China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (Shenzhen, China), the world's second-biggest telecommunications equipment maker, said it was negotiating the conditions under which it would agree to take part in a U.S. congressional hearing into alleged security threats posed by Chinese telecommunications companies.

The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee announced earlier on Thursday that it would hold an open hearing on September 13 as part of its investigation into "the national security threats posed by Chinese telecommunications companies working in the United States."

Europe’s premier vendor organization for machine-to-machine communications (M2M) and the world’s largest M2M event organizer have announced that their joint marketing agreement will expand into full-blown partnership. The M2M Alliance has been working with the M2M Zone in joint promotional activities since 2010, but now their cooperation will include the exchange of content, membership services, and strategic consultation for the first time, in addition to joint exhibition and conference activities.

Chinese group ZTE (Shenzhen, China), the world's fourth-largest mobile phone maker, unveiled its first smartphone model using Intel (Santa Clara, USA) processors, marking an important break into a top-tier handset maker by the U.S.-based group.

ZTE said on Thursday its Grand X IN model, which will go on sale in Europe next month, will mark the start of a wider portfolio of Intel-based products.

"This is the first among a number of handsets in the next 12 to 18 months," Chris Edwards, European business development and marketing chief at ZTE, said in an interview.

Walmart Stores Inc (Bentonville, USA) is testing a "Scan & Go" system that would allow shoppers to scan items using their iPhones and then quickly pay at a self-checkout counter.

If the test by the world's largest retailer is successful, it has the potential to change the way people shop and pay, making the process more personal and potentially faster.

IT giant IBM (New York, USA) and telecoms operator Vodafone (Newbury, UK) have announced plans to combine their expertise in cloud computing and mobile communications as part of a ‘smarter home’ initiative.

The companies hope to spur the development of ‘smart home’ appliances that can be managed remotely.

Mobile operator Verizon Wireless (New York, USA) has struck a deal that could fuel the adoption of M2M services using 4G LTE technology.

Marking what it describes as a “strategic milestone” for the company, Altair Semiconductor (Hod Hasharon, Israel) has revealed that its 4G chipsets have just been certified to run on Verizon’s LTE network.

Certification of the FourGee-3100/6200 chipset will be crucial for original equipment manufacturers in minimizing the time it takes for investments to start generating revenues.

Professional services company Towers Watson (New York, USA) has announced a partnership with Verizon-owned Hughes Telematics (Atlanta, USA) to provide data services to US auto insurers for use with usage-based insurance (UBI) programs.

The deal will see the two companies combine their telematics capabilities to help insurers develop usage-based offers.

The DriveAbility technology from Towers Watson already helps insurers convert driving data into industry-applicable metrics, while Hughes provides data services and connectivity for telematics features.

China's ZTE Corp (Shenzhen, China) said it would take part in a projected U.S. congressional hearing next month linked to an investigation of alleged Chinese espionage threats to U.S. telecommunications infrastructure.

The House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has invited the chairman of ZTE, Hou Weigui, and deputy chairman of Huawei Technologies Co (Shenzhen, China), Ken Hu, to testify at a hearing that would explore their companies' relationships with the Chinese authorities, among other things.

Mobile payments company Square Inc's credit card readers will be sold at AT&T Inc's stores making them more accessible, as the two-year old start-up takes on established payment processors.

Square (San Francisco, USA), started by Twitter Inc (San Francisco, USA) co-founder Jack Dorsey, signed the No. 2. U.S. carrier on Tuesday, adding to growing list of retailers, including Radioshack Corp (Fort Worth, USA), Best Buy Inc (Richfield, USA) and Apple Inc (Cupertino, USA), that sell its card readers.

The M2M Alliance can look back on a very successful conference and exhibition at the M2M Summit 2011, and the 2012 event at the Dusseldorf Convention Center should be even more dynamic! Main themes for the M2M Summit 2012 include: facility management, vending, industrial control, mobile payments, security, and electric transportation.