Machine-to-Machine or "M2M" is one of the fastest growing technology areas offering strong revenue opportunity for network operators and technology suppliers- thanks to the emergence of end-user devices with M2M features.
According to recent studies, the M2M market is estimated to grow $19 billion over the next five years.
The two new reports identify and analyze the factors and the market leaders that will drive M2M revenue growth.
The first report, "M2M on the Rise: The Technology Perspective," identifies and analyzes key issues that affect M2M deployment choices. The report covers advantages and disadvantages of using various network options such as CDMA2000, GPRS, LTE, private radio, WiFi, and WiMax, in terms of factors such as cost, bandwidth requirements, and coverage.
This report analyzes how each technology fits into certain verticals, including asset tracking, utilities, security, digital signage, and health care.
Tim Kridel, a research analyst and author of M2M on the Rise: The Technology Perspective, said, 'More and more wireless carriers have gotten serious about targeting M2M, creating business units and partnerships designed to reduce cost, risk, and time to market for their customers and customers' customers.'
According to the report, the M2M market growth is being fueled in part by the arrival of end-user devices with M2M features, such as the Amazon.com Kindle. M2M providers are keen to apply the latest 3G, LTE, and WiMax deployments due to fears about 2G and 2.5G phase-outs.
The report also finds that LTE and WiMax are at a competitive disadvantage in the M2M sector in terms of coverage and module costs.
Some M2M users are interested in SLAs amid concerns about overloaded cellular networks, a fear that is somewhat overblown, the report said.
The second report, "M2M on the Rise: The Services Perspective" focuses on the opportunities that network operators have to capture revenue and market share for M2M services.
This report provides insights into M2M service strategies from nine leading suppliers, including analysis of each supplier's offerings in terms of applications offered, standards supported, competitive differentiators, marketing strategies, and technology partners.
"Now that M2M applications have matured and are proving their value, service providers are jumping in with both feet,' said Denise Culver, a research analyst and author of "M2M on the Rise: The Services Perspective".
Culver added that M2M connections are expected to see impressive growth from the current 75 million devices to about 225 million devices in 2014, which could push the M2M market to $19 billion worldwide by 2014.
The service perspective report suggests that M2M applications are primarily designed to use low bandwidth, provide continuous data streaming, and deploy wireless sensors. One of the popular M2M solutions is tracking. The research also finds M2M will experience the most services growth in asset control, protection of hard and personnel-based assets, and supply chain management.
The report also suggests that service providers should create partnerships with outside vendors to quickly develop innovative M2M connectivity platforms and gain competitive advantage.
According to Research and Markets, another research agency, the pervasive Internet and the new world of Smart Systems open immense growth opportunities for M2M communications. As people, machines, devices, sensors, and businesses get connected, new modes of collaboration and intelligence will abound fostering a trend called Smart Business.
M2M systems are merely the starting point of this revolution, says Research and Markets,
announcing the availability of 'Machine-to-Machine (M2M) & Smart Systems Forecast Report - The Emergence of Smart Business 2010 - 2014' report in their offerings.
Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for IoTevolutionworld. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Alice Straight