Former SAP EVP is Solving Headaches with Mobile and M2M Technologies

Today Zia Yusuf is CEO of Streetline, a San Francisco company.  This former SAP EVP is showing up all over the media these days.  Why?  His new company provides some very interesting mobile and M2M (machine-to-machine) technologies that show real time parking availability on smartphones.

What does his solution consists of?

• Battery-powered sensors (M2M) in parking spaces
• Receiver
• Data center in Dallas, Texas
• $1.99 Mobile Parker iPhone application

Here is how it appears to work - Yusuf convinces various municipal governments on the benefits of using Streetline’s solution.  These benefits include:

• Reduces fuel used searching for parking spots
• Reduces the time spent searching for a parking spot
• Reduces neighborhood traffic
• Increased driving safety (not distracted looking for parking spots)
• Provides directions to available parking spots

Once approved, Streetline’s battery-powered sensors are installed in parking spots.  The sensors communicate with the nearby receiver (reporting whether the parking spot is empty or occupied), which connects to the data center in Texas, which in turn connects to iPhone applications everywhere.  The mobile app then shows the number of open parking spaces on any given street and directs you to them via Google Maps.

Jefferson Graham in a USA TODAY article reports that, “IBM in 2010 named Streetline the 'Global Entrepreneur of the year,' after it won several competitions IBM staged to look for companies working on a 'smarter planet.'"

I write about both mobile solutions and M2M (machine-to-machine) communications.  This solution utilizes both, so it wins my favorite mobile solution of the day!

Congratulations Zia!  I knew there was an afterlife.

Whitepaper of Note: Unlocking the Value of Enterprise Mobility