UPDATED German software engineering company Software AG has teamed up with Spanish telecommunications giant Telefonica, to deliver end-to-end digital transformation and Internet of Things (IoT) services in Spain.
Separately, the company has also partnered with the Greater London Authority to use the same technology to help create a fleet of low-emission buses in the capital.
Both collaborations deploy Software AG’s Cumulocity IoT platform, which operates across cloud, on-premise, and edge environments.
IoT as a service
The Cumulocity IoT platform is an IoT-as-a-Service offering, which comes with multi-cluster deployment options. Features include code-free integration of devices supporting Low Power WAN (LPWAN) technologies – used for long-term, low-bandwidth remote monitoring –Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), Lightweight M2M (LWM2M), and Long Range (LoRa).
In the new Spanish partnership, this means that Telefonica can connect and monitor millions of devices and sensors via the Cumulocity platform, and tap into many of the pre-packaged features that it comes equipped with, such as condition monitoring, predictive maintenance, and track and trace.
In addition, the IoT platform can make use of Software AG’s Digital Business Platform capabilities, which include integration, business process management, advanced analytics, and machine learning capabilities.
According to Bernd Gross, senior vice president of IoT and Cloud at Software AG, the partnership enables the company to “continue to expand [its] IoT technological leadership with the Telefonica group”.
Javier Magdalena Pinilla, director of Digital Business and TSOL for Telefonica Spain, said that the IoT platform and development teams will help Telefonica to increase the pace of innovation and reduce the time to deploy IoT services to meet customer needs.
The relationship with Software AG is just one of Telefonica’s collaborations in the IoT space. The company has been signing up new partners and technology alliances for a range of IoT programmes.
“We are working and innovating on numerous projects to build the foundation for digital transformation with many other companies in the information and technology market,” said Pinilla. “For us, it is all about using the IoT to have a positive impact on society,”
Low-emission transport
Software AG also announced today that its Cumulocity platform will be deployed by Sensor-Technik Wiedemann (STW) to monitor London buses’ exhaust gas treatment systems. The IoT initiative part of the Greater London Authority’s plans to create an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in and around the capital.
HJS Emission Technology will provide the high-efficiency emissions systems to Transport for London’s (TfL’s) buses, coupled with its UK partner, Emission Engineering (EEL). STW’s TC1 Telematics Controller, which includes built-in GPS, will also be fitted onto each bus to monitor their emissions at any time and in any location.
• By 2021, more than 5,000 buses in London’s public transport network are to be retrofitted with HJS Emission technology’s SCRT (Selective Catalytic Reduction Technology), which uses particle filters and catalytic converters, to reduce soot particles and nitrogen oxide (NOx).
Internet of Business says
Spain’s Telefonica has also partnered with global technology solutions provider PTC to deliver IoT products, and has worked with Chinese software, hardware, and IT services giant Huawei on several projects, including an NB-IoT open lab and a smart water pilot in Chile.
Meanwhile, Software AG has also been busy partnering with other tech vendors; last year it announced relationships with global mechanical and plant engineering firm Durr AG, for industrial IoT (IIoT), and with Huawei for a range of IoT products.
Additional reporting: Chris Middleton