The M2M solution, which was put out to competitive tender, was won by Airwaves, a small Plan.com partner who managed to fend off competition from a national mobile network. The niche Partner was able to win the deal because of several technical stipulations as to how the solution would function. There had to be a constant connection with the lights over the network and a mechanism to allow control of the solution via text messages from the customer’s in-house platform.
With O2’s Smart Connect sim the partner was able to guarantee connectivity as the sim is designed to connect to any UK network, or networks worldwide dependant on configuration. This would prove crucial to winning the contract, as would the ability for Plan, O2 and Airwaves’s technology partners to liaise with each other to create a bespoke solution.
Keith Curran, of Plan.com, stated, “Airwaves, the partner who won the contract, is a small yet niche business who were certainly the underdogs going up against a big network for a deal such as this. With the help of Plan.com, O2 and the customer’s technology partner we were able to make their bid not just competitive but hands down the best solution for the customer. We were all able to deliver a flexible solution that no one else could compete with. As a result, the solution is now deployed controlling street lights on the M4, M25 and M60 motorways".
Shaun Clark, Partner Account Manager – M2M at O2 added “This is a perfect example of how partners can get into M2M and really compete with the big players in the market. By working with plan.com and ourselves, we were able to take the partner into a new area of the market, M2M, and make them really competitive over a relatively short space of time.”