MultiTech Solutions Explains Why the Time Is Now for M2M

M2M – which uses communications networks to allow equipment and devices anywhere in the world to provide data on their own status, relay other information and be remotely controlled – is finally gaining steam.

 

The global M2M market is expected to reach $50 billion next year and is forecast to grow to $250 billion by 2012, according to FocalPoint Group data quoted by Duane Wald, director of embedded sales at MultiTech Systems (News - Alert). Wald presented the opening session at today’s Machine to Machine Evolution Conference, which was collocated with ITEXPO West.

 

The M2M opportunity applies to everything from ATM machines to heart monitors. In fact, the telephone companies have been talking about the promise of M2M for more than a decade, but early on the telcos used the word telemetry to describe this concept. The application the telcos liked to reference in those days was vending – that is, allowing vending machine owners to remotely monitor their boxes so they would know when refills or other maintenance was required.

 

So, other than its name, what’s new with M2M today? And why, after years of being more of a concept than a reality, is this technology finally leaving the station?

 

According to MultiTech Systems, it’s because cellular MVNOs both in the United States and abroad are pushing M2M forward by packaging specific vertical applications and related communications services that enable this kind of capability.

 

Another development fueling M2M adoption is the availability of more connected devices. Twenty percent of all newly produced electronic and mechanical devices will be cellular enabled by 2010, said Wald, who points out that Qualcomm (News - Alert) CEO Paul Jacobs has noted that 50 billion machines could be addressed through “smart services.”

 

Such services could apply to a broad range of industries, including but not limited to energy, healthcare, transportation and finance, said Wald of MultiTech Systems.

 

Given the future of energy is expected to center on the smart grid, M2M comes in to play help users better manage and track their energy consumption.

 

Of course, healthcare is another hot topic these days and an area in which new investment is expected to be made in an effort to drive down costs over the long term. Home health monitoring devices employing M2M today can be used to monitor a patient’s vitals and send an alert to the doctor if needed. That can both allow patients to stay in their own homes and potentially result in health care savings for patient, doctor and/or insurance company. This could become an important application as the Obama administration moves to lower U.S. healthcare costs, which Wald says now amount to something like $2.3 trillion.