Apple to announce connected-home platform: report

Apple Inc. is planning on expanding into the Internet of Things and will announce a new connected-home platform next week, according to a report from the Financial Times.

The paper reported that the platform will unify the currently diverse connected-home app ecosystem and give Apple’s devices a one-stop control centres for lighting, home appliances and security systems, to be announced at the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco on June 2.

Study outlines positives, negatives of an Internet of Things future

Experts from industry and academia mostly agree that by 2025 the Internet of Things will be pervasive and ubiquitous while agreeing on little else in a new report from the Pew Research Center.

BlackBerry launches Internet of Things project

BlackBerry Ltd. announced Wednesday a number of initiatives it said will be the “cornerstone” of its “vision to offer end-to-end solutions for the Internet of Things.”

The company said in a press release this effort has been codenamed “Project Ion.” Among the things it said it would be doing is establishing a platform that will securely manage the transfer of data across millions of end points involving various devices. The company said its QNX software and enterprise mobility management system would be key to such a platform.

Usage-based insurance marks beginning of M2M changes

For many Canadians, signing up for insurance that monitors the way they drive is the first direct interaction they will have with machine-to-machine communications (M2M).

Can carriers make the switch to become M2M service providers?

Canada’s big telecom providers have a lot to prove as service providers in machine-to-machine communication (M2M), according to Macquarie analyst Greg MacDonald.

M2M compared to Industrial Revolution, science fiction

TORONTO — The world’s most interconnected retail store isn’t in London, Paris or New York, Canadian Tire Corp. chief technology officer Eugene Roman said Wednesday, but in West Edmonton, where his company has implemented everything it knows about machine-to-machine communication.

Sierra Wireless reaches deal to buy In Motion Technology

Sierra Wireless Inc., a maker of components used in wireless networks, said Monday it has reached a deal to buy In Motion Technology Inc. for $21 million US in cash.

Sierra is headquartered in Richmond, B.C., just outside of Vancouver, while In Motion is based in Vancouver.

In Motion’s product offerings include an in-vehicle mobile router that comes with a control platform to help companies that manage vehicle fleets.

Despite challenges, 5G wireless could arrive by 2020

Though all the possibilities that 4G wireless technology presents still haven’t been fully explored, industry experts gathered in Ottawa on Wednesday to look ahead at the next generation of wireless networks and discuss what 5G mobility will be like.

The commercial availability of 5G networks is expected around 2020, Wen Tong, an Ottawa-based fellow with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., said at the 5G@Canada Roundtable, organized by the global Chinese telecom company.

Rogers says M2M connections to reach 1M this year

Rogers Communications Inc. said it will provide one million “machine-to-machine” Internet connections and launch a new cloud data analytics product by the end of 2013.

In a release Monday, Rogers said it will expand its traditional machine-to-machine business into the areas of “big data and analytics” and “professional and managed services.”

The company said it expects the Canadian machine-to-machine industry to reach $1 billion in value within the next three years.

Rogers, Vimpelcom, join international M2M alliance

Rogers Communications Inc. is joining with Wind Mobile’s parent company and other foreign wireless providers with the goal of developing “a single, global platform” for machine-to-machine technologies, Rogers said in a release Tuesday.