MEL THOMAS Joins ADVISORY BOARD of CONNECTM

The former Sr VP at BOMBARDIER Transporation to augument the Transportation vertical at Connect M
Bangalore, India, December 03, 2007 – ConnectM, the end–to-end solutions provider for the transportation, utilities, industrial and enterprise market powered by M2M communication, has announced that Mr. Mel Thomas, formerly the Senior Vice President of the Services Division of Bombardier Transportation, has accepted to join its Advisory Board in an honorary position.

“Mel Thomas brings to ConnectM an unparalleled expertise in the Transportation vertical. His association is critical to the company and we are looking at Mel to advise us on our business initiatives and strategies. His presence will help immensely in ConnectM achieving the lead in the M2M space and carving a niche for itself in the market,” said Mr Kumar Prabhas, CEO ConnectM.

“I am excited to join the advisory board of ConnectM and look forward to a long and successful association. ConnectM has achieved a lot within the short period since their inception. The company is focusing on M2M communication, which is the technology of tomorrow, in a number of key business segments. Both the technology and the team are elements of a winning combination and I am pleasesd to be an integral part of it,” said Mr. Mel Thomas.

Mel Thomas is an International Senior Engineering Executive with over 40 years in the Transportation Industry. He started his career with the British Railways in the UK. As the Senior Vice President of the Services Division, Bombardier Transportation Mel Thomas was heading the Engineering, Supply Chain Management and QHSE teams in Europe. His responsibilities ranged from consolidating engineering teams to launching common HSE improvements plans across the division to managing 6 sigma action plans and training.


More About Mel Thomas
In the year 1992, Mel joined Bombardier as Engineering Director of Bombardier Prorail Ltd. UK. In 1996 he moved to Belgium as Director Technology in the then European Headquarters of Bombardier Eurorail, the following year 1997 he was invited to take over the responsibilities of the engineering function of BN, combining and re-organizing the three product line engineering functions into one functional group as the Director of Engineering, Bombardier BN, Belgium


As Vice President Engineering and R&D Europe Atlantique, France in 1998, Mel Thomas was part of an important milestone for Bombardier when they won the design, supply and maintain contract for the new Virgin Rail tilting and Non-Tilting fleet for the UK. This was significant because of the technology incorporated into the design, the scale of the project, and the very short project timescale.

Before taking on responsibilities as the Senior Vice President Operations, Services Division, Belgium in the year 2005, Mel saw the acquisition of Adtranz from Daimler Chrysler in May 2001, thus creating the World’s number one railway company, Bombardier Transportation. As part of the integration process the business was re-organised into Product Divisions and he was invited to head the engineering and quality functions of the Inter-City and High Speed Division in the year 2001.

Until recently Mel Thomas was the Chairman of InteGRail (Intelligent Integration of Railway Systems) a four year integrated E.U. funded research project grouping 39 international partners with a budget of about €20 million co-ordinated by UNIFE, launched in 2005. This project aims to develop a coherent information system integrating all major rail sub-systems. He has also been a member of the Railway Forum (UK)/Modern Railways, Railway Industry Innovation Awards judging panel since 2005.

Mel Thomas is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (formally the Institution of Electrical Engineers), and has a Masters Degree in Industrial Management.

About ConnectM
ConnectM provides end-to-end solutions, consulting, application development, analytics, business intelligence and product life cycle development & sustenance to the Transportation, Industrial, Utilities and Enterprise markets enabled by Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications. The company focuses on application areas like after market services, predictive maintenance, asset utilization and remote monitoring & diagnostics. ConnectM’s offerings are geared to make significant, sustainable and measurable business impact on its customers.
Backed by Sasken and IDG Ventures, ConnectM has the credentials to lead in this space.

Client Contact:
Shivali Muthanna
Connect M
Mob: 9986071517
shivali.muthanna@connectm.com


Agency Contact:
Mangala Koti
K2 Communications Pvt. Ltd.
Tel: 23337344 Telefax: 23549354
Mob: 9886234782
mangala.koti@k2communications.in