M2M : Machine 2 Machine

Here is another company that is on the M2M middleware bandwagon. I have not tried out the beta service but worth looking into.

Cooper City, FL (PRWEB) April 13, 2009 — Linxter, Inc., provider of in-the-cloud middleware, today announces the release of Linxter version 1.0 for the rapid development of communication-based products and services. Linxter offers software developers an easy-to-use, ubiquitous communication framework for secure and reliable messaging among applications, devices, and systems, allowing data to be exchanged among disparate systems.

With message-oriented middleware hosted in the cloud, developers can quickly and easily take advantage of asynchronous, stateful messaging to connect their distributed applications. All of the communication plumbing, the infrastructure and coding complexities, are removed from the product development timeline and maintenance budget. As a result, developers do not have to invest themselves in messaging expertise and infrastructure, allowing them to focus instead on the core value proposition of their products and services.

even more exciting than the explosion in the number of Internet enabled devices, is the way developers will be able to innovate through the interconnection of all of these things.

Linxter reduces the time to market for applications by automating integration. Developers can integrate Linxter into their development projects in less than five minutes and master the technology in less than a day. The technology consists of three main components: 1. The Linxter Internet Service Bus (ISB), which is the back-end infrastructure that processes messages between Linxter enabled programs, 2. The Linxter Software Development Kit (SDK), which contains the code needed to integrate applications with the Linxter ISB, and 3. The Linxter Web Manager, a user interface for administering programs and accounts.

And that trend looks to be not only a boon for operators, but for industrial and public-safety entities as well. During his keynote address last week, Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Verizon Communications, now the largest mobile operator in the US, said the next generation of wireless will be one that ushers in penetration rates for the wireless industry of more than 500 percent.

Specifically, Seidenberg said Verizon Wireless’ choice of all-IP Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology in the 700 MHz band will enable a connected world that not only connects people but people to machines and machines to machines.

“In this model, there is literally no limit on the number of connections that can be part of the mobile grid: cars, appliances, buildings, roads, sensors, medical monitors and someday even inventories on supermarket shelves,” Seidenberg said. “All of these have the potential to become inherently intelligent — perpetually connected nodes on the mobile web.”

AT CTIA ATT reaffirmed it support for a future where devices talk to each other over Wireless ( Cellular, WiFI). This is Machine to machine 2 Machine communication (M2M).

April 2, 2009 (Computerworld) LAS VEGAS — AT&T Inc. is working with developers to wirelessly enable a plethora of consumer electronics, representatives said at the International CTIA Wireless show today.

The trend of creating connected consumer electronics has been going on for some time, but AT&T is rethinking how it will charge for the wireless service behind such devices, especially if customers used multiple wireless devices, AT&T representatives said.

Glenn Lurie, president of emerging devices for AT&T, said most customers would not want to spend $10 a month for wireless simply to send a photo from a digital camera to a digital picture frame. But a customer might be willing to pay for a one-time use, or even several uses, he said.

With connectivity pricing recognized as the key to success, and the strong interest by device makers to add wireless capability, AT&T Mobility president Ralph de la Vega sees a bright future. He said consumers would walk into a Best Buy or Wal-Mart store sometime in the future “and there won’t be a device in the store that will not be wirelessly enabled,” de la Vega said.

He said cameras, e-readers and personal navigation devices are already able to connect today, but added data features are possible. Nearly always-on connectivity was closer to reality if devices were made to work across Wi-Fi and 3G cellular networks.

De la Vega said that smaller companies might not be able to add a 3G wireless network radio chip to a camera, but could afford to add a Wi-Fi radio chip instead.

Lurie said his emerging devices group is working with small developers on radio-enabling various devices. “Some are even coming out of the garage with duct tape on the device,” he said.

ABI Research analyst Kevin Burden said that the market for connected electronics will be “huge,” adding that ABI is assessing its size in current research. Lurie gave one estimate of $90 billion in five years.

Burden said that a few years ago, wireless devices were focused on converging mobile phones with computers, while the new trend is making many devices Internet-connected. “You really can’t have one device do everything,” Burden said.