier for businesses to take advantage of its benefits. M2M Connect is a tangible example of Orange’s commitment to building partnerships that deliver relevant, easy-to-use wireless solutions to meet our customers’ strategic and operational needs. “It also demonstrates Orange’s wider strategy to move further up the value chain with the delivery of tailored, end-to-end solutions that can operate seamlessly across borders.”