It’s an exciting time to be part of the growing M2M (machine-to-machine) industry (Gemalto and our group company Cinterion both provide M2M solutions). With wireless picking up so much speed, so has wireless M2M. I recently read some research from Analysys Mason that predicted that the number of machine-to-machine devices will grow 36% in 2011, and is expected to reach 2.1 billion M2M connected devices in 2020, driven by the utilities, healthcare and securities industries. ABI Research further estimates that the market will be worth $3.8 billion in 2015.
In his keynote at Mobile World Congress Rob Conway, GSMA CEO, talked about developments in machine-to-machine (M2M) being central to the next wave of mobile growth and innovation (as reported on the blog). Elsewhere at CTIA in Orlando last month, we saw a lot of announcements from different players partnering on M2M and displaying a desire to grow this space. Gemalto’s M2M wing Cinterion was part of this mix, with two announcements – one regarding the launch of a low power consumption M2M module, and the other the launch of FleetWare with Ayantra. FleetWare is a remote monitoring solution for tracking assets that do not have a power source.
M2M is a great solution for monitoring and managing assets out in the field, and for today’s organizations, easier to implement because IT infrastructure and Internet connectivity are more readily available. It can really simplify and streamline the asset management process that historically has been costly and time consuming.
Also, historically, monitoring a software or hardware device in the field required the asset to have some source of power. No longer, with this announcement from Cinterion and Ayantra. It’s really interesting when you consider assets like shipping containers, fertilizer tanks, agricultural storage sheds, etc. Critical to business processes, but harder to monitor and manage. Peter Fowler, Cinterion’s regional president for the Americas said this about the solution:
“FleetWare, powered by Cinterion’s BG2 module, dramatically cuts costs by providing remote management of assets that once required bi-weekly field technician service visits that cost at least $75 per truck roll. We’re thrilled to work with Ayantra on this innovative remote monitoring solution that is helping to revolutionize business processes and improve efficiency for M2M customers.”
More and more we are seeing announcements like these where providers of differing solutions are coming together to provide M2M customers with more cost-effective and streamlined approaches to asset management, telemetry, supply chain management, in-vehicle applications and so much more. It will be interesting, to say the least, to see where M2M goes in the coming years.
