Qualcomm Incorporated and Verizon Wireless today announced an agreement to form a joint venture to provide machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless communications and smart services offerings across a wide variety of market segments, including healthcare, manufacturing, utilities, distribution and consumer products. Capitalizing on the growth of M2M and smart services, the joint venture (name still to be determined), which will be equally owned by Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless, will be well positioned to provide a single source for end-to-end M2M solutions.

Smart services are the new services and business models enabled by M2M capabilities. For example, smart grid technology enables utilities to wirelessly connect to their grid assets, such as circuit breakers, transformers and other sub-station equipment. This wireless monitoring capability allows them to develop interactive utility networks that are more intelligent, resilient, reliable and self-balancing.

"The Verizon Wireless vision for bringing the benefits of 'everything connected' to the marketplace started with the introduction of the open development business and the selection of LTE technology for our 4G network," said Anthony Lewis, vice president of open development at Verizon Wireless. "We understand that no single company will be able to provide every aspect of the new M2M ecosystem on its own. This distinctive partnership with Qualcomm allows us to swiftly build on the strengths of each company's M2M strategy. The JV's focus on unlimited innovation will enable the production of next-generation products and services that will release the full power and potential of our network for customers."

The joint venture will be led by M2M industry leader Steve Pazol, who previously served as vice president of Global Smart Services at Qualcomm. Qualcomm has provided a variety of M2M solutions that have added "always-on" mobile connectivity to assets, providing access to network intelligence and benefiting enterprise customers.

"M2M is a rapidly growing market projected by some analysts to reach more than 85 million connections globally by 2012," Pazol said. "The next five years will be a significant period of innovation in M2M. Qualcomm and Verizon expect to create a company focused in evolving niche aftermarket strategies to embedded product standardization strategies, driving down costs, increasing performance expectations and enabling impactful new business models."

The new joint venture will leverage Qualcomm's advanced connectivity technologies and Verizon Wireless' expertise and simplified device certification process. The joint venture will deliver seamless, fully integrated M2M communication with global connectivity. Key new capabilities will include cloud computing solutions to automate device provisioning, and to track, monitor and manage assets. Custom white label applications for OEM customers, productized applications for end-use markets, new diagnostic tools for monitoring network health and device performance, data aggregation services, back office integrations and other professional services required to deliver whole solutions also will be provided.