[1]Ahoy, mateys! Global video game publisher 505 Games and developer Artificial Mind & Movement [1] (A2M) today announced the latest downloadable chapter for Naughty Bear [2] is available now for Xbox LIVE® Arcade and PlayStation® Network. The new pirate-themed 
[3]Chapter 9 pits the naughtiest bear around in a bid to lay siege to the Island of Perfection with even more mischievous action, including all-new characters, costumes and challenges.
Filled with exclusive hidden treasures, deadly weapons and brutal buccaneers, Chapter 9 serves up four new challenges to swashbuckle while taking up arms against baddie bears and their leader, Admiral Giggles, as well as The Pirates and their leader, The Great Bear Beard.
To commend their efforts in combat, Chapter 9 players can dress Naughty in his own version of the Pirate Bear costume or even assume the identity of The Great Bear Beard, find two new hats and collect the lethal cutlass, with unique ultra-kill capabilities.
Naughty Bear is available now for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and also for iPhone & iPod Touch through the Apple App Store for $2.99 CAD. The downloadable Chapter 9 is available now on Xbox LIVE Arcade for 400 MS points and on PlayStation Network for the equivalent of $4.99 USD.
[4]Sierra Wireless [4] today announced a multi-year strategic agreement for the company to provide M2M (machine-to-machine) Services Management for Telus. Telus will integrate the Sierra Wireless AirVantage [5]™ 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, making it simpler and faster to bring M2M services to market and opening new service opportunities for Telus and its partners.
ABI Research forecasts M2M connection revenue in Canada to grow at a rate of 26 per cent per year from 2010 to 2015, to a total of $575 million (M2M Market Forecasts, ABI Research, Q3 2010, Total Cellular M2M Connection Revenue by Region, World Market Forecast 2007 – 2015 ). M2M services cover a wide range of applications, including remotely collecting vehicle data, remotely monitoring equipment such as pipelines and wind turbines, wireless point-of-sale devices, and connecting innovative consumer devices such as e-book readers, personal navigation devices, and cameras.
To participate profitably in this market, M2M service providers and network operators need an easy-to-use, cost effective way to activate, monitor, and bill for their services.
The Sierra Wireless AirVantage Services Platform simplifies solution design and delivery, reduces service management costs and opens opportunities for an emerging category of connected devices and services for Telus and its M2M partners. The Telus M2M Platform will integrate AirVantage Services to offer Telus M2M partners 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.
“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,” said Ibrahim Gedeon, Chief Technology officer at Telus. “We have relied on Sierra Wireless to help us bring innovative wireless services to market for many years and we are excited about the potential of this collaboration and the Sierra Wireless AirVantage™ Services Platform to simplify M2M deployments.”
“Telus is a key player in the Canadian M2M market and is taking a leading role in developing this space,” said Emmanuel Walckenaer, Sierra Wireless Senior Vice President and General Manager, 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. We are proud to be working with Telus to grow and scale its M2M services.”
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. AirVantage Services Platform includes a scalable, secure and open M2M service delivery platform; comprehensive connectivity management functions for subscriber, device and asset management; a powerful set of development tools; and a web services application programming interface. The AirVantage Services Platform also lets wireless network operators extend self-care and service design and management features to their M2M service providers.