M2M: Definition and History by Mind CommerceM2M: Definition and HistoryM2M is a technology and service deriving from its close relative telemetry and SCADA (Supervisory, Control and Data Acquisition) systems. Telemetry can be simply defined as “the automatic transmission and measurement of data from remote sources by wire, radio or other means.” The M2M market is a market that differs greatly from the telemetry systems of yesterday. From a technology and business standpoint, telemetry is very fragmented and hardly as cost effective as M2M, which consists of many generic components that are common to a number of solutions. The telemetry systems of yesterday used private wireless networks, analog cellular, or satellite for their wireless delivery needs. They also used POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) and other wired transmission media in some cases. The wireless networks formerly used were either expensive or did not provide the pervasive coverage needed for wide area distribution. Additionally, the hardware equipment required was normally custom-made or sold in quantities too small to yield favorable, mass-market pricing. Finally, the back-end services required to interpret and display the machine status were largely built on platforms that did not use the Internet to communicate; rather, they used expensive leased lines such as T1, ISDN or dial-up modems over a Public Telephone Network (PTN). Telemetry solutions have, in general, slowly rolled-out, custom solutions that were cost-prohibitive for mass distribution. When the current market place is examined further, the opportunity that M2M now has is comparatively large. M2M in its present form has the intrinsic ability as a generic application to replicate itself in other markets and industrial segments, creating mass-market distribution and revenue appeal. With the introduction of a pervasive Internet, wireless modems suitable for GSM and CDMA, and what we can call virtually omnipresent cellular networks, M2M can now make a broad market entry with less resistance than the former telemetry solutions.
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