Sprint, AT&T, Verizon launch centers to promote M2M

SAN FRANCISCO--A trio of U.S. wireless operators unveiled details on their investments in the growing machine-to-machine category. At this week's CTIA Enterprise & Applications conference here, Sprint (NYSE:S), Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T (NYSE:T) each offered a peak into their respective M2M centers, where they can collaborate, test and work with clients on M2M projects.

First up, Sprint announced that its M2M Collaboration Center will open this month in Burlingame, Calif. The facility, which Sprint refers to as a workshop, will let customers work side-by-side with experts to make their M2M projects viable.

In an interview with FierceWireless, Danny Bowman, president of Sprint's integrated solutions group, said the company envisions the center as a place where customers can test their modules in different environments and figure out what ingredients will make the right fit for their solution. Also, Sprint said that in 2011 it will provide businesses with access to the Sprint Command Center so they can manage their M2M devices.

Separately, AT&T announced plans to work with Alcatel-Lucent, Amdocs and Ericsson on innovation centers that will be located in Palo Alto, Calif.; Plano, Texas; and Ra'anana, near Tel Aviv, Israel. The innovation centers will give developers the chance to collaborate with AT&T and its suppliers. The centers will work on various projects but will largely focus on key areas including connected health, machine-to-machine applications and application development. Peter Hill will lead AT&T's innovation center initiative as vice president of ecosystems and innovation.

Finally, Verizon announced that its Machine-to-Machine Management Center will launch later this month. The center--which was developed by NPhase, the joint venture of Verizon and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) announced in 2009--will offer an integrated dashboard that will allow customers to manage network connections and devices and oversee other aspects of M2M connectivity. Verizon said the center is intended to simplify the M2M process and provide reliable results to customers.

    For more:
    - see this Sprint release
    - see this Verizon release
    - see this AT&T release

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