Taking Control

While carriers keep one eye locked on 3G and how future high-speed data capabilities are shaping up, many also focus on getting the most out of what they already have. To that end, carriers such as United States Cellular and Rogers Cantel are taking advantage of the extra capacity on their control channels and turning it into another revenue source.

John Wadden, United States Cellular acting director of product and business development, said the company was interested in developing relationships with multiple telemetry and monitoring providers. As long as the company has a good business plan, and there is no interference with its voice service, the potential for a mutually satisfying partnership is good.

Both United States Cellular and Rogers Cantel began looking into available technologies some time ago, but before signing on any dotted lines, they did a lot of research to make sure the control-channel technology would be compatible with their networks. David Neale, Rogers Cantel vice president of new technology, said the compatibility issue was the biggest challenge.

"One of the fears that cellular carriers always have is that the technology might interrupt the network," Neale said. Channel blockage was one of the biggest concerns. He said it was important that the technology be robust but non-intrusive. Before solidifying any agreements, both carriers brought the technology in-house for extensive trials. Rogers Cantel and Aeris began discussions in May 1997, and the carrier brought the MicroBurst technology into its Toronto building for testing at the end of 1997 and early 1998.

Participation Level

Carriers can choose varying levels of involvement. At the simplest level, the carrier agrees to enable Aeris traffic within its network, and Aeris handles the relationships. The carrier receives the traffic and the resulting revenue. Or carriers can choose to work more closely with Aeris and even can go so far as to operate an Aeris hub on their networks. Neale said Rogers Cantel started out at the simplest level but found interest in the field quickly and began to work more closely with Aeris.

"We took advantage of the relationships that Aeris had built with a number of third-party providers," Neale said. "But we also go out and prospect through our data group for other opportunities and work with Aeris on those third-party providers."

United States Cellular has had much the same experience. Wadden said Aeris cooperated with United States Cellular by describing its main applications providers, and then the carrier distributed that information to its sales force.

"The sales force in turn has been real excited because they have seen a lot of direct applications with companies in their districts," Wadden said. "They are working with us to generate a sales-referral program so that we can actually promote Microburst technology and help identify customers."

Wadden said the sales personnel might identify another need for an existing business customer that might be in the irrigation-monitoring business or utility business.

"It could be a business that we already have a strong relationship with, or one that we are developing a relationship with, but the more services we can provide for our customers, the happier we are," Wadden said.

Although the process of bringing the control-channel technology on-line was fairly glitch-free for Rogers Cantel, Neale said educating the company's sales force about the technology and the niche applications was a challenge.

"It's not a hardware device that we're selling," Neale said. "Instead, we're promoting our network for a very unique, very specialized type of solution for vertical markets."

Trianglulation

The control-channel partnership is unique in that success requires all three elements to work well together. The key is finding and educating the applications vendors in niche markets that are good candidates for the technology. Control-channel technology is best-suited for short data bursts, so applications such as vehicle tracking and monitoring work well. Neale said security monitoring currently is generating the most interest. In this area, deployed systems report status conditions to a monitoring center. According to Aeris, an increasing proportion of the reporting alarm systems use wireless backup to override an attempt to cut telephone wires. Companies that operate various fixed-location facilities such as vending machines, package drop boxes and gas pipelines also are good possibilities for the technology.

The other area that both Wadden and Neale predicted would grow is automated meter reading. Control-channel technology is an attractive way of getting the reading, especially with the "hard to read" and "deadly to read" classes of meters.

"That means you just can't get to it, which could either mean it's in a very hazardous environment or sometimes the owners have a very large dog," Neale said. He added that apartment buildings where tenants continually are changing also makes an attractive case for use of automated meter reading.

"Nobody wants to pay for someone else's electricity," Neale said.

But carriers need to make sure that the third-party applications are compatible. Rogers Cantel works closely with Aeris to understand each application. It wants to check the integrity of the application, so each application has to be certified before it is loaded onto the network.

"What you don't want is for a unit in the field to keep sending signals over and over and over again," Neale said. "So, consequently, part of the process is to have that unit certified."

Although Neale said that Rogers Cantel was thorough in its evaluation of MicroBurst before making any commitments, he said that the evaluation goes beyond scrutinizing the technology.

"I think that whenever a carrier is looking at an opportunity like this, not only are you looking for technology, but you are also looking for a relationship -- the ability to have a very straightforward relationship," Neale said. He added that carriers also are interested in opportunities that allow incremental revenue without much investment.

The control channel seems to fill the bill nicely. The process is not a difficult one for carriers, requiring little in the way of network enhancements or maintenance. The network already is operating, so as long as the technology doesn't interfere with the core business, using the control channel as an added revenue source is a win-win-win situation.