Cotecna, one of the world’s leading international testing, inspection and certification companies, and Orange Business Services, a leading global integrator of communications services, have entered into a partnership to combine the synergies of the two Groups to offer best in class, secure machine to machine (M2M) track and trace solutions, particularly for customs transit monitoring.

Cotecna is the foremost supplier of transit monitoring services with its Cotrack solution, helping governments to fight fraud and secure the transport of sensitive merchandise such as petroleum products. Cotecna first installed Cotrack in Senegal in 2009. Cotecna has more than 38 years of extensive experience in customs and border control solutions and in the implementation and operation, in challenging environments, of complex solutions involving very specialized and advanced technologies.

With 200 plus experts dedicated to M2M, Orange Business Services brings together expertise in consulting, design, innovation, integration, project management and service management along with leading edge knowledge of the M2M ecosystem.

M2M solutions from Orange allow machines, devices and objects to communicate in real time without human intervention and can be integrated with communication tools, such as the Internet, networks, and telephone systems, necessary for an optimal track and trace solution.

Orange offers a long lasting, adapted SIM that can cope with extreme conditions and can be used anywhere in the world. M2M solutions from Orange are complemented by a seamless global network that provides IP access in 220 countries and territories and supports more than 2.5 million active M2M connections.

Through this Cotecna-Orange Business Services partnership, Cotecna will be able to propose specific Orange M2M solutions in many market segments. Already, the added value of this partnership has been clearly proven in the development of an exclusive turn key transit monitoring solution, which has been successfully operating in the West African country of Togo since December 2011.

Pierre Olivier Pellegrin, senior vice president Security & Inspection Technology, Cotecna, said, “As a company that prides itself on its flexibility and ability to provide specific tailor made solutions for our clients, the capability of Orange to supply such a comprehensive package of technologies across a global landscape is of utmost importance to Cotecna’s expansion.”

“We are very excited to partner with Cotecna, an industry pioneer that is driving M2M innovation,” said Helmut Reisinger, senior vice president, Orange Business Services Europe. “Orange has created M2M solutions in a wide spectrum of industry sectors. Our M2M and industry expertise provides a solid foundation for Cotecna’s plans to implement M2M solutions tailored to the secure transit monitoring industry. Business M2M is a perfect example of how Orange is helping customers like Cotecna use innovative technology to evolve their business models, even into fast growing emerging markets.”