Ericsson, MegaFon Team on M2M

STOCKHOLM -- At the Open Innovations Forum in Moscow, Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) announced a strategic cooperation with one of Russia's major operators, MegaFon, to develop the market around machine-to-machine connectivity. Under the agreement, MegaFon plans to use Ericsson's Device Connection Platform to cost effectively manage a large number of connected devices and machines for enterprises. Ericsson will provide MegaFon with consulting services and utilities market research plus systems integration services as part of the agreement.

In a world of 50 billion connected devices as foreseen by Ericsson, many devices will communicate with applications and control systems using mobile networks. Both enterprises and consumers will make use of numerous everyday devices that benefit from M2M connectivity at home, at work, on the move, in remote locations and elsewhere. Potential uses include utility meters, alarms, cars, buses and trucks and a wide range of consumer electronic devices.

Thus, operators need tools in order to tailor enterprise offerings, for example in terms of price plans and bandwidth requirements for different M2M applications. In addition, they must be able to implement new applications fast.

The Device Connection Platform is a cloud-based managed connectivity platform, provided as a service. It enables operators to industrialize M2M connectivity services to a variety of different industry needs. Operators can address new revenue streams from a variety of devices while simplifying the process, and reducing the cost of connecting them in order to benefit from economies of scale. At the same time, the platform facilitates smooth and efficient network provisioning as well as access to key functionalities including subscription management, device management and operator and enterprise self-service portals.

Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC)