M2M Platform Tech Brief - Verizon M2M Developer Program

Verizon M2M Platform
TEACH YOUR MACHINES
TO TALK TO EACH OTHER.
THEN LISTEN.
Tech Brief
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The growth of mobile technology is changing the way your enterprise does business. Wireless machine-tomachine (M2M) communication offers the potential for significant operational cost savings and new sources
of after-sale service revenues.
The Verizon M2M Platform solutions will help you:
++ Manage connectivity for your 2G, 3G and 4G LTE M2M devices through a self-service portal, integrated within My Business
Account or Verizon Enterprise Center.
++ Provision service, troubleshoot connectivity, monitor and manage usage, run reports and configure alerts to notify you of
exceptions to business as usual.
++ Manage connectivity automatically from your own solutions or enterprise applications, with easy-to-use web service APIs
(application programming interfaces).
Contents
This technical brief introduces the Verizon M2M Platform through the following topics:
++ The Business Case for M2M Communications
++ Connectivity Management Considerations
++ Service Provisioning Integrated with Business Processes
++ The Verizon M2M Platform Connectivity Management Solution
++ Automated Service Provisioning and Monitoring
++ Verizon M2M Developer Program
The Business Case for M2M Communications
Wireless M2M technology enables businesses to electronically connect enterprise applications with remote machines, without
wires. Assets might be mobile or they might be in fixed locations where wired connections are unavailable, prohibited or
expensive. Machines pass data back and forth, interpret the data and take appropriate actions automatically. The system can
alert you when a situation arises that requires human intervention. Automation and the ability to manage by exception enable
businesses to service more machines with fewer resources, yielding economies of scale that open up new opportunities to improve
the bottom line.
Operational Efficiencies
Service providers, from utilities, law enforcement and public safety to kiosk vendors, are interested in tools to help reduce costs,
improve service and comply with regulations.
For example, a radio-tower operator has to maintain a flashing light on the top of each tower. If a light burns out, the operator must
report the outage to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) within 30 minutes and restore the light within 15 days to avoid a
fine of up to $20,000. Constant human surveillance of the light is expensive. An M2M application can remotely monitor the status
of the light, and automatically file a report and dispatch a technician when the light goes out. The tower operator reduces costs
and automates FAA compliance.
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New Revenue Sources and Increased Market Share
Manufacturers of consumer goods, from small appliances to heavy industrial equipment, often struggle to maintain a relationship
with their customers after the point of sale. Impersonal product registrations and direct marketing campaigns are often
ineffective. Commoditization makes it too easy for customers to switch brands or replace consumable items with off-brand
alternatives. Service revenues for geographically dispersed products go to local service providers who can physically inspect
the equipment.
Wireless M2M applications enable manufacturers to maintain connections with their products and customers, differentiate
themselves from the competition and create new revenue streams by offering value-added services, such as hardware
maintenance and consumable replenishment, to their product mixes.
For example, an appliance company manufactures and sells high-end water purifiers for the home. Expensive filtration cartridges
must be replaced every six months to two years, depending on usage. The company reports suboptimal filter replacement
revenues because, despite reminder postcard mailings and indicator lights on the appliance itself, some customers forget to order
new filters, and some find third-party “knockoff” filters online. The company has also noticed downward price pressure for new
installations since a popular big-box store has started offering a similar-looking but lower-end solution at a much lower cost.
The manufacturer addresses these challenges by adding a valuable service offering, supported by an M2M application, to its
products. The manufacturer equips its purifiers with a water quality tester and a wireless device that sends the results to a central
database. A server application automatically emails periodic before-filter and after-filter water quality reports to customers,
and ships new filters when they are due for replacement.
The result is a differentiated product, new service revenues, increased consumable sales, an extended relationship with the
customer after the sale and a wealth of information about product performance in the field. As a bonus, the company can sell the
before-filter water quality measurements to local water utilities and environmental protection agencies.
New Business Models
M2M technology has given rise to products for which embedded connectivity is a core strategy. Makers of gaming devices,
electronic readers, health and fitness monitors and other consumer electronics have invented new business models in which
consumers pay for content and services rather than monthly data usage.
For example, an electronic reader (e-reader) manufacturer sells a unit to a consumer. The consumer turns on the e-reader and
uses an on-device application to register with the “book store”. He can then use the on-device application to begin purchasing
and loading books. The consumer has no need to activate his e-reader or purchase an individual service plan with Verizon. He just
buys books.
Behind the scenes, the manufacturer has a contract and a bulk service plan with Verizon. The manufacturer’s M2M application
activates the e-reader’s wireless communication device automatically when the consumer registers the unit. Subsequent book
purchases are accomplished over the Verizon Wireless network. Rather than passing a monthly wireless service charge directly
to the consumer, the manufacturer figures the cost of the service plan into the book prices.
Connectivity Management Considerations
Businesses across varied industry segments, such as remote health care, industrial equipment, utilities, law enforcement,
environmental monitoring, consumer appliances and others, are developing M2M applications that are specific to the business
models and assets they support. Essential and common to every wireless M2M implementation, however, are the wireless
communications devices and the network that deliver machine data from the asset to the enterprise application server.
M2M application managers across industries share similar considerations for managing wireless connectivity.
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Self-Service Provisioning and Monitoring
When business operations rely on data exchanged with remote assets, connectivity management becomes mission-critical. M2M
application administrators need to take devices in and out of service according to business need; ensure devices are connecting
and transmitting data properly; and monitor the costs of remote data acquisition. To efficiently manage large numbers of devices,
M2M administrators require tools that support management by exception and automation. To accomplish these tasks, M2M
application administrators need:
++ 24/7 self-service access to activate and suspend devices, and adjust service plans.
++ Real-time connection status.
++ Near real-time usage data.
++ Threshold monitoring.
++ Proactive notification of provisioning events, threshold violations and abnormal disconnects.
++ On-demand reports.
++ Ability to detect an overly chatty device and automatically suspend it.
++ Ability to detect devices that fail to deliver data as expected.
++ Ability to identify and manage devices by properties other than phone number or electronic serial number (ESN), such as IP
address, location, name or other application-specific attribute.
Service Provisioning Integrated with Business Processes
Manufacturing, distribution and customer service processes for M2M devices often include service provisioning tasks.
For example, you might activate service when testing units during manufacturing, suspend service when assigning units to
warehouse inventory locations and then resume service when selling or fielding a unit, as depicted in the diagram below.
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Once you have deployed a unit, you can support business processes such as maintenance, customer service management and field
service management with further provisioning tasks. For example, you can:
++ Suspend service when a customer doesn’t pay a bill.
++ Change the ESN when a unit is replaced by return merchandise authorization (RMA).
++ Suspend service when a field service technician assigns a unit to a repair depot.
++ Create a trouble ticket and dispatch a technician when a unit does not “report in.”
++ Detect a rogue device before it causes an overage, and automatically suspend it.
Automated Connectivity Management Tasks
Many M2M application managers must provision, monitor and control significant volumes of devices. To manage these volumes
effectively and efficiently, managers need the ability to execute connectivity management tasks automatically, without human
intervention, from within their other enterprise systems.
Security and Reliability
Secure and reliable data delivery is mission-critical for businesses that depend on machine data. While the M2M Platform
supports both public and private networks, M2M applications often require private IP addresses because the security risks of
data interception and tampering presented by the public Internet are too high. A public IP address for a wireless device poses the
additional risk that hackers could send data to the device, causing “usage” and unpreventable overages.
Additionally, because machine data is valuable, application administrators need on-demand access to device connectivity
information and management features to keep the data flowing, 24 hours a day, every day.
The Verizon M2M Platform Connectivity Management Solution
The Verizon M2M Platform includes a connectivity management solution for 2G, 3G and 4G LTE devices that are certified on
Verizon Wireless Private Network. Specialized features to provision service, and monitor and control the connectivity and usage
of M2M devices include:
++ 24/7 access to activate and suspend devices, and adjust service plans
++ Real-time monitoring of connectivity, activity and status from the system level down to the individual device
++ Real-time monitoring and control of data usage and costs
++ Device naming, grouping and tracking by custom properties
++ Configurable notification of provisioning events, maximum and minimum threshold violations, abnormal disconnects,
unauthorized equipment relocations and more
++ On-demand reports
++ Ability to detect an overly chatty device and either suspend it or change its service plan
++ Ability to detect devices that fail to deliver data
You can access these features from the M2M Management Center portal, integrated within the familiar My Business Account
and Verizon Enterprise Center portals. Alternatively you can integrate these same features with enterprise applications using
standards-based SOAP/XML web service APIs.
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The M2M Management Center Self-Service Portal
After logging in to the My Business Account or Verizon Enterprise Center web portal, you can click on Machine to Machine to
access M2M-specific connectivity management functions, including connectivity status, data usage monitoring, Dashboard
charts, device lists, reports and alerts. Use near real-time device usage data to choose service plans, suspend rogue devices,
troubleshoot connectivity and more.
User-Configurable Dashboard
The Dashboard gives M2M device managers an at-a-glance view of all their devices, or specific groups of devices. You can select
the summary reports you want to see and the types of charts that work best for you. You can view devices by provisioning status,
service plan, connection status, data usage, SMS usage and alarm status. Choose to display data in a pie chart, bar chart or table.
Filtering Dashboard charts by device group enables you to compare charts for different sets of devices side by side. Drill-down
capabilities from most charts allow you to see the details behind the statistics.
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Device Lists
Use the Device List tab in the M2M Management Center to examine and monitor current information about your M2M devices.
Here you can search, sort and group by Verizon device identifiers, IP address, provisioning status, service plan, connectivity status
and more. In addition to the default search fields, you can define up to five custom fields. These searchable fields could represent
names, regions, business units, device types or any other information that helps you identify, categorize and sort devices.
Customize your view of the Device List by adding fields and ordering them as you wish. Display up to 500 devices on a page and
export lists to spreadsheets for further analysis or to create a basic import file to update device attributes.
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Connectivity Management Reports
The M2M Management Center provides several on-demand reports. Some reports are useful for determining what is “normal”
for your application and devices; other reports are useful for drilling down on details and troubleshooting. You can view and filter
report results online; create and save custom views of any report; plus print reports and export results to external spreadsheets.
Data Usage Trending Chart
The Data Usage Trending Chart shows data usage patterns over time for one or more devices or device groups.
Aggregated Device Usage Report
The Aggregated Device Usage Report sums daily data and SMS usage within a specified date range for each device. Use this report
to track overall usage to date against target usage for an individual device.
Device Usage Report
The Device Usage Report provides a breakdown by day of the amount of estimated (unrated) data transported to and from one or
more devices, within a specified date range. You might use this report to identify “normal” usage patterns by examining daily usage
over the course of weeks, months and years. A good understanding of normal behavior is imperative for configuring the system to
alert you when conditions are not normal.
Rated Usage Report
The Rated Usage Report provides unbilled usage per device for the current billing cycle.
Connected Session History Report
The Connected Session History Report summarizes the duration, begin and end times and data usage of individual connection
sessions for one or more devices over a specified data range. You can use this report to monitor a device’s normal connectivity
patterns over time. As with normal usage patterns, once you understand normal connectivity patterns, you can configure the
system to alert you when conditions are not normal.
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Connection History Report
The Connection History Report details each connected session start and stop event for one or more devices over a specified date
range. The report includes session start and stop times, data usage measured at each stop event and the technology type (2G, 3G
or 4G LTE) for the beginning and end of each session. This report is especially useful for troubleshooting connectivity issues by
drilling down on data session details.
Transaction History Report
The Transaction History Report lists provisioning actions (activate, suspend, resume, deactivate) applied to a selected device(s)
within a specified date range.
Notifications
The M2M Management Center provides a configurable, rules-based notification capability to inform you, by email or SMS, when
important events occur that might require human intervention. Events include device provisioning status or attribute changes
and violations of your defined thresholds, such as usage limits within a time period. You can define notification rules by choosing
events, conditions, devices or device groups and alert recipients, including field personnel and others who do not have access to
the M2M Management Center. Alert recipients with access to the portal can log their responses online, and managers can view
the status of each alert as well as the status of alerts system-wide.
The notification feature enables M2M administrators to manage by exception. For example, the system can alert you when a
device is about to exceed the usage allowed by its service plan or when a device’s base station identity (BSID) changes, indicating
a possibly unauthorized relocation of an asset. Rather than actively monitoring large volumes of devices, you can identify and
focus on failing devices or out-of-plan situations.
Searchable, Sortable Audit Trails
To provide complete traceability and accountability for application administrators, the M2M Management Center maintains
searchable and sortable audit trails. A master log tracks all system events and every action that each user takes while using
the portal. A notification log tracks alerts and acknowledgements.
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M2M Management Center Benefits
Monitor device connectivity quickly and easily.
++ Graphical Dashboard that provides quick overview of system-wide status
++ Criteria-filtered device lists, plus ability to drill down for usage estimates, connectivity status and history, IP address,
provisioning state and history, customer-defined attributes and more
++ Near real-time connectivity status and usage information
++ Customizable reports to facilitate effective management of device connectivity, usage and costs
++ Custom properties for identifying, searching, sorting and tracking devices
Manage service efficiently.
++ Automated service suspension of rogue devices or devices relocated without authorization
++ Automated service plan changes from factory testing to field
++ Management by exception: threshold monitoring and alert notifications
++ Device group provisioning transactions
Administer effectively and securely.
++ User permissions and account-level security
++ Detailed audit trail of user activity and system events
Automated Service Provisioning and Monitoring
You can further improve operational efficiency by automating high-volume service provisioning, monitoring and control of
wireless M2M devices. The Verizon M2M Platform includes Wireless Network Services APIs that allow you to integrate M2M
connectivity management tasks with your enterprise software systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain
management and customer service management. Wireless Network Services APIs are standards-compliant SOAP/XML web
service requests that travel over the HTTP Secure (HTTPS) protocol.
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Wireless Network Services APIs for connectivity management include:
Session Service
Your host application server establishes sessions with the Verizon M2M Platform server by invoking the Session Services,
Login and Logout.
Carrier Service
Use Carrier Service APIs to activate, suspend, resume and deactivate lines of service; swap out hardware identifiers; or update
service plans for M2M devices on the Verizon Wireless network. You can also assign custom field values to track devices by name
or other information pertinent to your business.
Device Service
Manage lists of M2M devices, put new devices into service, and monitor connectivity and provisioning status using Device Service
APIs, such as Get Device List, Add Devices, Get Device Connection History, Get Device Usage History, Get Rated Device Usage and
Get Device Information.
Device Group Service
Establish and maintain groups of devices with Device Group Service APIs so you can perform operations on multiple devices
at once.
Callback Registration Service
Simple web service API requests such as Login and Get Device List receive an immediate, synchronous response containing some
requested data or a confirmation of success or failure. For more complex service requests that require significant processing
time, such as provisioning service for a device or changing a device’s service plan, the M2M Platform middleware replies first with
a synchronous response that simply acknowledges the request and allows your application to continue processing. Later, if you
have subscribed to the callback service, the M2M Platform sends an asynchronous callback message to report the results of the
request. The M2M Platform can generate callbacks when you execute provisioning actions using My Business Account or Verizon
Enterprise Center, when promotional service plans expire, when suspended service is due to automatically resume, and when a
device confirms receipt of an SMS message.
Account Service
Manage M2M Platform passwords and service plans with Account Service APIs. Silver-, Member- and Limited-tier Verizon Partner
Program (VPP) members can also retrieve customer leads and subsequently activate devices for them using Carrier Service.
Cross-Platform Integration
Wireless Network Services APIs are standards-compliant and portable across computing platforms, hardware protocols and
transport protocols, thus protecting the enterprise’s investment in application development as technologies change and improve.
Benefits of Wireless Network Services APIs
++ High-level and easy to use.
++ Enable automatic service provisioning to reduce manual actions and increase efficiency.
++ Provide application portability and scalability.
++ Secure.
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Verizon M2M Developer Program
The Verizon M2M Developer Program web site offers a one-stop shop for enterprises interested in integrating connectivity
management with their back-office applications or with new M2M applications. The program includes:
++ Software development kit (SDK)
++ Test account
++ Online Knowledge Center with help pages and tutorials
++ Community forum
There is no fee for the developer environment or SDK.
Getting Started
To get started with Wireless Network Services, register on the Verizon M2M Developer Program web site at
m2mdeveloper.verizon.com to access the community forum and the Knowledge Center. Once registered, you can submit
requests to access the SDK and a test account.
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Online Knowledge Center
The Verizon M2M Developer Program includes access to an online Knowledge Center where you can find tutorials, API reference
details, troubleshooting help and more.
Conclusion
M2M communication represents a burgeoning technological frontier in the wireless network space. The M2M Platform is a robust,
secure and scalable option that can help companies realize operational efficiencies, generate new revenue streams and increase
market share by supporting new and expanded business models.
The M2M Platform offers several products and services to the customer implementing an M2M solution, including the following
capabilities:
++ Connect any Verizon Wireless Private Network–certified device to an M2M application.
++ Use the M2M Management Center portal for self-service connectivity management.
++ Use Wireless Network Services APIs in M2M solutions and enterprise applications to automate service provisioning and
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connectivity management.
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