It’s a little like a game show. It’s a bit like a steel cage match. It’s not quite the same as the Battle of the Planets, but, in the M2M space, the Battle of the Platforms event is the pinnacle of friendly competition. At this year’s M2M Evolution event, colocated with ITEXPO Miami 2013, nine dynamic M2M companies enter the ring, ready to show off their solutions, platforms and technology, and only one would be declared the winner.
The nine companies represented in this year’s battle covered the gamut of M2M solutions. From tracking criminal offenders to monitoring crates of fruit, the event clearly demonstrated how ubiquitous and useful M2M solutions are.
Here are some of the highlights from the companies that presented. Can you guess which one took home the top prize?
Gurtam, a Belarus-based company, shared a case study explaining how its Wialon solution helped a Central American fruit company. The company was using diesel generators to keep the fruit cold for shipping, but it was measuring fuel consumption with a stick. The Wialon solution helped save the company fuel and money – and helped reduce fruit spoilage.
Modus, newly rebranded after the merger of Vision Wireless and Walsh, shared a case study wherein esurance use Modus for its usage-based insurance solution. The end-to-end solution took care of the customer, from order through delivery of the device to tracking the car through the portal, monitoring trips, harsh events and driving stats.
Omnilink is a company that started out in the offender tracking market and built a series of solutions on that technology. After meeting the stringent demands of courts and society regarding keep track of criminals with ankle bracelets, the company developed solutions to track pets, children, the elderly and even important objects.
WebNMS is a solution from Zoho. Its framework is designed to be used on anything from oil rigs to smart meters and more. The company works in an OEM model, and developers can implement and rebrand the platform as their own. The platform is highly customizable, and can be modified right from the GUI.
ILS Technologies has a Web-based portal, a management portal and a workbench configuration tool. Its easy interface makes for a quick set-up (in the demo, it took about three minutes to set up a temperature sensor). One company that used ILS technology monitored cooking oil in McDonald’s restaurants and provided data to corporate headquarters, franchise owners and even the fryer manufacturers!
Axeda helps customers create and manage connected products and implement new applications. Its solution has a number of use cases including a company that makes power generator engines that built rules to look for possible engine failures, saving millions of dollars in the process. It can also be used for warranty management, service automation and usage tracking.
Digi, the victor of last year’s competition, updated the crowd on its iDigi solution. It is newly integrated with Saleforce, and this integration provides an impressive use case. If, for example, your hot tub malfunctions, it can send information through the Social Machine to Salesforce, and the dealer can dispatch a tech to your house. Everyone in this chain will have up-to-date information, and your spa may be fixed before you even know it is broken!
Spireon was short one member of its presentation team, but Coach Joe Gibbs (three-time Super Bowl Champion), spoke via video about using the Spireon platform to track his car racing assets. The company also demonstrated how its solutions can help secure mobile collateral for banking institutions, how it can help with fleet management for businesses of all sizes, and how it can track home health aides.
Thingworx was a slightly different case. This company does not provide applications, but simply a platform to create applications. It hopes to be the complete platform for the connected world, which is not just about machines anymore, but integrating with people, systems and things.
The company has impressive results, enabling a 10x reduction in application development.
It made for a fun and exciting event. Want to know who won? Stay tuned!
Edited by
Braden Becker
