In short, if M2M applications such as healthcare are to explode, the assets need to have a way of communicating that is secure, simple and cheap.
"This is why the pronouncements of the likes of Google and Microsoft are missing the point," says Nick Hunn, CTO of Ezurio. "Their offering of a secure database, although an important part of the solution, is just one component part of it. To expand usage from the current low installed base, companies that want to become significant players need to understand that they must support a complete platform that extends from the asset's data all the way to the secure database, which then feed the enterprise or public application above it."
Moreover, adds Hunn, "That real platform needs to be designed to be simple enough to work with low-cost hardware, as many of the asset sensors will be based around inexpensive microcontrollers - a very different concept from that of the Linux or Windows powered world that some large corporations seem to believe is the only one that exists."
Hidden costs
However, there are a lot of unresolved real-world problems remaining in connecting the assets to the enterprise applications at low costs, whether via Wi-Fi-type connections or cellphone-type connections.
For example, the mantra that wireless M2M-network nodes will all be connected to the internet and will cost less than $2 each tells only part of the story. Yes, the semiconductor industry can provide a $2 radio - but that's a ZigBee-style 802.15.4 radio, not a radio that can use cellular networks. So while large subnets of ZigBee- or WiBree-based networks can tie large networks of asset nodes together, the system still needs to get the data from the subnet to the internet. That requires a router and a gateway on top of the Wi-Fi connection. Full-blown computers in their own right, routers and gateways will offset the low costs of any network node.
Cellular networks present their own cost issues. Mobile M2M networks such as trucking fleet management systems need the near universal coverage provided by cellular networks. The assets - in this case, the trucks - have GPS receivers tied to wireless modules that call home through a cellular network. While the cost of the wireless module is declining rapidly, the cost of using the network is still relatively high due to the telecom companies' pricing models that charge for connections or minutes when an M2M application often needs to send only a few bytes of data.
So trade-offs need to be considered for both today's technologies and the potential impact of emerging technologies such as Wimax on massive M2M deployments.
AMR: M2M's ticket to stardom
Automated meter reading (AMR) will be M2M's leading application according to Therese Cory, an analyst with Juniper Research specializing in IT and telecommunications.
"The utility industry is a prime example of how, by networking and remotely monitoring machines, data can be analyzed and collective behavior understood in new ways," Cory says.