Redefining the future with M2M
Article:
In the future there will be more machines communicating than people. Telenor Object is working with technology that may help control almost everything around us.
Telenor Objects is busy innovating and finding ways to make business more effective and people’s lives easier. The company provides clouded M2M (machine-to-machine) services allowing partners to quickly develop and deploy M2M solutions anywhere in the world. Their platform is called Shepherd and with SmartTrack as one of the best received applications.
Shepherd always on the alert
Imagine being on an electric bike connected to the Shepherd platform. By extracting information from the sensors on the bike, Shepherd can give you and your peers important information about weather conditions, traffic ahead, charging booths nearby if you are running out of battery, or may inform at home about your delay, etc.
Shepherd provides its services through easy-to-use application programming interfaces (APIs) and a state of the art Dashboard that provides simple and intuitive access to all its services. By connecting devices to this platform, business partners can participate in a future proof solution for information exchange.
“With Shepherd you can carry out a fast, easy, cost efficient, and low risk delivery of new M2M services. A well defined set of APIs allows devices and applications to âplug in’ to the platform – either to provide sensor information or to subscribe to such information. The solution is based on cloud infrastructure also containing a library of supported devices,” said Christian Kavli, Product Manager of Shepherd.
Real time tracking embraced by market segments
The SmartTrack solution was originally developed with the intent to demonstrate the usability of the Shepherd platform. However, the application was so well received in the health and manufacturing segments that it has become a part of Telenor Objects’ product offerings – as a web based configurable solution.
“SmartTrack is a real time tracking solution used to position and manage unlimited numbers of assets or people – whether indoors or outdoors”, explained Sofia Tropé, Product Manager of SmartTrack.
Increased safety for patients
Smartphones and GPS devices are used to transmit status information and presence of persons or assets. Sofia Tropé gives the following example.
“A nurse is responsible for several dementia day-patients. Since she cannot physically be with all of them at the same time, each of her patients is provided with a simple GPS connected to SmartTrack. This allows him or her to have a more fulfilling and independent life, since they are free to move about and spend their time in a safe setting indoors or outdoors,” Sofia Tropé illustrated.Â
“If a patient panics or gets lost while out on a walk, he can simply press the panic button on his device. The nurse in charge will receive an alarm notification by email or SMS including a map link displaying the location of the patient. This way the nurse quickly gets a good overview of the situation and can arrange for help,” Tropé added.
More efficient results for less
Innovations of this nature allow people to have better control over a lot of things that previously seemed uncontrollable. On top of this, it is an affordable solution and a substitute to complex tasks that may cost a lot more time, skills and money if done manually or in separate solutions.
Learn more about the different ways that innovation at Telenor improves lives