Sprint Expands Social, Economic Benefits in Dynamic, High-Growth M2M Markets

Drawing on 12 years of M2M (machine-to-machine) experience, Sprint focuses M2M development on four primary segments: Connected Transportation; Connected Meters, Sensors & Alarms; Connected Machines, Screens & Things; and Connected Personal Devices.

Company also expands M2M ecosystem capabilities, offering solutions with a variety of social and economic benefits, including green and sustainability, driver and workplace safety, increased productivity and reduced costs, enhanced security and efficient energy consumption.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), October 11, 2011 – With global M2M (machine-to-machine) connections forecast to grow 36 percent annually through 2020^*, Sprint (NYSE:S, news, filings) has targeted four high-growth segments as the umbrella focus of its M2M development activities and offerings: Connected Transportation; Connected Meters, Sensors & Alarms; Connected Machines, Screens & Things; and Connected Personal Devices. Sprint has strategically categorized M2M growth markets based on 12 years of experience developing industry-specific M2M opportunities for its customers and partners, using an open network approach.

“By connecting a vast array of electronic devices, M2M is opening new opportunities to improve business and personal life, often in dramatic and transforming ways. This includes anticipated substantial positive impacts on environmental sustainability, safety on the road and in the workplace, more effective and less costly health care, increased security for communities and companies, and more efficient energy consumption,” said Wayne Ward, vice president-Emerging Solutions Group, Sprint. “Sprint has identified M2M markets with high potential to expand these social and economic benefits, and these are where we expect to see the fastest M2M growth.”

These four growth segments have attracted a large and expanding complement of partners to Sprint’s M2M ecosystem, with wide-ranging benefits driving the market for M2M solutions. Some of those benefits and partners are described here:

Key growth drivers in the M2M Connected Transportation segment include cost savings, increased productivity, and greater driver safety for businesses; infotainment, convenience and safety for consumers; and green benefits for everyone. The Aberdeen Group estimates that next-generation connectivity in vehicles can produce fuel cost savings of more than 13 percent and operating cost improvement of more than 10 percent. Sprint ecosystem partners and customers are bringing benefits like these to market, including the following:

• Applus Technologies recently announced that its A+ Tracker is certified on the Sprint network. A+ Tracker is a simple, self-installed vehicle telematics device that can flag anything from a teen’s distracted driving to a taxi driver’s excessive speed. A+ Tracker captures and transmits data across more than 70 critical vehicle and driver-performance statistics.
• Trimble teamed with Sprint earlier this year to provide U.S. government agencies a broad range of fleet-management capabilities and solutions, including vehicle monitoring, diagnostics, driver safety and identification services. Together, Trimble and Sprint solutions are expected to enable agencies to reduce operating costs, manage mileage, reduce idle time and emissions, and improve safety. Click here for news release.
• Enterprise Fleet Management, together with Sprint, offers Mobile Resource Manager, a fleet-management solution that allows fleet operators to monitor vehicle location, dispatch jobs, send driving directions and text drivers, all in real time with this M2M solution powered by the Sprint 3G Network. The result: Improved communications and a superior customer experience.
  Click here for news release.
• To combat distracted driving, DriveCam developed a device wirelessly enabled by Sprint that turns on a camera when g-forces indicate a driver is driving dangerously. The camera records the dangerous action and notifies a responsible party – usually the parents or fleet manager. This and other M2M applications have emerged as valuable safety tools against distracted driving, which killed nearly 5,500 people in 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
• Through the recent acquisition of Fusion Wireless, u-blox has become a Sprint preferred wireless module provider. u-blox is a leading provider of embedded wireless communication solutions for the consumer, industrial and automotive markets offering solutions that enable people, devices, vehicles and machines to locate their exact position and wirelessly communicate via voice, text or video.
• Audiovox Electronics Corp. and Sprint are collaborating to deliver a Location Based Services and On Board Device system that will allow consumers to employ a variety of safety and convenience features designed to enhance their driving experience and vehicle management.

Increased security and energy efficiency are attracting property owners to unprecedented capabilities offered in the M2M Alarms, Sensors and Alarms segment.

Examples include:

• When cameras are used, property crime is reduced by two-thirds, according to OJO Technologies. Cernium and Sprint have used M2M to take video surveillance even further by transforming ordinary security cameras into a proactive solution. CheckVideo|Sprint 3G “watches” every camera 24/7 for events of interest and protects outdoor and remote areas that are too cost-prohibitive to monitor with conventional video surveillance systems.
  Click here for news release.
• Energy efficiency is another major issue for property owners. Sprint and SmartLabs INSTEON recently announced a plug-and-play M2M solution that allows property owners to access and control energy consumption from a Web portal or a Sprint smartphone. Pilot testing is underway at a Sprint retail store, where energy savings exceed 28 percent.
  Click here for news release.
• Last month, Neptune and Sprint announced they are working together to modernize the nation’s utility infrastructure. The companies are helping utilities collect water consumption and diagnostic data by combining the Sprint wireless network and machine-to-machine (M2M) expertise with Neptune’s automated metering solutions. Neptune’s solutions feature one of the best life-cycle values in the industry.
  Click here for news release.
• Pacific Controls Inc., a founding partner in the Sprint M2M Collaboration Center, has established the world’s first Global Command Control Center (GCC) for energy and managed engineering services. GCC enables continuous commissioning, measurement and verification of a client’s carbon footprint in real time. Global assets are connected in real time to the Pacific Controls Cloud using M2M hardware developed by Pacific Controls.

Interactive, state-of-the-art digital signage solutions and ATM wireless solutions are examples of the Connected Machines, Screens and Things segment.

• VisTracks™ and Sprint have announced a new cloud-based statistical processing capability. Sprint is the only network carrier to make the VisTracks Position and Movement Analytics Platform available to its business customers and developer partners. The platform allows the development of applications that incorporate predictive analytics from real-time analysis of time, location and other data.
• Today, MediaTile announced its HumanKiosk digital signage solution powered by the Sprint 4G Network. The HumanKiosk engages consumers in dynamic new ways. At the touch of an on-screen button, consumers can instantly enter into a two-way, high-definition, face-to-face conversation with a remote product expert, accessed over the Sprint 4G network. These experts are available on demand, and through cloud technology are matched based on the consumer’s specific area of interest, which might include product, features and even language.
  Click here for news release.
  Click here for image.
• Triton Systems, LLC provides a stable, secure and cost-effective connectivity method for its customers using more than 200,000 ATM machines deployed by Triton worldwide. Triton’s TDL Gateway modem operates over SSL TCP/IP, with guaranteed encryption security and the fastest transaction speed possible. The modem’s nine-foot antenna makes it possible to deploy an ATM just about anywhere, with plug-and-play simplicity and reduced cost. Triton develops wireless solutions for any kind of telemetry data.
• New Boundary and Sprint recently entered into a co-marketing agreement which will provide customers with efficient, real-time management of their fixed and mobile assets through New Boundary Technologies’ hosted M2M application platform, or “platform-as-a-service” (PaaS). The platform enables rapid delivery of M2M solutions for enterprise customers, OEMs, systems integrators, and Value-added Resellers (VARs).
• Taoglas USA, Inc, a leading provider of antenna solutions to the M2M market, recently announced they are now a Sprint M2M Collaboration Center Partner.

Better, less expensive health care is raising M2M’s profile among medical professionals in the Personal Connected Devices segment. If doctors use wireless applications to remotely monitor patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes or obesity, the annual savings could amount to approximately $21 billion due to a reduction in hospitalization and nursing home costs, according to the Health Research Institute. M2M solutions are helping enable effective remote monitoring. For example:

• Today Sprint and IDEAL LIFE launched kiosks for users to capture health and wellness information remotely via Sprint’s wireless network. IDEAL LIFE’s digital, two-way and interactive technology streamlines health care delivery by allowing individuals to become active participants in their own health care through education and self-management. By involving the physician only when appropriate, needless trips to the physician’s office can be saved while allowing physicians to manage more patients, more efficiently. Whether measuring blood pressure, weight, blood glucose levels or any other biometric reading, IDEAL LIFE wireless kiosk users are able to provide more accurate and immediate data to health care professionals who can, in turn, share relevant, reliable and actionable information.
  Click here for news release.
• Reflection Solutions, a founding partner in the Sprint M2M Collaboration Center, offers a unique product which includes a “wristwatch” device that wirelessly connects patients and caregivers. The device monitors the patient’s health and physical activity, and provides instability and fall detection.
• BodyMedia provides a holistic weight-management system consisting of a body monitoring Armband, online Activity Manager, optional Display device and free smartphone apps. It automatically and accurately tracks the calories burned during daily activities and even monitors the quality of sleep.
  Click here for video.
• In another M2M arrangement with Orange, County, Fla., the Sprint 3G network rapidly transmits patient data – typically on heart attack victims – from ambulance EKG machines to a doctor’s smartphone. The physician can then determine the best treatment options for the patient before they arrive at the hospital, potentially saving time, money and lives.

“Not only is M2M growth exploding, it’s exploding in many directions simultaneously,” said Ward. “Whether you’re a solutions developer or a business exploring high-potential M2M ideas, you need a clear idea of where the hottest M2M growth is happening and how to engage ecosystem resources focused on those areas. Sprint has drawn on 12 years of experience with our open approach to device connectivity and categorized M2M growth into a focused, strategic framework for our customers and partners.”

Sprint has defined several sub-segments within each of the four M2M growth segments:

Connected Transportation – Fleet / Telematics / Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) / IVC Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEMS); Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) / Pay As You Drive (PAYD); and Public Safety / Emergency.

Connected Meters, Sensors and Alarms – Utility / Smart Grid; Water / Oil / Gas; Security and Surveillance; and Automation and Control.

Connected Machines, Screens and Things – Automated Teller Machine (ATM) / Point of Sale (POS) / Access / Vending; Digital Signage and Kiosk; Asset Tracking; and Embedded Routers and Modems.

Connected Personal Devices – Personal Gaming and Tracking; Personal Health Management; and Copiers / Printers / Scanners.

Sprint executives will discuss the company’s M2M segmentation strategy at the Sprint 2011 Open Solutions Conference, Nov. 2-4, in Santa Clara, Calif. Developers, enterprises and entrepreneurs will gather to gain valuable insight into the next evolution in wireless data. Attendees will learn about Sprint’s open enablement strategy, creating applications, enterprise M2M solutions, go-to-market strategies, approaches to make developers more profitable, and current Sprint tools and capabilities across devices, networks and platforms.
For additional information about Sprint M2M and Sprint’s partner ecosystem visit www.sprint.com/m2m.
News about embedded M2M solutions is also available from TMCnet.

About the Sprint Emerging Solutions Group

With more than a dozen years of experience with M2M, Sprint has been at the forefront of this wireless industry revolution, teaming with and supporting a large and diverse portfolio of innovative partners to create smarter wireless solutions that change the way people work and live. Last year, Sprint opened the Sprint M2M Collaboration Center in Burlingame, Calif., a hands-on, interactive lab where ideas, knowledge and technology unite to produce wirelessly enabled M2M concepts and products. Earlier this year, Sprint also introduced the Sprint Command Center, a Web-based portal that allows businesses with Sprint wireless-connected products the ability to manage, activate and de-activate each device. To learn more, view this special “What if …” M2M video and visit www.sprint.com/m2m.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 52 million customers at the end of 2Q 2011 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 6 in its 2010 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

* Source: Analysys Mason – The global market for machine-to-machine (M2M) device connections will grow from 62 million devices in 2010 to 2.1 billion devices in 2020. With a year-on-year growth rate of between 36 percent and 52 percent, M2M seeks to be one of the fastest-growing connectivity sectors in the next decade.