14 DAY TRIAL // Verizon Wireless and Qualcomm Incorporated announced on Tuesday an agreement that involves forming a joint venture aimed at offering machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless communications, as well as smart services over a wide range of market areas, such as healthcare, manufacturing, utilities, distribution and consumer products. The new joint venture hasn't got a name yet, but the duo announced that it would be equally owned, while delivering a single source for end-to-end M2M solutions. M2M capabilities, the companies stated, enable new services and business models, which are smart services.
“The Verizon Wireless vision for bringing the benefits of 'everything connected' to the marketplace started with the introduction of the open development business and the selection of LTE technology for our 4G network,” said Anthony Lewis, vice president of open development at Verizon Wireless. “We understand that no single company will be able to provide every aspect of the new M2M ecosystem on its own. This distinctive partnership with Qualcomm allows us to swiftly build on the strengths of each company's M2M strategy. The JV's focus on unlimited innovation will enable the production of next-generation products and services that will release the full power and potential of our network for customers.”
Verizon and Qualcomm also announced that the joint venture would be led by Steve Pazol, who served as vice president of Global Smart Services at Qualcomm. The company already delivered some M2M solutions meant to offer “always-on” mobile connectivity. Commenting on the new agreement, Pazol stated that M2M was a market that should see a rapid growth, with a number of over 85 million connections around the world projected to be established by 2012. “The next five years will be a significant period of innovation in M2M,” he added.
The new joint venture will benefit both from Qualcomm's advanced connectivity technologies and from Verizon's expertise. It should provide seamless, fully integrated M2M communication, the duo stated, while also adding that some of its key capabilities would be cloud computing solutions. What the joint venture should deliver includes productized applications aimed at end-use markets, new diagnostic tools that will enable the monitoring of a network's health along with device performance, as well as professional services.