November 10, 2013
Data is the gold of M2M! Today even “monkeys” can connect a couple of things, collect the data in the cloud and present it in an app. And now, in its teenage, the M2M aka Internet of Everything industry is splitting up in three distinct parts: collecting data (sensors and devices), managing data (analyzing, manipulating, combining data) and distributing data (apps, web, integration in business systems, decision-making systems). Each of these three parts have to be perfectly resolved to make a great M2M solution: efficient and sensitive sensors connected using relevant networks, secure and efficient data management where understanding the context is absolutely required, and great, sticky UX in apps and web interfaces are examples from recipes of culinary M2M dishes.
It is when the collected data cautiously has been transformed into information and delivered into business applications that the value of M2M appears. The cold chain for the lobsters from Canada just delivered to the store is uninterrupted. The car that just alarmed the response center of an accident has three passengers. The route suggested by the navigator has risk for ice on a bridge 2 km from here.
With data transformed to information and delivered in relevant applications being the key for M2M solutions it is obvious that the access networks are secondary. Each solution in the hands of customers should ensure proper information delivery using the best available network option given the situation. Requirements on bandwidth, QoS, cost, latency, SLA, power, size, investment horizon, etc should determine which access network to use for each device and sensor. I see only two ways to deliver on this: either the service providers provide a portfolio of access options to serve the clients or the M2M Service Enablers will have to get access from a mix of service providers. At M2M Summit Scandinavia last week I was glad to hear that both Vodafone and Deutche Telekom share this view and aim to provide a solid portfolio of connectivity options for M2M customers.
Talking about access networks for M2M: Connode was just awarded M2M Company of the Year in Sweden by Mobil Business. Once again a great winner, once again a member in Swedish M2M Association.
Like this:
Like Loading...
1 Comment | 
M2M, M2M Service Enablers, Networks, User Interaction | Tagged: apps, B3CC, B3IT, Connode, Deutche Telekom, Internet of Things, IoT, M2M, M2M Summit, Machine-to-Machine, Mobil Business, network agnostic, SMSE, User interaction, UX, vodafone | 
Permalink
Posted by magnusmelander
October 27, 2013
Walker Information
The M2M aka Internet of Everything market is developing quickly. It is interesting to see how analysts, vendors and journalists over the last few months collectively shifted from one big number to another – from number of connected devices to Big Data business potential for Internet of Everything. It is a sign of growing up that we leave the connection focus and huge abstract estimates on number of connected devices for a focus on data and information. Data is the gold of M2M and I’m pleased that the industry focus is shifting towards the information. The industry loves buzzwords and in the M2M case we ended up in the Big Data bucket. ABI just estimated that Big Data and Analytics in M2M will generate revenues of $14 Billion in 2018. We are in the beginning of M2M aka Internet of Everything and organizations are starting to gather useful information from sensors and things. We see more open API:s and people have started blending the collected M2M data with other data to enrich the value of the information. But few if any are even close to a situation which Big Data is addressing. Most data collected in M2M applications are a couple of bytes from time to time. When mobile networks are used its predominantly tiny data in 2G networks, a lot of narrow band wireless sensors are used and when POTS is used it is typically a couple of seconds transmission. And it is not likely to change! Most of the data we are collecting from things are meter reading data, positions, status information, health data, times and so on. Nothing of that comes close to Big Data. But with big volumes of sensors and transactions we will rather need sophisticated decision support systems.
So why are Big Data brought into the M2M aka Internet of Everything discussions? First and foremost people understand that focusing on number of connected devices isn’t interesting any longer and since the solutions and applications most often are industry, function or company specific it is really difficult to translate them into mind-blowing numbers. But by looking at it from a Big Data point of view new huge market numbers are the results. Secondly, as we become more data oriented the IT companies are getting involved in Internet of Everything. And since many of them are preaching the need for Big Data solutions it is easy to bring the “M2M stuff” into the Big Data story.
I see a risk that the Big Data twist on M2M will make organization miss the ball in their own M2M efforts. Volumes, velocity and variety is not among the key issues in M2M projects today. It is too much too soon. In my experience the best approach is to get going, connecting a couple of things together with a relevant specialist M2M Service Enabler who has most of what is needed already. That way we will learn rapidly from real-time data in our own business and the trials are rapid and affordable. Then its quite easy to see what data to collect from which sources and step by step develop the collecting, management and distribution of data for maximum value to the organization. It is only when the information appears in business systems, business processes, decision-making systems or user applications that the value is realized. We simply don’t need any Big Data methods or solutions for this. It is obvious though, that sooner or later, especially if streaming data is involved, organizations will have a lot of data to process. And M2M applications will of course increasingly add to these systems down the road.
Like this:
Like Loading...
1 Comment | M2M, M2M Service Enablers | Tagged: 2G, ABI, B3CC, B3IT, Big Data, Internet of Everything, Internet of Things, M2M, Machine-to-Machine, open api, POTS, PSTN | Permalink
Posted by magnusmelander
September 23, 2013
Vehicles with wrong tire pressure cause accidents and consume excess energy. Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) were developed to prevent these issues. The first passenger vehicle to adopt tire-pressure monitoring was the Porsche 959 in 1986 and today it is becoming a legal requirement in more and more countries. Car manufacturers have been introducing different TPNS systems more or less voluntarily but in the United States, as of 2008 and the European Union, as of 2012, all new passenger car models released must be equipped with a TPMS. Similar laws are on their way in Asia-Pacific.
TPMS are definitely complex from an engineering, communication and product point of view and the combined investment, including equipment in garages and motor vehicle inspection sites, the sensors in the tires and the receiving part of the in-car system is very big. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the US estimates that 660 fatalities and 33,000 injuries each year are attributable to crashes caused by underinflated tires (Bob Ulrich, Editor, at Modern Tire Dealer) so it seems like well working TPMS can help save lives, money and the planet. But every system like this is always a potential hacker target and Rutgers University and the University of South Carolina released a joint study some years ago indicating that they had succeeded to hack a car through the TPMS.
In any case, this is a typical M2M application – it’s been around for years, many of us have them, they are not SIM-based and they deliver on the three M2M promises: safety, sustainability and efficiency.
Like this:
Like Loading...
1 Comment | Inspiring example, ITS, M2M, Safety and Security, Transportation | Tagged: B3CC, B3IT, Internet of Things, IoT, M2M, Machine-to-Machine, NHTSA, Porsche 959, Rutgers University, security, SIM, sustainability, TPMS, Traffic, Transportation, University of South Carolina | Permalink
Posted by magnusmelander
September 13, 2013
I was chairing Short Range Wireless Forum in Amsterdam 2006 and
NFC was the hot topic of the day since Nokia announced the first NFC phone the day before. But the combination of its limitations and the fact that only some vendors decided to implement NCF seriously made it yet another promising technology that never took off. These days Apple is introducing iPhone 5C / 5S and iOS7. This launch is as always followed and debated by a lot of people but still very few seem to have captured
iBeacon. I believe that is yet a significant enabler by Apple which rapidly will become an important building block for Internet of Things applications and could make NFC redundant.Imagine entering into an indoor location like a University Campus. Your iPhone connects to iBeacon automatically over Bluetooth and depending on who you are it will provide you with directions where to go for the next class, it will take you to the canteen and take care of the payment leaving you with a receipt. One build wireless coverage in a location quite cheaply. Lets move to a department store, shopping mall or train station and the use cases are easy to see.A beacon, or mote, is like a lighthouse for radio transmission.
Estimote is s startup providing beacons supporting iBeacon. The beacons are a couple of centimeters big and include an ARM processor, accelerometer, flash memory and Bluetooth connectivity. A beacon could cover up to 50 m radius and have battery life time of around 24 months. Estimotes developer kits give you three beacons for 99$ which gives us an idea of price points.iBeacon leverage
Bluetooth 4.0 (also called Bluetooth Low Energy BLE or Bluetooth Smart) which was approved in July 2010 and is told to be a stable platform to develop solutions on. With over 19.000 companies as members in
Bluetooth SIG and over 2.5 Billion products shipped Bluetooth is a well supported technology across industries. I believe developers will love this technology and application enabler why pick-up will happen quickly and massively. When we look back at these announcements a couple of years from now I think we will conclude that Bluetooth 4 was the real breakthrough for Bluetooth, iBeacon enabled a new generation of apps and NFC didn’t make it.Exciting times!
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | Consumer market, M2M, M2M Service Enablers, Networks, User Interaction | Tagged: Apple, apps, B3CC, B3IT, beacon, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, Bluetooth SIG, bluetooth smart, Estimote, iBeacon, Internet of Things, IoT, lighthouse, M2M, NFC, Nokia | Permalink
Posted by magnusmelander
September 5, 2013
We have already gone from connectivity focus to focus on operational value: faster, cheaper, greener, safer and so on. Pain and results are easy to quantify and ROI calculations fairly straight forward. But the actual development of the solution requires a M2M Service Enabler to become affordable to develop and maintain. This is old news together with my mantra: “data is the gold of M2M“. But it is interesting to see that the service enablement space is heating up.
To start with, my Swedish M2M Service Enablement alliance just said welcome to member number 14 and all Swedish mobile operators but 3 are sponsors. The members in general report growing interest and business as customers are becoming educated and ready to move. Next week 12 Swedish M2M companies will join me going to Düsseldorf as bilateral partners to the M2M Summit where we have a common stand and speaker slots. That is more M2M service enablers then ever participating in an international M2M event arrangement I have done up until now.
Earlier this week Telit announced their acquisition of ILS Technologies for $8.5m cash and Telenor Connexion the purchase of technology and IPR from Iowa. Both ILS and Iowa are M2M Service Enablers! Increasing M&A activity in a segment is always a sign of market consolidation and a result of executives being convinced that they know where the industry is going and where they want to be. I expect many more M&A deals with M2M Service Enablers involved over the next year or two.
My key advise to M2M Service Enablers remain: focus, focus, focus. As the M2M business becomes glocal you will meet competition from a lot of places and players. But customers only see two or three players in any given industry or niche.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | M2M, M2M Service Enablers | Tagged: B3CC, B3IT, ILS Technologies, Internet of Things, IoT, Iowa, M2M, M2M Summit, Machine-to-Machine, SMSE, Telenor Connexion, telit | Permalink
Posted by magnusmelander
May 13, 2013
Digital documents are cheaper, faster and environmentally better to deal with than paper documents and they can be automatically dealt with in applications of all sorts. The Internet enabled swift distribution of digital documents and PC’s with scanners became a normal way to digitalize paper documents in offices and homes. Scanning companies introduced large scale scanning services and the smartphones enabled mobile scanning by use of the embedded camera and distribution over the mobile network or Wi-Fi. But one important need has not yet been fulfilled: secure mobile digitalization.
Many business documents are critical for completion of processes – a signed delivery note is needed for invoicing, a signed bank note for completion of a transaction, a signed agreement for completion of a deal and a signed prescription to acquire serious medicine in a drug store. Such documents need to be taken care of with relevant security.
Possio’s new Mobile Scan to Email Service addresses the need to digitalize a paper document on the go and send it securely to pre-defined receivers. These documents are typically sent via traditional mail, courier or fax today but in many cases collected and brought manually to the office. Regardless of method it often adds many days or even weeks to processes. In some cases the documents can’t be read or never even arrives. If and when the paper document arrives it often has to be scanned into a digital document for further processing. Imagine scanning the document when it is signed, sending it safely over the mobile network to a pre-defined receiver with acknowledgement that delivery went fine and in a minute have it delivered to the right person anywhere in the world. The receiver doesn’t have to digitalize the document before next action and due to rich metadata attached to each document they become traceable. One can even use the keyboard for authentication of the person sending the document.
Possio Mobile Scan to Email Service is an easy to use cloud based service with scanners attached via mobile networks. A customer is defined in the cloud based server and can add or remove scanners as desired. Each customer decide the functionality of their own private service, i.e. which email addresses should receive documents, if keypads should be used to send documents to different receivers and if authentication should be used. Customers buy the terminals and pay a fixed monthly fee for the service. Possio currently offers two terminals: Possio GRETA Mobile Scanner and Printer which is a mobile all-in-one A4-scanner terminal and Possio SVEA GSM Connector which deliver the Mobile Scan to Email Service using any standard G3 fax.
Secure Mobile Digitalization can speed up and increase quality of business processes across most industries. Typical applications are “internal mail substitution” and management of delivery documentation. It is generically true that the earlier in the business process a paper document can be digitalized and securely transferred the better.
I am personally involved in Possio and believe this is a good example of a generic M2M application meeting real operational needs of businesses around the world. The patent pending technology also enables mobile operators to transition from mobile fax problems to secure mobile digitalization opportunities. It will be interesting to see how the new service is received at M2M+ and M2M Forum in Milan today and tomorrow. I’m here with a delegation from Swedish M2M Service Enablers: Springworks, Maingate, Possio and B3IT.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | Cloud computing, Inspiring example, M2M | Tagged: authentication, B3CC, B3IT, bank, bd consult, business process, delivery note, digital document, fax, G3, GPRS, GRETA, GSM connector, healthcare, Internet of Things, invoicing, M2M, M2M Forum, Maingate, mobil scan, mobile digitalization, paper document, Possio, prescription, S2E, scan, scan to email, secure, Springworks, SVEA, Transportation | Permalink
Posted by magnusmelander
April 13, 2013
Initially technical innovators focus all they have on making it do whatever they want their innovation to do. Shortly after the breaking news about their brand new product, solution or service we use to receive the follow-on news about problems with things like security, health impact, integrity or fair trade. The scope of the problems obviously relates to what the new thing actually is.
Lets face it, it has always been like this. Telephone systems, microwave ovens, TV set-top boxes, ATM:s, door locks, PCs and Wi-Fi networks are all examples of things that quite easily were possible to manipulate, at least initially. But when we connected people and businesses to the Internet the magnitude of the problem increased many times. Having almost everything using the same communication protocols and even the same network gained us a lot of efficiency but also raised the security bets drastically. Most attacks are not reported publicly but the ones we hear about are serious enough. Fire Eye claims one security attack to enterprises every third second, based on analysis of information on more than 89 million security related attacks reported. Some specific examples since last summer, picked up from Network World: 450.000 stolen passwords from Yahoo, 5,8 million passwords from LinkedIn, 1,5 million from eHarmony, 8 million online credentials from Gamigo and about 3.6 million Social Security numbers and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers from South Carolina. And we all remember the series of password thefts at Sony some two years ago. We’re already at the point where this belongs to the daily news feed and is business as usual.
Now we are connecting also things to the Internet and we will inevitably enter a new era of security and integrity issues, yet on another scale. Imagine hackers manipulating traffic lights, road signs, railroad control systems, power grids, nuclear plants, TV broadcasts, elections, pacemakers, airplanes, stock exchanges or hospitals. Media is quite frequently presenting examples along those lines and even if it is hard to differ between urban legends and real life cases it is safe to say that security will be a very important part of the M2M industry.
Recent examples from media include the Techspot.com story about a security consultant and pilot who claims he can hijack a commercial airplane remotely with his Android app, a story about a hacked pacemaker in the US where almost five million pacemakers and implantable defibrillators have been sold the last five years and several stories about hacked cars including the most recent research from Rutger University and University of South Carolina where they manipulated cars in motion via the TPMS system. At the Hack in the Box conference in Amsterdam the other day electrical vehicle charging stations were identified as potential targets for hackers to cripple parts of the electricity grid.
If the issues of security, safety and integrity aren’t taken seriously by the industry they will slow down or even prevent deployment of M2M solutions. Since perception is reality we need to go beyond just fixing the issue – we also have to make people believe it is taken care of seriously.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | M2M, Safety and Security | Tagged: ATM, B3CC, B3IT, eHarmony, fair trade, Fire Eye, Gamigo, Health, Internet of Things, LinkedIn, M2M, Network World, pacemaker, PC, security, Sony, South Carolina, techspot, Wi-Fi, Yahoo | Permalink
Posted by magnusmelander
April 8, 2013
2013 is the year when M2M aka Internet of Things entered the productivity phase which I have been writing about before. Focus moves from the actual connection to what value comes out. The value we look at in this phase is typically operational thus quantifiable and ROI-calculation friendly. In the next phase, probably as little as 1-2 years away, we will start harvest also the strategic value and that is when industries and society will change drastically.
Already a couple of month into “the year of M2M productivity” I can share a great Swedish example: STF Ingenjörsutbildning is a postgraduate education institute targeting engineers and technicians. They run some 2000 training activities per annum with 15000 attendees, mainly in Sweden but also abroad. STF just announced a one day training on “M2M – from products to services” aiming at providing practical guidance to the attendees. Where to start? Who to turn to? Legal implications? Purchasing considerations? Pitfalls? Hopefully the attendees will have information and confidence enough to start their first in-house project when they come home.
I have been quite involved in this training and believe this is a very important step forward for the industry. We simply need to make people understand the value of M2M for them and give them knowledge enough to start playing around with ideas, prototypes and trials. It is simply not possible to figure out before hand what will happen and which new opportunities we will have when we connect our products. This to me is a great way to drive technology driven innovation.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | Business Models, M2M | Tagged: B3CC, B3IT, Business model, Internet of Things, M2M, prototype, SMSE, STF, STF Ingenjörsutbildning, training, trial | Permalink
Posted by magnusmelander
April 5, 2013
The M2M industry is rapidly leaving the first connectivity focused baby phase – thank god! – and enters the productivity phase. This is where we look at operational issues, capabilities and value. Vendors and operators are preparing themselves to be able to serve the market better and more efficiently. And new partnerships, alliances, initiatives and M&A activities pop up on a daily basis. This is all very good and makes life easier for developers, integrators and customers. But it is more about preparing for the business to take off than making it taking off. It mainly improves the capabilities to deliver in an efficient way.
Today’s initiatives are signs of a developing industry. Building blocks are put together into candidate platforms and architectures. As always most of them will fail over time but still it is an important part of growing up. Let’s look at a couple of recent M2M “teenager activities”:
- Telefónica and Telit cooperate in M2M Air, providing managed M2M services globally
- Etisalat group just joined KPN, NTT DOCOMO, Rogers Communications, SingTel, Telefonica, Telstra and VimpelCom in the M2M Multi-Operator Alliance
- Ericsson and SAP announced a partnership at MWC and talk about the M2M Eco-system
- Satellite operator Orbcomm acquired MobileNet who provides custom mobile data solutions for the heavy equipment and railroad industries
- Wipro and Axeda announced a strategic alliance to provide services and end-to-end solutions to help organizations connect with any asset, leverage machine data to enhance business processes and develop new innovative enterprise applications.
- TeliaSonera, France Telecom-Orange and Deutsche Telekom collaborate to increase the quality of service and interoperability for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications
- Claro Brazil joins a growing list of Jasper Wireless operator partners including AT&T, América Móvil, NTT DOCOMO, Telefónica, VimpelCom, KPN, SingTel, Etisalat, Telstra, Rogers, CSL and more
- Several operators including TeliaSonera, Swisscom, XL and have signed up with Ericsson to use DCP for improved M2M service delivery
- AT&T has several M2M initiatives including AT&T Control Center together with partners like Jasper Wireless, Axeda, Sierra Wireless and SensorLogic.
- Airbiquity and China Unicom are teaming up to provide telematics services for the Chinese automotive market
- Vodafone Vehicle Connect and Towers Watson’s ‘DriveAbility’ programme will accelerate the pace at which insurers can get new services to market, and at a competitive cost
Looking at mobile operator subscriptions for M2M, the market continues to grow roughly 25-30% per annum. The number of cellular M2M subscriptions nearly doubled between 2010 and 2012 to reach 143.7 million according to Pyramid Research. They also claim China is growing over 40% per annum and will become the largest cellular M2M market this year. We should remember that a lot of M2M applications share cellular subscriptions or use other technologies to connect.
So operator’s M2M business is growing quite rapidly but from small numbers. In a fairly well-developed M2M market like Sweden, M2M subscriptions are roughly 20% of all mobile subscriptions today. But still most of the market potential is untouched. Policy-driven markets like smart meters, big global markets like connected cars and consumer oriented stand-alone solutions are all fairly well addressed. But small business is big business also when it comes to M2M, and these companies are only addressed by independent Service Enablers, developers, integrators and turn-key solution providers. The alliances, partnerships and M&A activities aren’t reaching that far. A company connecting 100 of their “things” per year in maybe 25 countries across the globe is simply of no interest to any of the large players. The same goes for ,a company who want to develop a specific application to connect 25 of their “things” in a country, unless they are filthy rich.
Success in SME will come from successful platform support for specialist service enablers, developers, integrators and turn-key solution providers. That has little to do with technical issues and a lot to do with trust and business models. This has to be resolved before M2M will grow up.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | Business Models, M2M, M2M Service Enablers | Tagged: America Movil, AT&T, Axeda, B3CC, B3IT, Business model, Claro Brazil, CSL, Deutche Telekom, Eco-system, Ericsson, Etisalat, France Telecom, Internet of Things, Jasper, KPN, M2M, M2M Air, M2M Multi-Operator Alliance, MobileNet, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, Orbcomm, Rogers, SAP, SensorLogic, Sierra wireless, SingTel, SMSE, Swisscom, Telefonica, TeliaSonera, telit, Telstra, VimpelCom, Wipro, XL | Permalink
Posted by magnusmelander
March 15, 2013
M2M is not a solution. It is a way to segment the market: are we connecting a business, person or a thing to the Internet? The actual connection is of less importance to users – it is what it enables that makes sense. And the data created makes even more sense. We have seen the movie before – when people and business were connected to the Internet we started focusing on the connection. Then we discovered enormous benefits when processes became much more efficient. And finally innovative solutions and business models started change industries upside down. We entered the “as-a-service” era.
Over the last 18 months we have seen a clear change from the 50 billion devices approach to M2M towards a more user oriented approach where a range of M2M solutions are part of the ICT toolbox. If we compare to when Internet arrived we are leaving the connectivity period and enter the enabling user value era. We solve customer problems, we save money, we increase efficiency, we bring cost down or save energy. We create operational value. Previously everyone talked about smart meters and connected vehicles due to the large numbers involved. Now the addressed markets discussed are increasingly granular. The further we go down this road the more critical specialist service enablers become.
Last year the Connected Home pavilion at MWC in Barcelona was an important frequently visited showcase for M2M solutions and M2M was mentioned in most key notes. This year, the Connected City pavilion at MWC was a quite boring and less crowded but in every corner of the show and at every party people discussed what could be done with M2M solutions.
Mobile operators all try to figure out which role to play. Subscriptions alone seem less interesting. Adding device connectivity on top of the network helps deliver a better service. Going after large applications like smart meters, ebooks and connected cars is a no brainer. But how to win and deliver the second and third-tier of opportunities is the thousand dollar question of today. Small business is big business. I am convinced that those who can find a way to collaborate with the specialist service enablers will win. And such collaboration is not a matter of technical integration – it’s all about trust, business models and how to go to market. Our Swedish M2M Service Enablers alliance is always interested in efforts to answer the thousand dollar question of today.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Leave a Comment » | Business Models, M2M, M2M Service Enablers | Tagged: as-a-service, B3CC, B3IT, Business model, connected city, connected home, go-to-market, Internet of Things, M2M, Mobile World Congress, mwc, SMSE | Permalink
Posted by magnusmelander
Data is the gold of M2M! Today even “monkeys” can connect a couple of things, collect the data in the cloud and present it in an app. And now, in its teenage, the M2M aka Internet of Everything industry is splitting up in three distinct parts: collecting data (sensors and devices), managing data (analyzing, manipulating, combining data) and distributing data (apps, web, integration in business systems, decision-making systems). Each of these three parts have to be perfectly resolved to make a great M2M solution: efficient and sensitive sensors connected using relevant networks, secure and efficient data management where understanding the context is absolutely required, and great, sticky UX in apps and web interfaces are examples from recipes of culinary M2M dishes.
connectcompute 