Ericsson VP says Brighter deal highlights opportunity for operators in connected medical devices

An Ericsson executive said a nascent market for connecting remote medical devices presents a new opportunity for mobile operators, as the company announced a deal with Sweden-based connected medical device producer Brighter.

Anders Olin, Ericsson VP for product area network functions in the cloud & IP business unit, said the company sees strong opportunities in the mobile health sector, as the infrastructure company revealed that Brighter will utilise Ericsson's Device Connection Platform (DCP) in forthcoming remote medical devices.

"In today's competitive ICT industry, operators can benefit from providing e-health services alongside traditional voice and data offerings," Olin said.

The marriage of Ericsson's DCP with Brighter's connected products can "create new growth opportunities for global operators, as well as having a positive impact on patient health," Olin added.

Brighter is gearing up to utilise Ericsson's DCP to manage, control and distribute an updated version of the Brighter One, a connected device for diabetics that offers blood sugar measurement and insulin injection capabilities.

Ericsson said the medical device manufacturer will also leverage the DCP to access potential operator customers already using the platform for connectivity management.

In a statement, Ericsson explained that the DCP is a cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) platform that manages connectivity, subscriptions and OSS/BSS operations to enable the automation of business processes between operators and enterprises.

"IoT is a key competence area for Ericsson and we see m-health as a sector with strong market potential," Olin said.

The updated Brighter One will be integrated into the company's The Benefit Loop platform, which continuously combines patient information with additional relevant data to improve treatment.

Brighter CEO Truls Sjöstedt said the company's collaboration with Ericsson is a "win win" deal that will open the door to "some of the world's largest operators."

The agreement will enable Brighter, Ericsson and those operators to "explore new business opportunities in the exciting and fast-growing m-health market," Sjöstedt added.

For more:
- see this Ericsson announcement

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