A machine-to-machine communication platform which communicates with a wide range of external devices through external gateways, comprising: a vertical solution hosted and managed in the machine-to-machine communication platform, said vertical solution being adapted to interact with the external devices and to provide services including device monitoring, vehicle tracking, remote healthcare diagnostic, remote metering, IP surveillance and/or personal security; a vertical solution gateway in communication with the vertical solution; an orchestration layer in communication with the vertical solution gateway and adapted to orchestrate the functionalities of the platform; a third party gateway in communication with the orchestration layer, the third party gateway being operative to provide remote third party access for vertical solution management for the vertical solution; a communication manager in communication with the orchestration layer, the communication manager being adapted to implement a device independent communication facility for communicating with the external devices; and a network interface between the communication manager and the external devices, wherein the platform is adapted to create and maintain a device map for keeping track of all the external devices in communication with the platform, the device map being adapted to identify the external devices in communication with the platform, wherein for each identified external device, the device map is adapted to indicate the channels the external device uses to communicate with the platform, and whether the external device acts only as a sensor which is only able to transmit information to the platform, whether the external device only receives commands from the platform, or whether the external device receives commands and acts as a sensor. a vertical solution hosted and managed in the machine-to-machine communication platform, said vertical solution being adapted to interact with the external devices and to provide services including device monitoring, vehicle tracking, remote healthcare diagnostic, remote metering, IP surveillance and/or personal security; a vertical solution gateway in communication with the vertical solution; an orchestration layer in communication with the vertical solution gateway and adapted to orchestrate the functionalities of the platform; a third party gateway in communication with the orchestration layer, the third party gateway being operative to provide remote third party access for vertical solution management for the vertical solution; a communication manager in communication with the orchestration layer, the communication manager being adapted to implement a device independent communication facility for communicating with the external devices; and a network interface between the communication manager and the external devices, wherein the platform is adapted to create and maintain a device map for keeping track of all the external devices in communication with the platform, the device map being adapted to identify the external devices in communication with the platform, wherein for each identified external device, the device map is adapted to indicate the channels the external device uses to communicate with the platform, and whether the external device acts only as a sensor which is only able to transmit information to the platform, whether the external device only receives commands from the platform, or whether the external device receives commands and acts as a sensor.