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Twisthink is a provider of strategic design and technology expertise toward new product development. The company recently developed a new Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Development Platform which is pre-certified on the Verizon Wireless network. Twisthink has partnered with Microchip Technology (News - Alert), to market its twistM2M platform.

The new development platform is aimed at enabling developers in a wide range of markets to make major, cost-effective inroads with M2M apps. 

“Typical M2M products load-in far more ‘extras’ than most applications require, and the resulting price makes M2M cost-prohibitive,” Kurt Dykema, director of Technology at Twisthink, said in a statement.

“Advanced engineering in ‘twistM2M’ avoids extraneous features, focusing on primary, multi-task functionality in order to bring developers trim, ‘athletic’ M2M: all the muscle, without the fat — or a fat price,” Dykema added.

This full-featured platform enables development of custom-embedded firmware applications on a 32-bit microcontroller with local area and remote cellular connectivity. System devices can collect data, share locally over 10/100 Ethernet and ZigBee, and communicate to a cloud application. Also, the Verizon (News - Alert) framework allows developers to extend system intelligence to the network’s outer edge, enabling devices to work autonomously and consume data services only when needed. And Verizon’s Application Enablement Services (AES) allow users to dynamically alter sensor configuration, monitoring and thresholds without re-flashing the device’s application.

“This development platform marks a significant cost-capability breakthrough. It brings processing and communications peripherals together in a space where M2M platforms often cost thousands of dollars. For developers who want to add remote-management capability to their design, it’s an ideal solution — like no other in the marketplace today,” Sumit Mitra, vice president of Microchip’s MCU32 Division, said.

The twistM2M platform for CDMA, which is FCC (News - Alert) Part 15 certified, also includes: GPS for location-specific monitoring and control; Micro SD Card support for storing code, event information and images; On-board 3-axis accelerometer to monitor motion; Serial communication interface for simple wired connectivity; Temperature and light sensors; and two expansion ports for custom sensing or connectivity development.

The M2M Development Platform is priced at $379.99 and is available now.