The machine-to-machine(M2M) technology, the building block for the Internet-of-Things (IoT), is one that draws a lot of interest simply because it sounds really hi-tech, and at the same time, arouses curiosity as to what machines are increasingly capable of doing. The M2M technology, as it turns out, is basically machines communicating with each other and with the Internet, via both wired and wireless connectivity, creating an expansive machine-to-machine network that enables a wide range of 'things' scattered over any distance, to coordinate various processes between themselves and provide humans with real-time information and control from any remote location.
For most sectors, the advent of the M2M technology simply means that businesses can now add more value to their outputs and services - for example, farmers are now able to track their livestock in real-time and can therefore improve the efficiency of managing large farms, while marketing companies can now update their advertisement content over digital signboards with any content, at any time and at any frequency, remotely.
More interestingly though, and what most people often associate M2M technology with are the green-field areas that have come about simply because machines can now 'talk' to each other and to the Internet. The Smart Home for example, is a new sector that has emerged because appliances around the house can now connect to the Internet, and a central platform can be used to enable these appliances to 'communicate' which each other, for example via pre-programmed 'if this than that' type of commands that enable the lights in the house to be turned off or on just as the garage door opens/closes. The emergence of these newer and more exciting sub-sectors are spurred primarily by the timely arrival of smart devices that can host thousands of smart applications which connect all the information collected from these end appliances and which can bring these information to the users' fingertips via friendly and easy-to-manage interfaces.
Both brown-field and green-field areas are expected to rake in handsome revenues leveraging M2M technology, thanks to the uptake in smart mobile devices and the need for everyone to keep tab of everything that matters to them. Across industrial applications, M2M is fast becoming an indispensable technology as manufacturers seek to automate not just the manufacturing process, but the entire supply chain - from order to delivery. Similarly, across the services sector, M2M is seeing rapid adoption, with hospitals tracking their patients' health by monitoring information sent from connected health devices such as the sleep monitor, blood pressure monitor and the activity monitor and retail organizations monitoring their warehouses and managing their stock via M2M connectivity.
According to Juniper Research in its new research M2M & Embedded Devices: Strategic Analysis & Vertical Market Forecasts 2015-2019, of the many areas where M2M deployments are becoming increasingly widespread, the Connected Car is forecast to deliver the biggest numbers, revenue wise. The Connected Car, which is expected to make up 20% of vehicles globally by 2019, according to Juniper Research, will be one of the M2M segments where both consumer and enterprise applications are expected to grow phenomenally - driven by the need for drivers to access infotainment content while driving in addition to the need for auto-makers to keep tab of their vehicles' performance and maintenance; and the continuous growth in fleet management services where vehicle tracking becomes necessary for monitoring, maintenance and coordination.
Juniper Research said in its statement that the M2M sector will generate service revenues of over $40 billion globally by 2019, twice the size of today's market. The research and advisory company also said that while the Connected Car is expected to lead in terms of revenue, another popular vertical for M2M implementation, smart metering, will see the highest growth in terms of deployment as smart city initiatives around the globe continue to gain momentum.
Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are specifically to gain from the growth in the M2M segment as they provide the connectivity as well as the M2M platforms necessary to collect, process, store and analyze the huge volumes of big data generated by millions of the M2M end nodes. MNOs are also developing their capacity in the M2M segment by working with alternative technologies such as Sigfox and LoRA which are more suited for connecting low powered things such as temperature sensors and tracking devices; and are at the same time beefing up their capabilities by developing more targeted cloud-based platforms that are capable of meeting the M2M needs of specific industries. The Connected Car in particular has become a major M2M vertical most MNOs are investing in - shared plans today include the Connected Car - and in tandem with Juniper Research's forecast, will be competing more aggressively in this market with more content offers, more extensive partnerships with auto-makers and app providers and more investments in their own Connected Car platforms, such as AT&T's Drive platform.
