Machine-to-machine communication (M2M) and the Internet of Things (IoT) are becoming integral to both daily life and work. From cars and cargo containers to parking spaces, wristwatches and even coffee cups, more and more objects around us are being connected. To help shape this transformation and make its benefits available to businesses and individuals alike, Deutsche Telekom has been actively involved in the M2M ecosystem for several years.
More than 600 companies from 56 countries participate in the M2M Partner Program, a global platform for offering and discovering M2M solutions. Deutsche Telekom launched the M2M Marketplace in 2012, the world’s first online shop focused specifically on M2M and the Internet of Things. Developers and startups can turn to the Developer Community for tools, resources and support needed to connect devices and build new solutions.
Deutsche Telekom anticipated several key trends in the M2M market for 2014 that remain relevant as indicators of the industry’s direction:
- Smart factories enable tailored manufacturing: Industrial applications have long been central to M2M. Initiatives such as Industry 4.0—a national high-tech strategy in Germany—have renewed focus on connected production technologies. The goal is the smart factory, where production is governed by new, highly flexible processes that adapt to individual customer needs and dynamically model business and engineering workflows. Smart factories can respond quickly to changing demands and use resources far more efficiently.
- M2M in the automotive sector: aftermarket opportunities grow: The automotive industry remains a major growth area. Use cases like predictive maintenance, in-car entertainment and remote diagnostics, along with more advanced fleet management, are expanding the market for connected vehicles. As automakers adopt these technologies in series production over several years, the automotive aftermarket represents a significant near-term opportunity. In 2014 and beyond, more M2M solutions aimed at dealerships and service providers have been introduced, offering manufacturer-independent, value-added services to customers.
- Big data analytics: merging data sources to create new services: The rise of big data analytics in M2M has already produced domain-specific evaluation tools. For example, analyzing large volumes of data from wind turbines can predict faults and optimize performance. The next phase of analytics will combine machine data with external sources—such as weather information, social media posts and collaboration platforms—to bridge domain gaps and enable entirely new services.
- Expanding into consumer markets: M2M moves beyond B2B: Historically, M2M has been driven primarily by business-to-business use cases. Over time, however, M2M and IoT solutions have increasingly targeted consumers. Wearable technology and personal trackers began to surge around 2014 and have continued to grow, including smart glasses, smartwatches and health and fitness devices that monitor respiration, body temperature and heart rate. Falling costs for tracking modules have also made small, affordable tracking solutions widely available.
- Smart cities accelerate public-sector M2M adoption: M2M enables many smart city applications, such as parking management and remotely controlled street lighting. Urban population growth and constrained public budgets are prompting cities to adopt connected ICT solutions that simplify complex administrative tasks, build sustainable infrastructure and improve services for residents. From 2014 onward, pilot projects and flagship deployments began to appear, offering early examples of the smart-city capabilities likely to expand in the coming decades.
- Global alliances will strengthen international M2M services: M2M is inherently global, and many small and medium-sized enterprises are expanding internationally. Partnerships and alliances are therefore essential to deliver seamless M2M services across borders, raise quality of service and support the development of communication standards. In late 2013, the Global M2M Association expanded into Asia and North America; in 2014 established cooperative efforts continued to be developed and consolidated.
These trends reflect how M2M and IoT technologies were evolving to influence manufacturing, transportation, consumer devices, urban infrastructure and international collaboration. For those interested in exploring the Internet of Things further, industry events such as IoT Tech Expo Europe showcase current developments and emerging applications.