Team Monash wins Telstra M2M Challenge 2014

Tuesday the 29th of July. We went to the awards ceremony this day knowing we (Team Monash) were in the top 3 from 16 other teams that participated in the University challenge this year. The day entailed quite a lot of sight seeing of Telstra's facilities.

We started the day with breakfast catered for. Then we headed to the GOC (Global Operations Centre) which was a 20min bus ride from Telstra's main office on Exhibition street in Melbourne CBD to Clayton.

The centre was very impressive. And showed really how big the network is that services Australia. We watched a video and then the surrounding windows went from a tinted state to a clear state one by one. Next the view was of the main operations room with a huge wall of monitors showing statistics and details of the network. Very cool to see that in motion.

The rest of the day included lunch and then some more talks about Telstra's projects and investments in the industry. It was great to meet the other University team members and reflect on the 10 week project, which most of us did outside our existing work load at University.

Unusual sight of students in suits? Lunch time!

TOP 3

Team: Queensland University of Technology

ATOM – A multifaceted M2M delivery platform which combines independent M2M components (e.g. a smart screen, temperature alert and electricity alert) to be implemented in the same environment as a ‘bundle’ to provide SMEs with functionality that enables them to better conduct and understand their business.

Team: RMIT #2

Ember – A Haystack Temperature Monitoring and Alert System that provides a mechanism to measure and track the temperature inside haystacks and sends warnings when temperatures exceed a certain threshold.

Team: Monash University

On Track – A mobile application that allows customers to view up-to-date information about their train service, including its location and how full each carriage is.

Drum Roll

The award ceremony finally started around 4:30 in the afternoon. The top three team members were present along with Telstra employees, graduates, university coordinators and M2M organisers. Other teams in the top 8 that were outside the top 3 were allowed 2 members to be present at the event.

To our delight, we were awarded first place for our project. Whilst RMIT came second with their project Ember. And Queensland University of Tech came third with their Atom Project.