Home Appliances Will Communicate on Verizon Network

Verizon Wireless wants machine-to-machine devices to run on the company's open wireless network, according to VP of Open Development Anthony Lewis.

Automated homes, where "appliances can talk to each other" on the wireless network and let repairmen know when they need fixing, are "around the corner," he says.

In March, Verizon launched its open development initiative to let devices made by other companies run on its network--a marked change from its former restrictive policies. But CNET News.com's Maggie Reardon criticized the initiative as not truly open, since Verizon has to certify a device before it can get online.

Verizon certified the first third-party device this month, but isn't the handset with cheap international calling that industry watchers had hoped for, The AP reported. It's a modem that measures storage containers with a sensor and reports to a control center when they are running low.

Lewis says devices can be certified in a "very quick, very low cost manner," and that Verizon wants customers to have access to more devices and the freedom to download different types of applications.

Right now, though, the company seems focused on using the open network to connect machines rather than people.

I interviewed Lewis at the AlwaysOn conference at Stanford last week, where he was a speaker.

--Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer