Bamboo claims early success with channel M2M offering

MD Lorrin White expects M2M solutions to become more prominent in the channel

Comms VAR Bamboo Technology has seen growth of 31 per cent a month in machine-to-machine (M2M) connections since launching its M2M channel offering last year, according to managing director Lorrin White.

M2M connectivity is the concept of changing non-responsive devices into intelligent devices so they can communicate with each other, while the resulting data can be interpreted and used to make informed business decisions.

Bamboo works directly with end users but also has a channel for resellers, some of which sell Bamboo services under their own brand and some who sell them under Bamboo's brand.

Bamboo added its M2M solution to its Total Partner Programme in October 2015, and White said she expects M2M to become more common in the channel as partners realise it is not as expensive and complex as initially thought.

The company has also seen data volume growth of 71 per cent a month since launching the solution.

"The channel recognises that it's coming, but I think there has been an element of fear of dipping their toes in because it sounds like it's complicated, but it's probably one of the easier propositions that we sell," White said.

"Despite being a relatively new technology for the channel, the reaction from resellers at this early stage is very encouraging."

Jack Wetson, product developer at Bamboo, explained that the firm can offer a SIM card that will work across any network globally, which he said is unique to M2M.

"One of the examples that most people can relate to is the government's smart meter project - putting an intelligent meter into everyone's home," he said.

"To have an intelligent meter it needs to connect back to a centralised servers, databases etc, and the only way you can achieve that is by mobile connectivity, but any one provider doesn't necessarily have the best mobile coverage.

"Your house might have great Vodafone coverage and my house might have great O2 coverage, so that makes it difficult for energy providers to provide one SIM card that can plug into the meter and get coverage. It's a perfect example of how powerful M2M can be if used."

Dale Vile, research director at Freeform Dynamics, said that he expects M2M to become more prominent in the channel as connectivity becomes faster and the necessary components become cheaper.

He explained that this creates an opportunity for specialist resellers to provide the machines themselves, and for more general resellers to provide the backing infrastructure that M2M requires.

"A lot of M2M activity is based on one machine sensing and sending messages back to another machine and that whole area has come down dramatically in cost," he said.

"All this stuff needs good backing systems because if you have sensors out there that are sending back streams of data, you get a lot of data."

"If I were advising a reseller, I would say you need to take it industry by industry - if you're strong in retail or manufacturing [for example] all these sectors have an M2M opportunity, but you need to tune into the language and vocabulary they use."