M2M Services creates simple, innovative and dependable technology that helps alarm companies bring smart security to every household and business worldwide. Founded in 2008, it currently partners with companies in more than 40 countries on five continents.
Its products include residential burglary and commercial fire communicators, as well as interactive apps. The universal burglary and fire alarm communicators upgrade existing communication modules in alarm systems. These upgrades extend the systems’ lifespans and add interactive features.
These devices are dual-SIM and 5G- and IoT-ready. They operate on the latest LTE Category (Cat) M1 networks and support multiple operators in the same unit. They support keybus and remote upload/download (UDL) via tip and ring. In addition, the devices come prewired and preconfigured to ensure easy installation.
The Challenge: The Imminent 3G/CDMA Sunset in the U.S. Market
AT&T’s and Verizon’s 3G/CDMA network sunsets have prompted communicator upgrades across millions of residential and commercial installations. AT&T retired its 3G network in early 2022, while Verizon will shut down its CDMA network by the end of 2022. Migrating to the 4G LTE network will provide significant advantages, such as faster speed and increased reliability.
Replacing such a great number of devices in a short period will stretch the resources and capacity of alarm companies nationwide. The costs will include hardware purchases, time and effort to physically replace the cellular communicators. In addition, alarm companies will need to replace the same devices again when 4G LTE networks phase out. These circumstances, combined with the global chip shortage, created a perfect storm for the alarm equipment manufacturers like M2M Services.
Telit IoT Solutions: Providing Superior LTE-M Technology and Modules for Alarm Devices
Telit’s high-performance communication modules and device management platform enabled us to offer a competitive solution to our customers. Telit is constantly expanding its portfolio of products and services to support the IoT industry. Its superior LTE-M technology, IoT modules and flexible solutions helped us significantly reduce our time to market.
Dimitar Petrov, Business Development Manager, M2M Services
To meet customers’ critical needs and get ahead of the competition, M2M Services chose Telit for its best-in-class solutions:
Cellular LPWA Modules
Telit’s cellular LPWA solutions overcome three former obstacles to widespread adoption:
- Cost
- In-building penetration
- Battery life
LTE-M and NB-IoT standards improve propagation into places where typical LTE connections were lost (e.g., subways and elevators). LTE-M can support a 164-decibel maximum coupling loss (MCL), ensuring lower power and better coverage.
Device designs that take advantage of extended Discontinuous Reception (eDRX) and Power Saving Mode (PSM) can further minimize power usage. IoT devices can run on quarter-sized batteries for a decade without recharging or replacing them.
IoT Data Connectivity and SIM Cards
Telit IoT connectivity plans and SIM cards address the challenges of small and large industrial deployments. As a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), Telit offers scalable IoT solutions due to agreements with over 600 local mobile network operators (MNOs). Telit can customize flexible data plans for IoT applications in verticals such as:
- Smart security and surveillance
- Asset tracking
- Telematics
- Remote monitoring
- Digital signage
- Personal emergency response systems (PERs)
- Smart energy and utilities
Embedded Software Capabilities
Telit IoT AppZone is a complete software environment that makes it easy to develop and run application software in IoT modules. Using the popular C language, IoT AppZone shortens the time to market by reducing design, testing and certification complexity.
Using IoT AppZone, M2M Service ported its software algorithms and removed extra CPU, memory and storage components from the device bill of materials (BOM).
“The module’s technical parameters and dimensions allowed us to develop the world’s smallest alarm communicator. It empowered us to offer an optimized, high-performance solution to our partners.
Dimitar Petrov, Business Development Manager, M2M Services
The device’s size, low power consumption and network connectivity enable fast installation, saving our customers time and money. LTE-M supports features that reduce our communicators’ power consumption, which is beneficial as our devices are panel powered. In addition, the one megabit per second for uplink and downlink transmissions is exceptional compared to 3G networks.”
The Result: A Competitive Advantage for Alarm System Hardware as a Service
M2M Services met the growing demand for its products during the first phase of the 3G/CDMA sunset in the U.S. The most important result is that M2M Services delivered these devices without shipment delays, distinguishing it from most of its competitors.
Telit’s IoT solutions enabled M2M Services to create a unique hardware as a service business model. It includes a free 5G-ready residential alarm communicator with a lifetime warranty and complimentary device upgrades with any future technology sunset. With M2M’s business model, customers only pay for cellular service.
“Our partnership with Telit has brought us a crucial competitive advantage during turbulent times on the security market.”
Dimitar Petrov, Business Development Manager, M2M Services