M2MAPPS: Rod: Multi-Tech has an interesting and unusual portfolio: lots of pre-certified products as well as professional and manufacturing services. How do you distill it down into a clear, concise offer?

ROD LANDERS: It’s very simple. Our products are platforms that allow companies to deliver M2M services in very short time frames. We have a comprehensive portfolio of pre-certified end devices and that allows us to match an off-the-shelf product with the functionality of the service that the company is designing. (more…)

M2MAPPS: Wyless Connect seems to have to have two main activities. Backup services for business continuity and the deployment of wireless devices. Let’s start with continuity. Is that your core competence?

BENNETT ALPERT: I’d prefer to describe the company as having a single expertise in wireless networks and a core competence to configure, deploy and support the hardware that’s needed to run them. But business continuity is definitely a key activity. (more…)

M2MAPPS: Can you summarize Quake Global’s core competence and its key activities?

SERGIO RAMOS: QUAKE provides communications systems that enable global monitoring, tracking and control of corporate assets. We’re the market leader. (more…)

M2MAPPS: Sigfox has employed license-free spectrum to create a cellular network that is dedicated to M2M and the IoT. The obvious question is why? What is wrong with cellular technology?

THOMAS NICHOLLS: I’d like to start with a reminder that M2M and IoT applications come in numerous sizes and shapes. Those that need relatively high data rates work well with existing connectivity technologies, but many others only need to exchange small messages every so often. (more…)

M2MAPPS: Ericsson is the leading provider of networking equipment to the world’s carriers. Last year revenues were over 26 billion Euros. When and why did the company decide to enter the relatively small M2M area?

MIGUEL BLOCKSTRAND : The decision was made in 2009 as part of a strategy review that looked at the way society was heading. We came up with the vision of a networked society in which 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020, driven by products such as smartphones and the increased use of wireless communications in M2M verticals. (more…)

M2MAPPS: Monnit focuses on low-cost wireless sensors. When and why did you decide to specialize in this part of the value chain?

BRAD WALTERS: I’d been a successful serial entrepreneur and investor and around August 2008 I was looking around for a new opportunity. At that time wireless sensors were large and they cost around 500 hundred dollars, but it was clear that there was a huge market opportunity for products that could be battery-powered and would cost a lot less: around 50 dollars. (more…)