Telenor's - Ericsson

executive summary
»»»
64 EBR #3 2010
ond is to be a vertical solution
provider, making the whole
solution. The third is providing
a sort of Internet of Things
switch. Telenor has taken all
three positions. Telcos are good
at doing the same thing over
and over again and doing it
with high quality. But in m2m,
you really have to understand
the requirements and functionality
to do this properly at all
levels, including installations
and maintenance of devices.
Moving beyond m2m to the
Internet of Things market, you
need standard interfaces to get
access to the information without
having to know a lot about
the connectivity and the devices
themselves. You need an
abstraction layer in between so
getting access to device data
becomes as easy as making an
internet application. This will
require standardization that is
not in place yet.
The Internet of Things in the
eyes of the users
By Joakim Formo, page 32
The Internet of Things needs
innovative ways of interfacing
with its users to make it clear that
its power is not in any of its single
connections, but in the totality
of interconnections. Otherwise
it is going to be very hard to
create the mass-market platform
the industry is hoping for.
Different kinds of gadgets and
gizmos are gradually turning
into hybrid devices that are
services as much as they are
physical objects. These days,
the pads and pods – in all their
different shapes and forms –
are also expected to be the
portals to an integrated ecosystem
of services and applications.
But how do we create
mass demand?
The technology has to be
shaped into something people
understand, like, want and
enjoy. Designing innovative
service concepts and novel
ways of interacting with technology
is very much about
understanding how users apply
mental models to make sense
of something.
In one study, most of the participants
confirmed that they
knew what a wireless network
was, in reality meaning that
they knew what it was used for,
or how to use it.
However, none of the participants
actually explained their
Wi-Fi networks by describing
any of the characteristics of a
network. The participants’
definition of a wireless network
was that it is something (typically
a laptop) that connects to
the internet, for example. In
other words, people casually
define a wireless network as a
replacement for a cable.
For the Wi-Fi networks in our
homes today, the metaphor of
invisible wires is perfectly adequate.
But for a future scenario
where we have billions of
networked things, this simplified
understanding becomes a
limitation.
Its true power is to be found in
the core characteristics of the
network as such, and the opportunities
that these core
characteristics enable are currently
hidden in a blind spot
created by the mental model
and the analog ancestors. Users
may think they understand
what the Internet of Things is,
but in fact, they will not be able
to see its real potential.
The cable is currently the mental
model for a network and the
World Wide Web is about to
become the analog ancestor of
the Internet of Things. These
metaphors are insufficient to
explain the nature and opportunities
of this technology evolution.
A new innovative and
intuitive way of understanding
the interconnections must be
introduced. Otherwise an insufficient
mental model will
obscure the possibility of having
50 billion connected devices.
Chinese technology’s big
chance to go global
By David Callahan, page 36
▶ The Chinese government
sees the Internet of Things as
an opportunity to take the lead
in global technology standardization,
according to Flora
Wu, principal analyst with bda,
a Beijing-based consulting
firm.
There are several technologies
competing and no set standard
yet. That is one reason for the
Chinese government’s ambitions.
China has rolled out its
own 3G technology and now
the government and operators
are starting to invest in lte, 4g
and the post-4g technologies.
In addition to a sensor technology
center in Wuxi, the Ministry
of Industry and Information
recently collaborated with the
local Wuxi government and
Jiangsu Province to create a
national r&d center devoted to
the Internet of Things.
China Mobile, China Telecom
and China Unicom have taken
the lead in the Internet of
Things market. China’s largest
operator, China Mobile, already
counts 5 million m2m terminals
in its network – about 60 percent
more than 2009.
Che Wu Tong, a car telematics
and location-based application
for vehicles, is China Mobile’s
most widely used m2m service.
Chongqing Mobile is the base
for parent company China Mobile’s
m2m business and its
capabilities will be upgraded to
operate the platform for the
entire network. To date, five
provincial subsidiaries have set
up their own m2m platforms,
Wu says.
China Mobile has piloted livestock
tracking, as well as remote
greenhouse monitoring.
By October 2009, as many as
80,000 terminals were involved
in these trials.
China Telecom has trialed
M2M applications in dozens of
industries, including transportation,
energy and environmental
sustainability. In the financial
sector, China Unicom has
launched a service enabling
customers to use handsets to
make payments from their Bank
of Communications account.
Yu Xiaohui, deputy chief engineer
of China Academy of
Tele communication Research
(catr) says the Chinese government
is exploring how the
Internet of Things can raise
living standards and improve
industrial productivity in a
“smart and green” way.
The Internet of Things will also
play an important role in raising
the living standards of the
Chinese people, for example by
improving food safety and security.
The application of the Internet
of Things is still in the explorative
stage, and Yu thinks there
is still a need for an action plan
and a strategic road map.
He says the Internet of Things
consists of three very important
key factors: one is sensing
and identification; the second
is transmitting information via
the interconnected networks;
and the third is intelligent processing
of information.
m2m is a core part of the Internet
of Things, but it doesn’t
represent the whole concept.
As well as the communication
between machines, there
should be a human aspect to
the concept. Via the Internet of
Things, people should be able
to identify and control the nature
of the machines to improve
productivity and living
standards.
Operators need an ecosystem
to support 50 billion
connections
By Mats Alendal, page 40
▶ Network operators are very
well positioned to benefit from
the m2m wave, given their ability
to stimulate ecosystem developments,
influence consumer
behavior and, potentially,
provide services to customers.
However, operators need to
shift their business away from
supplying voice and data services
toward becoming an integral
part of a wide variety of
industrial vertical solutions.
Real-time capabilities and
quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees
will be critical. Operators
should also ensure their
m2m platforms are open and
standards-based to provide
interoperability between ecosystem
players and vertical industries.
But this is not the only