By nature, evolution is a slow process. But once in a while, there’s an innovative leap forward that transforms the landscape. M2M Evolution Magazine celebrates these types of “evolutions in innovation” with its annual Product of the Year Award program. Selected by a panel of industry experts and the magazine’s editorial board, the awards honor the best M2M systems and solutions that deliver on the promise of gathering real time information regardless of location and proximity.
This year, Gemalto’s SensorLogic Platform was selected as the M2M Evolution Product of the Year for transforming M2M cloud-based services with the SensorLogic Agent. The SL Agent is an embedded software component tightly coupled to communication modules that amps up the native processing power of devices and greatly speeds and simplifies application development. Together, the SensorLogic Platform and Agent put the “smart” in our connected homes, meters and lives by quickly transforming data from devices into actionable intelligence that can be used to improve processes and efficiency.
What’s so evolutionary about it, you ask? A little background will help shed some light.
Machine-to-machine (M2M) technology powers the quickly expanding Internet of Things (IoT), the web of wirelessly connected objects and devices – smart homes, connected cars, wearables and more – that is improving the way we live and work. However, developing M2M and IoT solutions is a multifaceted challenge. A longstanding bottleneck in deployment has been transforming the billions of bits of data collected by devices into standardized, actionable intelligence, and then integrating it into backend systems. As M2M has become more mainstream, sources of data and types of sensors have multiplied and become more dispersed and divergent. This adds a whole new level of complexity to software development that requires more time and integration effort to make the web of devices and networks work.
Einstein proposed that “time is relative”. In the fast-paced world of M2M, time is relative to Return On Investment and profitability. Quick application integration and short development lifecycles are the key drivers for realizing ROI and gaining competitive advantage. Now more than ever, the need for speedy, high level data processing is critical to bringing new solutions to the marketplace. In addition, as the number and sophistication of M2M connections has increased, there is an ever-greater strain on wireless network bandwidth and storage servers. Local processing where data is collected, before it is sent to the cloud, has become a key consideration in application design.
This is where that evolutionary leap comes into play. The SensorLogic Agent is the first to embed software processing power and native integration and management capabilities in the cellular communication module itself. It sounds simple but it’s a game changer in terms of boosting integration simplicity and speed and enabling processing at the edge, before transferring all that ”big data” to the cloud. By combining localized Java processing and communication capabilities in one component, the SensorLogic Agent helps OEMs streamline solution design while reducing the bill of materials. Gemalto’s Embedded System approach provides off-the-shelf integration with the award-winning SensorLogic Platform drastically reducing time to market for new applications. It also easily interacts with other Java applications on the module through an M2M abstraction layer, which allows simultaneous software and hardware development. OEMs no longer need to wait for hardware approvals before starting on software development.
The versatile SensorLogic platform can be used in any vertical market and with any device to quickly add intelligence. For instance, ConnectM is using SensorLogic to improve cell tower monitoring and maintenance for tower operators. The platform collects data from towers across thousands of miles and across a variety of wireless networks and converts it into user friendly, standardized information that is easily accessed on a web-based dashboard. This allows 24/7, real-time monitoring and allows for problems to be solved as they arise, before service outages occur.
Evolution may take time, but seeing is believing! To see us transform a garbage can into a smart recycling center in less than 20 minutes using the Cinterion Concept Board and the SensorLogic Platform, visit the SXSW panel picker and cast your vote for “Talking Trash: creating a smart recycling center.” If the demo is selected, we’ll link to the video in a future blog.
