Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless are to join forces to take on the emerging M2M market.
They have set up a 50:50 JV to offer targeted M2M and smart services to verticals such as healthcare, manufacturing and utilities.
The as yet un-named joint venture will be led by Steve Pazol, who previously served as vice president of Global Smart Services at Qualcomm.
Analysts forecast the M2M market will reach 85 million connections globally by 2012.
"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," Pazol said.
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.
"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 Verizon Wireless VP of open development Anthony Lewis.