Wireless networks have reached saturation levels in most
industrialized markets in terms of penetration by individuals. Developing
countries have seen widespread deployment of wireless technologies, and growth
rates are skyrocketing. In many parts of the world, wireless usage has
surpassed that of landline networks. Nevertheless, the real opportunity in the use of wireless
technologies is not in person-to-person interaction, but in machine-to-machine
(M2M) communication. Consider the following
statement by TIA:
Numbers so mind-blowingly big that it makes the M2M space impossible to ignore: There are ten times more machines than humans. Here's the math: 7 Billion people on mother earth x 10 = 70 Billion machines! Each would benefit from communicating with another machine.
A number of developments have converged to give fillip to
M2M. The most significant of these are the widespread penetration of wireless
networks and the availability of high speeds over these networks. Wireless
networks obviate the need to deploy wiring making it easier and cost effective
to implement M2M solutions.
Estimates of the growth of M2M vary. Information Consulting publisher partners, IDATE
and Mind Commerce, have published in-depth reports that offer their
perspectives on this market. According to TIA, there will be close to 300
million M2M connections by 2015. With M2M communications solutions, the ARPU is
relatively modest but that is compensated by exceedingly low churn rates.
Information Consulting believes that the market for cellular
M2M services is in its incipience and is, in most respects, still being
defined. There are two sets of players competing for a share of this burgeoning
industry, namely:
- Service providers who use their own network (network operators) or lease capacity on operator networks
- Applications providers who have developed solutions to address specific market segments
One of the first forays in the M2M space was with in-vehicle
communications systems such as GM’s OnStar. More recent impetus to this market
has come from the emergence of eReaders, such as Kindle. Point-of-sale systems
have also evolved that are helping drive the M2M market. The foregoing systems,
nevertheless, have required some form of human intervention.
Information Consulting sees the future of M2M communications
in the proliferation of intelligent gadgets that interact without any human
input. Evolving solutions include the remote monitoring of electric meters and
vending machines. As the number of network-enabled appliances grows, there will
be an inexorable push towards a world where interconnected devices will be the
norm.
