Machine to machine (M2M) solutions are enabling consumers and businesses alike to get on the fast track to next-generation technology. They allow both wireless and wired systems to communicate with other devices, nearly eliminating the need for human involvement. Here are the top stories in the M2M space this week.
Gareth Price, head of New Business Strategy at NEC (News 
- Alert) Europe, recently offered some insight into the company's plans for Europe as well as what constitutes a smart city, shown at Mobile World Congress (News - Alert). NEC is one of the companies on the forefront of smart city solutions as well as a provider of end-to-end cloud solutions. NEC has used its M2M technologies in a number of different smart city projects encompassing education, traffic control and even collecting information — air quality, sound, speed of vehicles – about an express route in Japan using nearly 1,000 sensors. Usually, though, the core of the company's smart city technologies is Connexive, a cloud M2M data service currently being used in Asia and Europe. It is capable of talking with existing sensor networks and storing data from them to share it later.
Encore Networks, a provider ofM2M solutions, received a certificate from Elan Financial Services, an ATM solutions provider, that will allow it to use its C2C M2M wireless router for IAD- and ISO-deployed ATM. This will enable Encore Networks to continue to expand into the ATM transaction processing market in the U.S. With a robust M2M solution in place, businesses and banks that run ATM’s on their property no longer need to depend on wire connections or technicians to install complex cabling.
Also this week, the increasing demand for Wi-Fi Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) in the corporate environment has led RTLS provider Ekahau (News - Alert) to unveil greater system scalability to support the company's move into larger healthcare facilities. Ekahau will implement a new architecture that centralizes its location-tracking algorithms and tag (News - Alert) management software, while redesigning its Vision location analytics application to provide those with significant campus footprints the ability to expand their RTLS deployments. The company's new centralized distribution plans will increase the volume of Wi-Fi tags managed by a single software controller by more than 20 times, with one master RTLS controller now servicing up to 10 remote software nodes.
GTX Corp, which creates and delivers GPS tracking personal location-based services (PLS) to allow users to stay connected, recently partnered with Brewer Sports International (BSI) to increase GTX’s brand awareness and increase its global reach. The strategic alliance includes the integration of the GPS Smart Shoe Technology from GTX with BSI’s campaign for Coalition for Concussion Treatment (C4CT) campaign. By combining BSI’s network of companies in the business of sport and wellness, GTX will be able to garner attention from organizations.
Hughes Telematics, a provider of in-vehicle telematics systems, has selected Oracle’s (News - Alert) M2M platform to support automotive monitoring and e-health initiatives. The M2M platform is based on Oracle’s Unified Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Billing and Revenue Management (BRM) solutions, which are used to handle subscriptions and support variable billing models in countries around the world.
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