Author: Kitty Weldon

As Principal Analyst for Enterprise Mobility and IoT at GlobalData, Kathryn is responsible for analyzing events, companies, products and technologies within the wireless enterprise services, IoT, and private wireless solutions space.

What Do Recent Reorganizations Tell Us About Global Operator Strategies?

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
Kathryn Weldon
Kathryn Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • In February 2013, Orange Business Services launched Orange Mobile Enterprise, a unified organization for offering global mobility/M2M to MNCs.  Also in February, Deutsche Telekom announced a new organization, Business Excellence, to unify all of its B2B activities within one unit.  Around the same time, NTT DoCoMo launched its ‘Smart Life’ business model, shifting to a focus on (mostly consumer-facing) services involving media, commerce, M2M and finance/payments.
  • There were also reorganizations in 2012 at Telefonica, Vodafone and BT GS in which Telefonica Global Solutions and Vodafone’s Group Enterprise organization, respectively, were announced, while BT GS reorganized around five regions and nine verticals.  With six Tier 1 global operators streamlining their organizations over the last six months, we ask:  What are the common and uncommon themes in these launches?  Moreover, what is happening in the global operator market that requires these new units?

Global operators are focused on providing telecommunications and IT services both to domestic enterprises and MNCs (as well as consumers, of course, with increasingly blurry lines between segments due to consumerization and BYOD).  This focus includes both fixed and mobile connectivity services, value-added professional and IT services, as well as M2M solutions which require capabilities in all of the above areas.  Some operators (such as Vodafone) have come from a dominantly mobile position and are now focused on becoming broad-ranging ICT providers (or vice versa).   Yet others have determined their key growth markets/vertical opportunities, which may include both enterprise (B2B) and consumer (B2C) opportunities, and are looking for innovative ways to ride growth curves for security, e-commerce, e-health, M2M and other markets which are relatively small today but poised for big growth in the near future.  In addition, global operators with a strong domestic presence within their in-country operating companies may have come to realize that their enterprise-focused and MNC-focused initiatives need to be more effectively coordinated, to offer consistent messages, services and customer experience.  The six reorganizations reflect different combinations of these issues. Continue reading “What Do Recent Reorganizations Tell Us About Global Operator Strategies?” →

M2M Check-In: Are We There Yet?

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
Kathryn Weldon
Kathryn Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • Operators are seeing average annual growth rates in M2M connections of about 20-30%, with new customers evenly distributed among diverse vertical solutions.  UBI and asset tracking solutions are gaining steam, with healthcare and energy management solutions also becoming a source of new ‘wins.’  Although automotive telematics wins are being announced, most of the actual connections associated with them are poised for growth in 2014/2015, when the auto OEMs launch their new ‘next-generation’ models.
  • IT service providers are playing both sides by partnering with and empowering operators to offer end-to-end solutions and going directly to enterprises through their vertical practice groups.  Automotive, utility/smart grid and smart-city deployments, which require multiple network technologies, complex integration and data analytics, are focus areas.

It is difficult to assess traction quantitatively in the M2M market since not all operators are citing numbers of connections these days (let alone revenues or numbers of customers), but Current Analysis estimates that, by the end of 2012, Telefonica had grown its M2M connections to 7.5 million, up from 6.6 million; AT&T had grown to 14.2 million, up from 13.2 million; Vodafone had grown to 9.7 million, up from 7 million; and Orange had grown to 3 million active SIMs, up from 2.5 million active SIMs, plus another 4.8 million SIMs sold by the International M2M Center (IMC) to MNCs, up from the 1.5 million SIMs sold by the IMC in 2011.  Verizon, Sprint and Deutsche Telekom have not reported their numbers for 2012.  In addition, of the 13 publicly announced new M2M ‘wins’ among these operators since January 2012, two were for UBI, two were in healthcare, three were for asset tracking, four were in automotive, one was in energy management and one was in industrial monitoring/control.  This is not a highly scientific ‘study,’ since many wins are not announced at all, but it does show general trends pertaining to growth of connections (which averaged 20-30% in 2012) and to the vertical distribution of current M2M deals.  In general, forecasts of the total number of cellular M2M connections worldwide for 2013 are in the 180-200 million range. Continue reading “M2M Check-In: Are We There Yet?” →

Looking Back at MWC and the Importance of Partners

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
Kathryn Weldon
Kathryn Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • The enterprise mobility ecosystem, from operators to IT service providers to platform vendors for mobility management and security, is dependent on partnering to help each vendor position itself as a full enterprise mobility management (EMM) provider.
  • In M2M, the fragmented ecosystem is often held up as an obstacle to growth.  Partnering helps some with this fragmentation and adds to interoperability and end-to-end solutions development.

At Mobile World Congress, enterprise mobility providers announced diverse kinds of partnerships.  Some key examples:

  • Siemens Enterprise is now offering AirWatch MDM;
  • BoxTone is taking on 3LM assets/partners to flesh out its portfolio;
  • IBM launched MobileFirst, its own complete end-to-end EMM solution, and partnered with AT&T for its network APIs to enhance developer options for B2C apps;
  • Red Bend and Samsung are collaborating in dual persona trials using Red Bend’s Type 1 hypervisor;
  • Good and BoxTone are partnering to be able to offer customers a more extensive portfolio for MDM, containerization and operations management. Continue reading “Looking Back at MWC and the Importance of Partners” →

Dreams of Spain: Predictions for MWC 2013

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
Kathryn Weldon
Kathryn Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • Last year, the major enterprise mobility themes at MWC could be divided into two broad categories: how to cope (and even thrive) in a BYOD world and how to make money out of M2M devices and services.
  • It is no real surprise, but to a great extent, these are still going to be key themes at this year’s show.  How have the enterprise mobility and M2M ecosystems evolved in the interim?

MWC is coming soon and the mobile ecosystem once again gets to show off its shiny new wares.  Aside from mobile devices, infrastructure enhancements, and new apps, even the enterprise mobility vendors and service providers get to show off new software capabilities and services.  These are generally focused on enabling companies to leverage the power of mobility more productively (and with less angst).  While last year’s show focused on the tablet revolution, BYOD, and the rise of MDM, vendors are now going to the next step, offering a broader ‘enterprise mobility management’ portfolio instead, which may encompass MDM, MAM, mobile security, identity management, virtualization, containerization, dual persona solutions, enterprise app stores, mobile content management, application enablement and delivery, and app-level security.  They are making these options available via the cloud or on-premises to offer diverse business models.  As no vendor wants to remain only a niche player, many are offering features beyond their original set of capabilities, either by partnering, acquiring, or developing their own solutions.  MWC is going to include a lot of portfolio repositioning by vendors and their carrier and IT service provider channel partners to encompass all of these diverse capabilities.  The questions remain:  Should they all try to offer the same elements (and if so, where will differentiation be established)?  Can they all pull it off? Continue reading “Dreams of Spain: Predictions for MWC 2013” →

BB 10: ‘Baked-In’ MDM and Dual Persona vs. Third-Party Software and Services

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
Kathryn Weldon
Kathryn Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (the new version of ‘BES’) offers ‘baked-in’ dual persona and multi-OS device management, provided by the device OEM rather than a third-party software or services provider.
  • Does this dilute the managed mobility propositions of third-party MDM software vendors, let alone carriers or IT services companies that are key channel partners of BlackBerry and other OEMs?

BlackBerry (née RIM) has always been different from other mobile device vendors, as it is and always has been both a device OEM and a software provider.  In addition, its new BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 software is positioned to address BYOD, as every new BB device can support dual persona (e.g., BlackBerry Balance) and multi-OS MDM.  It is clear that BlackBerry cannot claim to handle either of these functions as well for Android and iPhone devices as it can for its own devices, but that is not necessarily a problem in itself.  What is a possible problem is that in the last couple of years, while RIM’s smartphone market share shrank from over 60% to less than 5%, the ecosystem of third-party MDM vendors, dual persona and ‘container’ vendors, and the IT service providers and mobile operators that offer managed mobility solutions powered by these vendors’ solutions has evolved considerably.  Multi-OS (and multi-carrier) MDM has become a check list item for carrier and systems integrator-delivered managed mobility services.  In addition, the offerings of service providers are much broader than MDM, as they also include: TEM and logistics; containerization and dual persona solutions; and increasingly, mobile application development, delivery, and management; enterprise app store enablement; and mobile security. Continue reading “BB 10: ‘Baked-In’ MDM and Dual Persona vs. Third-Party Software and Services” →

Managed Mobility Services Still a Work in Progress

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
Kathryn Weldon
Kathryn Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • Current Analysis has completed its analysis of global operators’ managed mobility services  (see Global Managed Mobility Services 2013: Who’s on Top?, December 16, 2013).
  • There was steady progress but not transformations in providers’ portfolios.  Work remains for BYOD, mobile apps, mobile security, and virtualization.

Every year, Current Analysis looks at the managed mobility services (MMS) of the U.S. and European-based operators, compares their strategies and services, and ranks them according to their core services, value-added services, availability, customer traction, and the progress they have made in fleshing out their portfolios.  We discovered that service providers have added more third-party solution partners, better defined their professional services, began to articulate BYOD-focused offerings, and improved the way they present and position their MMS portfolios.  However, while last year there appeared to be a mandate to broaden the scope of services by adding more sophisticated mobile application management tools, application development capabilities, and mobile security services, only some operators have made enhancements in these areas.  Operators are also discussing the synergy of MMS with their cloud and UC services, but the actual ‘convergence’ of these separate sets of services is still in the beginning stages.  While BYOD remains a major opportunity (and threat), many operators are still in trials with dual persona vendors and have not yet implemented advanced capabilities such as split billing for personal and business communications and transactions.  Below are a few other recommendations to MMS providers: Continue reading “Managed Mobility Services Still a Work in Progress” →

Consumer Telematics Show Focuses on Opportunities and Obstacles for Connected Car

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
Kathryn Weldon
Kathryn Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • Consumer telematics (aka the connected car) is an exciting market, as auto OEMs are associating new infotainment and safety applications with their brands and experimenting with different subscription models.
  • Mobile operators have a huge stake in this market as they have an opportunity not only to increase connections but to participate in the larger value chain that includes embedded modems and smartphone integration, along with sales, marketing, subscriptions/service enablement, support, content delivery, and consulting and integration services.

The Consumer Telematics Show (CTS 2013) in Las Vegas on January 7 brought together the unique ecosystem that is delivering solutions for the connected car market, including auto manufacturers, chip and module manufacturers, operators, integrators, and content providers. While there is a lot of excitement about the opportunity, there also remain challenges: Continue reading “Consumer Telematics Show Focuses on Opportunities and Obstacles for Connected Car” →

Cloud and Mobility: A Match Made in Heaven?

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
Kathryn Weldon
Kathryn Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • The convergence of the ‘cloud’ and mobility is a trend that vendors, service providers, and analysts have been predicting for years (and 2013 is no exception).
  • However, ‘cloud’ means so many things in so many markets that some of this convergence has already happened under other names.

The promise of mobility has long included ‘anywhere, anytime’ access to public and corporate information and collaboration resources.  Adding cloud-based delivery (to smartphones and tablets) of the applications to leverage these resources seemingly enhances this proposition, lowering investment costs and increasing flexibility.  However, public cloud services (in the form of PaaS, SaaS, and IaaS) are still in relatively early stages of market acceptance.  Moreover, while use of enterprise mobility apps is accelerating, most organizations still prefer to buy these apps ‘off-the shelf,’ with use of internal or outsourced MEAPs or code development coming slowly up the curve.  Meanwhile, the delivery of these apps is skewed towards in-house servers, with Android and iOS app stores coming in second and external hosting (i.e., cloud services) still lagging the market.  Even enterprise app stores are essentially private clouds, with role-based permissions for access, fortified by access-level, app-level, device-level, and traditional corporate perimeter security. Continue reading “Cloud and Mobility: A Match Made in Heaven?” →

End of Year Thoughts on BYOD: Fad or Here to Stay?

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
Kathryn Weldon
Kathryn Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • BYOD remains ‘the big issue’ according to suppliers of enterprise mobility technology and services, with consulting and professional services, MDM/MAM platforms, containerization, and dual persona solutions promoted as ways to ‘solve’ the problem or deal more effectively with an issue that has both pluses and minuses for enterprises.
  • Now that 2012 is nearly over, can we say conclusively that BYOD is here to stay?  Might it still go away and be seen as a fad that came and went, ultimately more trouble than it was worth for both the employee and their employer?

There is literally not a single presentation from a service or technology provider for enterprise mobility that does not begin with the premise that BYOD has changed ‘everything.’  Not only are devices coming into the workplace, but the concept of an ‘enterprise’ smartphone does not even make sense anymore in many companies, because the employee needs to love the look and feel of their mobile device and will select it based on what used to be considered consumer criteria: the numbers and variety of apps it can access or provide, the quality of the browser, the camera, the color, and screen size.  Tablets are also mainstream in the workplace, but vendor surveys show they are somewhat less likely to be purchased by the employee than a smartphone.  Moreover, the various payment schemes for BYOD devices have matured (i.e., employee-funded, partial reimbursement based on either a set stipend or a predefined percent of the cost, or full reimbursement), with partial reimbursement the most common choice. Continue reading “End of Year Thoughts on BYOD: Fad or Here to Stay?” →

Hands-on with AT&T Enhanced Push to Talk

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
Kathryn Weldon
Kathryn Weldon

Summary Bullets:
•    AT&T recently launched its Enhanced Push to Talk (EPTT) service, available on three ruggedized devices, and gave us a hands-on demo
•    Did the test meet our expectations and what did we learn about AT&T’s opportunity and the PTT market in general?

AT&T provided our analysts a chance to get “hands-on” with its EPTT solution on the 4G LTE Rugby Galaxy Pro. We have been writing about PTT recently, wondering aloud about the size of the market opportunity. AT&T’s launch was certainly timely, as Sprint is rapidly cutting off its remaining iDEN users (even charging them $10 to stay on the network), which will strand what has been the biggest base of PTT users if they don’t upgrade to Sprint’s upgraded QChat CDMA based offering.

Continue reading “Hands-on with AT&T Enhanced Push to Talk” →