Last updated: 27 February 2015
The continued global downturn means that emergency services around the world are under serious pressure. In the UK emergency service cuts have been hampering flood recovery efforts according to the general secretary of Brigades Union. Whilst in South Australia, bushfires continue to pose a problem for rescue teams, people and animals alike. Fortunately there are now several new solutions, enabled by M2M technology, which will help make communicating in such emergencies significantly easier and helping to save more lives than ever before.
Emergency call smart watch – Gemalto enables cellular connectivity for the revolutionary, and very elegant, Limmex watch . It looks like any other Swiss watch but it has an emergency button, which when pr
essed, will send an SMS with GPS details to a defined emergency contact. It has an in-built microphone and loudspeaker so the wearer can then communicate with their emergency contact person. Gemalto’s Cinterion MIM combined with its On-Demand Provisioning Service simplifies the manufacturing process and ensures instant device connection anywhere in the world after deployment.
3G Bushfire Alert System – the well-deserved winner of our #IoTMaker Challenge, submitted by Jason 
Mitcheson, a Java developer from Australia. In short, the idea is an alert system that’d use one of our Cinterion Concept Boards, combined with a battery, a small solar panel, and a digital temperature/humidity sensor (probably an Arduino sensor, similar to those used with our smart office plant, named Horst) to provide help to fire authorities needing early detection of bushfires.
Connected cars – with emergency-call systems that bring rapid assistance to road traffic incidents are also a reality thanks to eCall. In the event of a serious road accident, an eCall-equipped car automatically dials 112 (the Europe-wide emergency number) and gives emergency operators information relating to the incident, including GPS coordinates, the time of the incident and the vehicle identification number. 
This technology is just a small but vital part of the new breed of connected car applications that are helping carmakers meet their ambitious goals of enhancing the emotional connection to the vehicle while striving for zero emissions and zero fatalities. As a leader in digital security and M2M technology, Gemalto provides leading edge automotive connectivity technologies across the entire spectrum of telematics and connected car applications.
These are just some of the M2M communication solutions which will be available to test at the Gemalto MWC stand, 5A80 in Hall 5 – so come and try them out, although don’t start any bush fires! And if you have any questions you’d like to ask now, please do so in the comments below.
