Telecom Italia Joins M2M Trade Group, Pursues ROI for Internet of Things

LONDON, Feb. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The International M2M Council (IMC) the new trade association for the machine to machine communications sector, has just announced Telecom Italia as the latest sustaining member to join the organization in its mission to prove the business case for the Internet of Things. The telecom giant has taken a seat on the board of the new group to reach companies that could benefit from deploying M2M technology.

"The IMC is the first trade group with the primary mission of communicating M2M business benefits from a global perspective. As we move up to ramp up our successful M2M business to embrace global solutions we feel this is crucial to promote the business," says Lucy Lombardi, Telecom Italia's Head of Partnerships & Industry Relations, who will represent the company on the IMC Board of Governors.

The IMC was formed in 2013 by influential solutions providers of M2M technology, including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, and Oracle. The group's first undertaking will be to publish content illustrating crucial business metrics for M2M deployments, like ROI, Total Cost of Ownership, and Time to Market. The content will be made available to important vertical markets where M2M is applied, such as healthcare, energy, transportation, and logistics.

The IMC will cover broad areas of new, life-enriching connectivity applications – sometimes called the "Internet of Things" – in areas such as connected cars, mobile healthcare, home security, smart grid, and mobile supply-chain management.

Telecom Italia has long been active in M2M – particularly in the healthcare, energy, metering  and automotive sectors – with a complete offering of services that includes SIM subscription and life cycle management, shared or dedicated APN, data security, and more. To cite just one application, the company's home-health diagnostics programme, called MyDoctor@Home, includes a range of patient and care-giver interfaces that can compile data from a wide range of medical devices.

Other board member-companies of the International M2M Council are Digi International, Iridium, Kore Telematics, ORBCOMM and Telit Wireless Solutions. More companies are expected to join the IMC in the coming weeks.

About International M2M Council: The IMC was formed in May 2013 to foster widespread M2M adoption across a diverse range of industrial and consumer sectors by bringing together solution providers and adopters of M2M technology globally. For more information, visit www.im2mc.org.