Tele2 has partnered with IBM to provide an IoT network “starter kit” to enterprises.
With the deal, Tele2 will offer global connectivity and related services while IBM will use its Watson IoT platform and Global Business Solutions (GBS) consulting approach to bring selected industry Internet of Things offerings to market. IoT, Big Data analytics and cognitive capabilities will be brought together into offerings such as asset management, location based services, connected products and supply chain management.
The companies will offer a joint IoT Starter Kit to enable customers to quickly start Internet of Things projects. The Starter Kit contains SIM cards and an integration into IBM Bluemix so that customers can quickly connect and start developing IoT solutions.
IBM will look after the implementation, integration, cloud-based services and roll-out of the solutions. Combined with Tele2’s connectivity and value added services, the solution will enable businesses across Europe enhance the customer experience using the latest Internet of Things technologies.
“IBM’s industry-leading solutions combined with Tele2’s IoT competence will help clients on their IoT journey and allow them to introduce new revenue models, reduce time to market, and lower operational costs,” said Rami Avidan, managing director of Tele2 IoT.
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Helping enterprises ‘leverage the power’ of IoT
Louise Skordby, executive, European digital operations leader IBM, said: “I am convinced that by combining our respective strengths, IBM and Tele2 we will be able to offer powerful new solutions for businesses across Europe enabling them to leverage the power of the Internet of Things.”
Philipe Guillemette, CTO at Sierra Wireless, told Internet of Business that the times where a single vendor could develop by itself a full solution from the ground up are gone.
“Technology complexity is so high and time-to-market so small that re-use is absolutely necessary. Customers want to focus on the applicative layers, not on the building blocks, but they also need the flexibility to do small changes in such core blocks should they want to as well as the flexibility to use different hardware,” he said.
“These starter kits are cheap enough to allow departments to get going on a full end to end proof of concept without needing high-level financial approval, or extensive tendering processes with customers such as city authorities,” he said.