Machine-to-Machine communications platform to enable socio-economic development.
Zhenjiang city, China, plans to transform itself with wireless communications that support remote healthcare, intelligent transport and e-energy solutions. The city government has selected Nokia Siemens Networks to provide its Machine-to-Machine (M2M)* platform to enable the transformation. The aim is to foster an innovative ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT)** ecosystem, creating a hi-tech city.
“This is a strategic partnership aimed at creating a hi-tech city as well as developing our local Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) industry,” said Gui Qiliang, deputy secretary general of People’s Government of Zhenjiang and vice director of Zhenjiang New Area Administrative Committee. “It will lay the foundation to a healthy ecosystem where local software companies will benefit from Nokia Siemens Networks’ M2M platform, and develop diversified services and applications that bring socio-economic benefits.”
One innovative application will be remote medical monitoring services that alert patients if there are changes to their vital signs and locate them in emergencies to provide timely medical assistance. Another example is the Global Positioning System (GPS) taxi monitoring application for an Intelligent Transportation System. The monitoring system can remotely manage, track and monitor taxis on the road to provide real-time information on vehicles’ operational status and traffic congestion.
“The Internet of Things or Machine-to-Machine communications are strategic focus areas within Nokia Siemens Networks,” said Mark Atkinson, head of business development for Nokia Siemens Networks in China. “We are committed to supporting the Chinese government in this transformation and will work together to develop an innovation based co-operation model.”
The advantage of Nokia Siemens Networks’ Machine-to-Machine (M2M) platform is that it runs the network, manages the devices and provides the different services. The managed connectivity service focuses on subscription and device management, and charging and billing. Service enablement means the platform is able to configure common functionality, monitor connected machines (known as smart objects) and collect and pre-process “load data”. Examples of load data would be blood pressure or heart rate measured by a healthcare monitoring device, a patient’s or taxis current position or speed.
“We are convinced that a framework that simplifies the service delivery and management of connected smart objects will further open up the potential for smart services to small and medium enterprises. These companies have not used this kind of services till now due to previously high cost and complexity,” added Peter Zimmermann, head of Smart Object / M2M Solution Portfolio Management, Nokia Siemens Networks.