Sierra Wireless, a designer and manufacturer of wireless communications equipment, announced it has signed a multi-year strategic agreement with TELUS to provide machine-to-machine (M2M) Services Management for TELUS and drive the growth of wireless M2M communication in the Canadian market.

Under this partnership, TELUS will integrate the Sierra Wireless (News - Alert) AirVantage Services Platform into their network operations to provide M2M customers with online access to a comprehensive suite of M2M service creation, delivery and management capabilities, according to company officials.

The partnership makes it simpler and faster to bring M2M services to market and opening new service opportunities for TELUS (News - Alert) and its partners.

The Sierra Wireless AirVantage Services Platform is a worldwide software-as-a-service offering that enables network operators, system integrators and M2M solution providers to rapidly develop, deploy, support and operate M2M solutions and services.

The platform is designed to simplify solution design and delivery and reduce service management costs. It opens opportunities for an emerging category of connected devices and services for TELUS and its M2M partners.

By integrating AirVantage Services, TELUS M2M Platform will provide TELUS M2M partners with access and control over nearly every aspect of their device connectivity - provisioning and subscription management, device monitoring and remote updating and control for M2M services, according to company officials.

ABI Research (News - Alert) recently predicted the M2M connection revenue in Canada will grow at a rate of 26 percent per year from 2010 to 2015, to a total of $575 million. To participate in this highly competitive market, M2M service providers and network operators need an easy-to-use, cost effective way to activate, monitor, and bill for their services.

According to Ibrahim Gedeon (News - Alert), CTO at TELUS, the M2M market represents an increasingly important opportunity for TELUS.

“By collaborating with Sierra Wireless on this powerful set of service delivery tools, we'll be better positioned to help our customers get to market faster with innovative new services, including intelligent remote monitoring for fleets and other assets, automated power management for smart grids, or connecting to almost any consumer electronics device over the TELUS network,” Gedeon added in a press release.

According to Emmanuel Walckenaer, Sierra Wireless senior VP and general manager of the Solutions and Services business unit, the scalable, open and secure AirVantage Services Platform can help TELUS accelerate the M2M market by allowing the company to efficiently serve new customers, to extend service design and management features to these customers, and to add all kinds of connected devices to the TELUS network.

Earlier in June Sierra Wireless announced it had expanded its market share for embedded modules and standalone wireless terminals, to become a leader in cellular M2M communication devices.

Following the acquisition of Wavecom (News - Alert) in March 2009, Sierra Wireless M2M communication devices showed revenue growth throughout 2009 and is continuing in 2010, according to a TMCnet report.