Deutsche Telekom has positioned itself as a potential M2M leader in the continuing development of the ‘internet of things’, opening a new developer community platform for M2M communications.
The new community, part of the company’s existing Developer Garden initiative, offers a number of useful tools including, APIs and software development kits (SDKs), which it says will ‘quickly and easily’ allow developers to build and sell M2M applications.
Enmeshing everyday systems and appliances into the internet of things is seen as a natural progression of today’s increasingly connected lifestyle. With around five billion M2M devices currently operations worldwide and ten times as many are expected by 2020, the operator wants a slice of this pie.
Alarm systems, for instance, might be monitored online using the appropriate M2M API, which a developer could mesh with the operator’s API for SMS, using it to notify users by text message when the alarm is triggered. The same principle can be applied to toasters, pets, cars, clothing… you name it, there’s probably an M2M use case for it.
Apps like this can now be built within Deutsche Telekom’s framework and distributed through its M2M Marketplace, which launched in June. The community also provides developers with the opportunity to exchange information and ideas with Deutsche Telekom experts and other community members on the forums.
The portal is also aimed at IT companies and device manufacturers that might wish to integrate M2M connectivity features into their products using Deutsche Telekom SIM cards. Perhaps a new range of connected lunch boxes, toilet roll holders or underpants might be just on the horizon.
“There is no doubt that the demand for the various options provided by this technology will increase dramatically in nearly all industry sectors – the applications range from process optimization through to completely new business ideas,” said Jürgen Hase, Head of Deutsche Telekom’s M2M Competence Center.
“In order to design the ecosystem, we want to cooperate and partner with IT and other companies, hardware producers and also with developers. The Developer Community, like the M2M marketplace previously, is therefore an additional integral step in the implementation of our strategy which enables us to position ourselves on the M2M market in the long term.”
Find out more about M2M and the ‘internet of things’ at Telecoms Tech World on 4-5 June
