Sprint Nextel strikes pair of M2M deals, highlights ‘open’ strategy

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) announced a series of M2M deals around payments, video surveillance, alarm monitoring and offered some updates on its push into tele-medicine.
The Electronic Payment Exchange (EPX), a financial processing network, extended its partnership with the carrier to co-market services and extend its services to Sprint business customers over Sprint’s 3G network. EPX’s encryption technology and payments platform can be applied to mobile payment units, thereby eliminating the need to strike deals with multiple third parties in the payments chain.
“Increasing numbers of merchants are turning to self-service offerings that incorporate wireless payment technology, so the combination of fast, reliable wireless communications and secure payment solutions is a must have for any unattended hardware devices that accept credit cards or debit cards,” EPX marketing director Steven Kendus said.
“Businesses today increasingly need to provide payment options for their customers wherever they happen to be, such as a field office or a retail kiosk. The nationwide Sprint network provides the perfect wireless backhaul to support those end-to-end payment processing capabilities,” said Wayne Ward, VP of the emerging solutions group at Sprint.
Sprint also announced a deal with Cernium Corp. to bring the Reston, Va.-based company’s video analytics, and cloud-based video surveillance and alarm verification system onto the carriers’ network.
CheckVideo|Sprint 3G can send real-time video alerts and alarm monitoring at a lower cost than conventional video surveillance systems, the companies said.
“Sprint is committed to M2M security, and we’re excited to expand our solutions portfolio with CheckVideo|Sprint 3G,” Sprint’s Ward said. “CheckVideo|Sprint 3G surpasses traditional video surveillance by enabling customers to extend and reinforce the security perimeter and protect more effectively, while not disturbing their existing IT infrastructure.”
Finally, Sprint offered some updates on the tele-medicine front and highlighted some strengths that have come as a result of the carrier’s “open approach” to development.
“The developer community has told us they thrive in an environment that accelerates their speed to market with simple, unencumbered access to our full complement of network capabilities. Considering that they are delivering wireless applications for the purpose of enhancing the health and well-being of all Americans—and potentially saving lives—Sprint is only too willing to invest in technology and processes that foster innovation,” Ward said.
The carrier called out a series of its partners in tele-medicine in a news release that have helped Sprint round out its position in the space and give a sense of its strategy going forward.