It seems that we have been talking about machine-to-machine (M2M) communications for quite a while, but I have been yet to see the rubber hit the road. Simply it requires two things:
- Interfaces and communication protocols to enable machine to machine communications and
- Communication networks that can support this type of communications.
While both have been in place for some time, it had not been considered cost effective. What has been interesting is that the communication providers, notably Telstra, has started to communicate to the investor markets that M2M is a big part of their future and that the average revenue per user (ARPU) would typically be < $2.
As the advancement of M2M moves forward, the backend plumbing is going to have to be looked at, this considerable step increase in data volumes will be similar to what the Utilities companies are experiencing today as they roll out the smart meters (4 reads a year to a read every 15 minutes).
The exciting feature of all of this new data is that it will provide new insights into how machines serve their masters, us. The scary feature of all of this new data is that “The Terminator” might become the end point as we enable machines to do more for us, or am I just a tragic science fiction reader?
What can you envision the future of M2M will look like?
