Kevin’s M2M News Weekly – August 11, 2010

Welcome to Kevin's M2M News Weekly. This is an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile devices that I read each week. I aggregate the information, include the original links and add a synopsis of each article. I also search for the latest market numbers such as market size, growth and trends in and around the M2M market.

You can read archived editions of Kevin's M2M News Weekly at http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/m2m.html.

Also available are Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly and Kevin’s Enterprise Mobility Blog.

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Berg Insight says worldwide installed base of smart electricity meters will reach 302.5 million units in 2015.

http://www.fieldtechnologiesonline.com/article.mvc/Berg-Insight-Says-Worldwide-Installed-Base-Of-0001?atc~c=771+s=773+r=001+l=a&goback=%2Egde_2114322_news_165748098

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AT&T recognizes the value of the M2M market. During the past three quarters, the company said it has added almost 3.4 million connected and M2M devices bringing its total to almost 6.7 million.

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/weinschenk/despite-lukewarm-reports-m2m-still-overflows-with-promise/?cs=42605

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It is predicted that more than 400 million embedded devices and M2M connections will emerge by 2014 due to the world’s mobile data traffic being transferred onto embedded computing systems at an increasing rate.

http://m2m.tmcnet.com/topics/m2mevolution/articles/94486-wherever-there-embedded-devices-embed-management-capabilities.htm

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In the past 18 months, the Cellular M2M communication market has registered a decrease in both shipment volumes and revenue. However, unit shipment volume started growing along with the growing importance of 3G, which is estimated to result in market worth of $3.8 billion in 2015, market researcher ABI Research said.

http://telecoms.cbronline.com/news/worldwide-m2m-module-market-to-reach-38bn-in-2015-abi-research_090810

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A participant in a Linkedin group I was reading today listed his requirements for an M2M solution. He was asking the group for recommendations as to how to select and implement an M2M solution. Other participants in the group added their advice and comments until there was a long list of recommending vendors, solutions, strategies, etc. I was impressed.

http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2010/08/mobility-m2m-and-linkedin.html

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The bulk of new additions to the mobile services of both AT&T and Verizon Wireless represent "connected devices," which includes non-phone consumer products such as tablets, e-readers and netbooks, as well as M2M units such as meter readers.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/203007/atandt_verizon_cashing_in_outside_of_phones.html

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Wireless Logic, an M2M connectivity provider, is releasing its latest vertical sector share analysis showing that, despite the economic downturn, vehicle tracking M2M deployments have recovered to pre-recession figures, remaining the biggest M2M sector with 60 percent of the market.

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/44715.php

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Through the use of M2M technology homeowners can monitor their homes remotely via the Web or even using a smartphone.

http://www.connectedworldmag.com/latestNews.aspx?id=NEWS100808203152303

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Silicon Valley Power, the municipal utility that provides electricity to 51,000 customers in the city of Santa Clara, recently announced that it has chosen Elster Solutions of Raleigh, North Carolina to provide its smartmeters. Once the smartmeters are fully installed by the end of 2012, residents will also have access to free Wi-Fi across the city through Tropos, a technology vendor based in Sunnyvale.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15607927?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com&nclick_check=1

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New research from the analyst firm Berg Insight says that the worldwide installed base of smart electricity meters will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 31.1 percent between 2009 and 2015 to reach 302.5 million at the end of the period.

http://www.berginsight.com/News.aspx?m_m=6&s_m=1

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M2M gadgets include wireless dog collars, a pill box that uses a wireless connection to remind people to take their medicine, e-readers, a device that tracks product pallets for shipping companies and entertainment systems for people riding in cars. When all these are connected to other devices or the Internet, they will connect using AT&T's network -- meaning more revenue for the company. AT&T expects about $1 billion in annual services revenue in about five years.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62N6ST20100325

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With the Enfora Services Gateway Platform, IBM Maximo users can now define the business rules and logic for how and when an asset should report via M2M, as well as logically associate rotating wireless devices. Additionally, IBM Maximo users are able to track mobile assets with easy access to location information, status and monitoring alerts for movement, Geofencing, reporting and battery levels.

http://www.enfora.com/index.cgi?CONTENT_ID=2971&User:LANGUAGE=en


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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin - http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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M2M - Growth Opportunities for MNOs in Developed Markets

The new M2M analyst report that I just finished has now been uploaded and is available on the Maximizing Wireless Profits website.  M2M, machine-to-machine communications, is a very intriguing market.  It is closely related to enterprise mobility in that mobile devices (embedded mobile devices, remote sensors and monitors) are collecting and sending data back to a central server. The audiences for this report are mobile network operators (MNOs), M2M and mobile enterprise software companies.

Handset driven customer growth has reached the saturation point in many regions of the world and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are looking for new applications, new markets and new technologies for their next phase of growth. Machine to machine (M2M) devices and applications are an area of wireless data usage with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 25% per year through 2014 and a projected need for up to 50 billion M2M devices by 2025. In addition, low churn rates, low acquisition and operational costs, expected long product lifecycles, and a market that needs many additional value added services makes this a compelling market opportunity for many MNOs.

Why is the M2M market interesting for enterprises?  Nearly all high value assets and equipment that are remote or mobile could benefit from having an embedded mobile device in sensors and monitors that provide information wirelessly back to the asset management and tracking system at the office.  Pressure gauges, measurements, volumes, temperatures, operating hours, mileage, etc., can all be collected and wirelessly sent to the central management system. 

When a piece of remote equipment begins having problems, an alert can be wirelessly sent to the asset management and work order management system so repairs can be scheduled.  Maintenance schedules can also be set based upon data collected by remote monitors.

Embedded mobile devices can also be implemented to both send and receive data.  Some M2M systems provide the capability for instructions to be sent to remote monitors that will change settings on equipment.  I have read about large trucks having their engines adjusted remotely to improve performance or fuel mileage.

I believe that mobile enterprise application platforms (MEAPs) may expand to support M2M data integration that will be used by enterprise asset management systems and service optimization solutions like SAP's mobility partner ClickSoftware at some point.  The data, whether coming from a smartphone or a remote sensor, looks the same to the platform.  It is just data coming in wirelessly to the system.

There are some very interesting M2M companies like Enfora that are offering a wide range of specialized M2M devices, services and systems.  Enfora is a provider of wireless networking solutions that enable enterprises to access, analyze and leverage information from their geographically dispersed assets.  It is interesting to read about how their solutions are being implemented and the ROIs their customers are experiencing.

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile & M2M Industry Analyst
CEO/Principal Consultant, Netcentric Strategies LLC
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
http://twitter.com/krbenedict
***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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