Panasonic Launches Mobile Virtual Network, Announces M2M Surveillance Camera
At this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Panasonic Europe reported that it has launched its own Mobile Virtual Network in Europe, powering a machine-to-machine (M2M) cloud service that will allow Panasonic customers to remotely monitor and access data from some of the company’s products. The first two M2M services are being trialed now for Panasonic’s display and projector products, as well as its heating and cooling products.
In a trial held at Cardiff University, Panasonic is monitoring projectors remotely from its European service headquarters in South Wales, testing remote projector and display monitoring and control. Through this managed service, users can access information related to lamp life and temperature via a cloud interface, and Panasonic says it can provide predictive maintenance and optimize product up-time.
The other M2M service is being rolled out through Panasonic Heating and Cooling Solutions, which will use the service to monitor and control its installed heating and cooling infrastructure, in order to optimize its performance, detect failures and support efficiency programs. An unnamed European supermarket chain is currently testing this service at select stores.
In addition, Panasonic has announced its first new product that will utilize the M2M network: the Panasonic Nubo, a surveillance camera with 4G cellular connectivity that allows users to tap into the camera’s video data remotely, and to install the device in a wide range of environments, regardless of Wi-Fi connectivity. Vodafone M2M is the host cellular provider. Nubo is the first product to be developed by Panasonic Cameramanager (formerly Cameramanager), a cloud-based data security and storage company that serves enterprise customers, which Panasonic acquired in 2013.
The Nubo camera includes an infrared illumination camera to capture video at night, as well as a passive infrared motion sensor. The camera stores and transmits to a user, via the camera’s companion mobile Android or iOS app, snippets of motion that it determines, based on video analysis, to show human figures. The camera also includes Bluetooth Low Energy and Wi-Fi radios, which can be used to configure or monitor the camera through a smart home gateway or directly, via a mobile phone, tablet or computer, when a user is within Bluetooth or Wi-Fi range. It also contains a ZigBee radio that enables a user to access data from external ZigBee-based sensors, tracking such factors as temperature, motion or smoke, that are configured to wirelessly transmit data to the camera.
The Nubo is being marketed to consumers for home security, as well as to small, pop-up or seasonal business owners who want to remotely monitor shops or offices.
Nubo is expected to be made available in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands beginning in November of this year, with availability throughout the remainder of Europe and the United States slated to begin early next year. The camera is anticipated to cost approximately $250, and will ship with a subscriber identity module (SIM) card that provides three free months of cellular connectivity, after which subscriptions will start at $7 per month.
Jasper Announces Partnerships to Grow IoT Offerings
Another firm that made an announcement this week at the Mobile World Congress was Jasper Technologies, which runs a cloud-based software platform enabling businesses to manage networks of connected sensors transmitting data via cellular networks. Jasper announced that it has established partnerships with a Chinese mobile operator and two enterprise software companies. Through an agreement with China Unicom, Jasper will market its services to China Unicom’s customers that operate M2M networks and want a platform, like Jasper’s Control Center, on which to launch, manage and monetize IoT services. According to Tian Wenke, the general manager of China Unicom’s Business Customer Department, the telecom provider already supports more than 10 million IoT connections that support applications in transportation, utilities, smart home appliances, video surveillance and health monitoring.
Jasper has also announced new agreements with SAP and Salesforce, through which it is integrating its IoT platform with SAP’s HANA platform and the Salesforce Customer Success Platform. In each case, integration is designed to make it faster for SAP and Salesforce customers to use Jasper’s services as part of an IoT-based deployment.
Fraunhofer IIS, Nokia, Open M2M Testbed in Germany
Applied research organization Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (Fraunhofer IIS) is joining with handset manufacturer Nokia to operate a testbed in order to evaluate the use of long-term evolution advanced (LTE-A) cellular communications technology on IoT applications that leverage mobile connectivity. The testbed, located in Erlangen, Germany, covers nearly 200 square miles and includes a section of the A3 Autobahn, the center of Erlangen, and several suburban communities and rural areas.
The testbed is open to companies developing or using mobile communication software running on commercially available devices operating in the 700 MHz and 2.6 GHz frequency bands. Fraunhofer IIS operates the network in the testbed, while Nokia Networks provides its eNodeB base stations, which run time-critical and bandwidth-hungry applications locally, instead of having to first transmit the data across the mobile network.
The testbed’s aim is to enable users to determine how applications or data transmissions behave in certain situations and under specific mobility criteria, such as different mobile network loads.