Mobile Telematics and Connected Services Leader Develops Turnkey Managed Data Services Solution

Summary

"You guys really did your homework on this and you were far ahead of everyone else with your thoughts on what needed to happen"

Symbio partnered with Airbiquity to develop a turnkey Managed Data Services (MDS) solution which will enable Airbiquity to be in a unique position of being both a data transporter enabler and data service provider.

Symbio provided the following services to Airbiquity:

• Product development (on-site and offshore)
• QA/Testing (on-site and offshore)
• Technical support for the China market

By working with Symbio, Airbiquity was able to develop a highly successful product quickly by scaling their development and quality assurance teams globally, while reducing cost significantly compared to scaling an in-house team.

Client Background

Airbiquity is a premier provider in developing wireless transport technology for transmitting data across voice channels of any air interface to provide GPS mobile location-based solutions. With an abundance of technology, Airbiquity strives to be one of the leaders in mobile technology; allowing customers to seamlessly connect with one another through numerous patented technologies.

Airbiquity is developing a turnkey MDS solution that enables automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to provide their clients with telematics services with the lowest cost and fastest time-to-market (TTM). The key values provided by the MDS include:

• Alleviate upfront investment by outsourcing maintenance and operations of data hosting nodes
• Decouple single call and data center dependency and enable best-in-class component and service providers within the infrastructure
• Broaden OEM’s partner selections. OEMs have the freedom of choosing their own call centers and content providers
• Significantly reduce TTM for service introduction

A successful MDS solution will also enable Airbiquity to expand its presence in the telematics industry. After careful research, Airbiquity chose China and Symbio as a platform to spearhead this project.

Business Challenge

Known for possessing a well rounded repertoire in technology knowledge and tools, Airbiquity placed high expectations on the Symbio team to understand its technology standards, and adapt their product to function with country specific communication protocols including satellite, cellular, VOIP, and emergency services. All these protocols had to be understood and the functionality had to be coded into the existing product. Besides the high demand for Java technologies and product domain expertise, the Symbio team was expected to be familiar with a unique combination of networking, telecom, database, business process and Linux tools.

To overcome these challenges, Symbio:

• Assigned a team and location specifically to meet the technical demands of Airbiquity
• Utilized its wealth of expertise and knowledge to ramp up this project
• Sent staff onsite to learn in-depth about Airbiquity’s product and development process
• Rotated team members onsite to gain specific process knowledge and transferred knowledge to the Symbio staff in Chengdu

How We Helped

In 2007, Airbiquity wanted to outsource its solution but was nervous about an outsourcing market plagued by rising costs, talent shortages, high attrition, and it did not want to get into an agreement where they were a small account fighting for good resources. China on the other hand offered a large and highly skilled workforce, comparative cost advantages, and world class infrastructure. By working with Symbio, Airbiquity was able to capitalize on China’s key differentiators and stray away from the challenges in India and Eastern Europe. Additionally, Airbiquity was able to establish a stable team in Chengdu, a tier 2 city in China, which allowed the team to avoid potential competitive pressures in a tier 1 city like Shanghai, which had competing opportunities and higher living expenses. A team that began with 2 resources, through mutual trust and success, and over the course of time grew fivefold in dedicated resources.

Airbiquity chose to work with Symbio for several reasons. First, Symbio was able to provide a professionally tailored solution to satisfy all requirements from Airbiquity. Symbio’s intellectual property protection, backed by ISO 27001, allowed Airbiquity to feel at ease over its product idea, solution, and other critical information given to Symbio. Given a company that has so many patents, Symbio understood the utter importance to keep all information safe and secure. Secondly, Symbio demonstrated a thorough understanding of its product and came up with ideas on how and in what sequence the Symbio team would pursue the development effort. Under Airbiquity’s guidance through each phase of the development process, Symbio was able to work with the client to ensure that the end product met Airbiquity’s expectations. Most importantly, the passion and dedication that the Symbio team put forth, coupled with our in-depth knowledge in specific technical capabilities, was a major reason why this project was so successful.

By setting up its team in Chengdu, Airbiquity saved around 40% in total costs in comparison to having a development team in the US. Furthermore, its experience in China and partnership with Symbio validated its ambitions to service the China market.

Business Results

Due to the success of this project, evidenced by the team growing more than 300% within a year, Airbiquity will be expanding the team into a Symbio Solution Delivery Center to cover additional areas of its businesses including embedded engineering and product support. The client's presence in China has allowed it to enter the Chinese market and adapt its product to operate using Chinese communication protocols, resulting in an agreement with Shanghai automotive to equip vehicles with Airbiquity technology. The current Symbio R&D team is intricately involved in Airbiquity’s product development and support, and has become a perfect bridge to help Airbiquity build a local presence to service its Chinese clients. The Symbio team on this project continues to exceed expectations on all fronts.