Telemetry services gaining steam

With its 3G CDMA network achieving national coverage, Sprint is beginning to flex its high-speed wireless muscle with the launch of PCS Telemetry Services.

 Telemetry allows companies to automate the uploading and downloading of data from devices to host sites for analysis and to take actions based on that data.

 Last week, Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kansas, announced deals with American Trash Management for data collection and analysis for recycling and odor control systems, as well as with NCR which will deploy new wireless services for its banking customers for their self-service ATM networks.

 The Telemetry Services will include management tools to allow companies access to the Sprint network in order to manage their own business processes.

  Sprint will also be working with Telemetry Solution Providers to develop vertical applications for various industries.

 One senior Gartner analyst said that machine to machine communications is “the next thing after the Internet. It’s the SuperNet that brings contents from all machines together and makes the Internet truly ubiquitous,” said Ken Dulaney, at Gartner in San Jose, Calif.

 However, there are two road blocks to immediate deployment of telemetry added Dulaney. Designers will need time, measured in a number of years, to get telemetry services designed into products and to be able to wrap programs and support around these new services. Dulaney also noted that there are no standard bus interfaces for all of the possible devices that might be linked together.

 Nevertheless, the Gartner analyst was enthusiastic about the future of telemetry.

  “There’s work that needs to be done but it has enormous potential, the growth is mind boggling,” Dulaney said.

  Sprint executives estimate that telemetry is a $1.8 billion business in 03 and that it will grow to $8.2 billion by 2007.

  Another company using telemetry technology to broaden its offering is @Road, a wireless infrastructure supplier based in Fremont, Calif. The company announced Exception Services for its @Road GeoManager platform.

 Combined with its GPS technology, @Road’s Exception Services will allow authorized users to set parameters and respond to activities in the field when those parameters have been breached or crossed, according to J. D. Fay, @Roads vice president of corporate affairs.

 With the integration of GPS into cell phones as required by the FCCs e911 ruling, Fay also said its customers will save $360 per box, the previous charge for the GPS devices which were supplied by @Road.

 “We just load a small piece of software on a GPS-enabled device and we work with CDPD, Motorola’s iDEN. Upcoming GeoManager will also work on the AT&T Wireless GPRS network and CDMA networks,” Fay said.

 Pricing starts at $40 per month per device for GeoManager Services which include Web-based access to maps, reports and tools to manage a field force. Exception Service is an additional $10.95 per device.