Telstra sets up online M2M 'matchmaking' service

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 20 October 2011 15:19

Business IT - Networking

Telstra has set up an online 'match-making service to help companies needing to implement machine-to machine (M2M) communications systems with Telstra business partners able to develop and implement such services over the Next G network.

The service is the latest addition to Telstra's Mobility Partner program launched last year. According to Mike Cihra, director of M2M and partners at Telstra, "The Mobility Partner Program has seen great growth across its first year, with 144 partners signed up, currently promoting more than 130 different solutions."

Cihra told ExchangeDaily "we have been trying to get more engaged with the companies that are really making this market, and there are lots of them: small integrators and software developers and hardware manufacturers.

"We got to the stage where we had a great database or people who cold provide different solutions and different service elements, but that was just for internal use and we realised it would be useful to the market. So we put a front end on so we can give customers a single place they can search for different mobility needs. There are all kinds of filters they can use for searching: by industry type, company name etc."

He said that most of Telstra's M2M partners were small specialist companies driving their own businesses with the Telstra network in the background. However Telstra has a number of gold partners with which it is more intimately involved.

One such is Navman, which announced its partnership with Telstra today. "Navman for example is a joint sale," Cihra said. "Our sales people are educated in their proposition and the charges appear on the Telstra bill.

"We have about 10 gold partners; the rest are silver or bronze and they are really driving the sales themselves. The partners we have had the most success with are SME they are usually very skilled in a certain industry or application."

He added "We are seeing industries that have not traditionally used wireless starting to look at how wireless can be part of their business model, like the white goods and automotive industries."