VANCOUVER – Rogers and Wavefront, a non-profit business incubator, have announced that the Rogers Wireless Innovation Centre in Vancouver is now open to business customers and developers. Located within Wavefront's national centre of excellence for wireless commercialization, the centre’s mission is to accelerate the development of machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions by helping technology innovators develop products and bring them to market faster.
"Rogers is passionate about fostering growth in M2M and strengthening the wireless developer ecosystem in Canada through simplifying the development and go-to-market journey," said Mansell Nelson, Vice-President, Advanced Business Solutions, Rogers Communications in a release.
"We are thrilled to be opening our latest innovation centre alongside Wavefront. Together, we can support current and emerging developers to get to market faster with innovative applications for connected devices, as well as educate Canadian companies about the benefits of M2M technology."
Wavefront was named Canada’s centre of excellence for wireless communication research, for both hardware and software, in 2010 and to date it has received more than $20 million in funding from federal, provincial, private sector and academic sources. Research partners previously announced include Sierra Wireless, Ericsson and Nokia and Wavefront estimates it will support up to 150 startups over five years.
Rogers says interactive demos in the centre provide hands-on access to best-in-class solutions, including wireless asset tracking, virtual network back-up systems (critical network access), connected health solutions and digital signage – the next wave of M2M innovation on LTE networks. Additional solutions will be added to the centre as they become available.
"Connecting wireless businesses in BC with leading M2M solutions at the Rogers Wireless Innovation Centre allows us to further accelerate innovation and drive industry growth," said James Maynard, CEO, Wavefront.
The announcement builds on Rogers previous Wireless Innovation Centre in Montreal and there are plans to expand the initiative to Toronto. Currently, Rogers provides wireless data connectivity to more than 150 M2M solution providers in transportation, retail, healthcare, consumer electronics and oil & gas. Rogers has also joined forces with a global M2M alliance of seven operators worldwide to collaborate on the potential of speeding delivery of new connected products and services and of developing and growing M2M business through the development of a global SIM and centralized management console powered by Jasper Wireless.
In addition, Rogers Communications and SAP AG recently announced plans to develop and manage the deployment of newly packaged enterprise mobile applications which leverage the SAP mobile platform. Rogers says the offering will simplify the way organizations mobilize their workforces by helping employees gain real-time access to enterprise mobile applications that traditionally sit on desktop computers on tablets and smartphones.
"As Canadian businesses become increasingly mobile and dependent on their smartphones and tablets, it opens up a world of opportunities for application developers," added Nelson. "Showcasing them in our Wireless Innovation Centres is an ideal away to offer them exposure that will benefit us all."
