EverythingEverywhere scores with M2M platform

Machine-to-machine (M2M) service management platforms are critical to the evolution of a carrier’s M2M offering.
 
[The change requires operators] to take it from being a simple extension of their wholesale business for SIMs and data and to turn it into a managed service that is capable of providing bespoke tariffs, plans, and full enterprise customer control over the provisioning of their networks of connected devices.
 
Developing a proprietary platform is a bold move by Everything Everywhere that puts [it] in the exclusive company of the Vodafone Group and Telenor Connexion (which sold off its mature platform to infrastructure giant Ericsson earlier this year). Proprietary platforms are indicative of a carrier’s faith in the potential of the M2M market, as they require a considerable amount of development time as well as considerable upfront investment to build.
 
As a consequence, many major carriers have chosen to license their M2M platforms from a third party vendor…to scale their costs with the growth of their business. But proprietary deployments can allow for exclusive functionality for the sake of service differentiation and carrier competitiveness.
 
The time is right for Everything Everywhere to be deploying a dedicated M2M service management platform. Such platforms are horizontal solutions for enabling the myriad potential M2M use cases – both existent today and yet to be conceived. But as more carriers facilitate more service deployments, commonalities of experience are occurring and valuable ‘vertical’ knowledge is starting to be collected.
 
This knowledge can be used to augment…platform[s] to provide a more tailored service going forward for those M2M service verticals that prove to be the most important - thereby improving a carrier’s chances of benefiting from that market sector.
 
The deployment of its own dedicated M2M service management platform will allow Everything Everywhere to begin building just such a knowledge base of specialist expertise. Partnering with REDTAIL Telematics will also help to give them a head-start in this important endeavor

Jamie Moss is a senior analyst with Informa Telecoms & Media’s mobile content and applications division.