Shipments of machine-to-machine modules are projected to more than triple by the end of the decade, particularly those modules that connect to a network of nodes via short-range wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi or Zigbee, according to ABI Research. And that’s likely to be good news for the leading M2M module vendors, which include Siemens AG, Wavecom, Motorola Inc. and a slew of single-digit market share holders such as Simcom and Kyocera Wireless Corp. (See Chart 1.)
The term “M2M module” refers to the processor, circuit board and supporting circuitry that create a cellular data connection between the host device and the service provider. It’s more complete than a simple semiconductor, but not an “end device” in itself. SRW is a catch-all term that describes non-cellular technologies such as Wi-Fi, Zigbee, and a wide variety of proprietary wireless technologies that work over a short range, often in a mesh configuration.
M2M modules offer service providers and their customers the benefit of lower costs—reduced hardware, less labor—when tracking data generated by a network of multiple nodes. “Nodes” in this case could mean a network of neighborhood utility meters, a fleet of trucks and their trailers, a series of remote gas wells, a line of automated devices in a manufacturing setting—you name it.
“At this point there’s a lot of variability in how vendors are defining their end markets,” explained Sam Lucero, senior analyst with ABI Research. “People have different takes on this. It’s a very early stage market. In a few years we’ll probably all agree on how to segment the end market.”
“What I’m referring to here is the use of various, short-range wireless technologies in a wireless-sensored network configuration to complement a cellular M2M module deployment,” Lucero added. “Some M2M modules benefit from a short-range wireless connection, others don’t. Where we see a benefit occurring is when a service provider needs to deploy a cellular M2M module that can extend its connectivity out into the nearby area without having to put another M2M module onto surrounding nodes.”
For instance, in a neighborhood with utility meters, one meter is connected to the service provider’s network via a cellular M2M module that acts as a gateway back to the service provider. That module also connects locally to the other meters in the neighborhood via a short-range wireless technology such as Wi-Fi or Zigbee—a developing standard that relies on 2.4 GHz and 900 MHz frequency bands for low-power, short-range mesh networking. (Mesh networking relies on nodes that transfer data between themselves en route to the M2M module that acts as a gateway to the cellular network, improving efficiency, redundancy and, therefore, reliability.)
In Chart 2, the shipments of M2M modules that benefit from short-range wireless technologies will outpace M2M modules that do not benefit from SRW.
“We have about eight, main cellular M2M market segments,” Lucero said. “In half of them—telematics, automation and control, metering and security—we think there’s a benefit accruing from the use of short-range wireless technologies.”
In telematics, an M2M module might connect to a trucking trailer and nodes might reside on each palette of goods to monitor temperature, or document location. In automation and control, one central device might have the M2M module, while subsidiary equipment is monitored via nodes. In security systems for homes, nodes might be placed at doors and windows and the M2M module plays a role in the backhaul of data to the security provider.
Other market segments where ABI Research does not see an impact from SRW include information displays, vending, telemedicine and ATM/point-of-sale terminals. Those applications are more likely to operate on a one-to-one basis and not benefit from a connection to a network of nodes.
“The fundamental point I’m making here,” Lucero said, “is that short-range wireless technologies have a place in the cellular M2M market. It’s something that the market is increasingly looking at, but it’s not a subject that you hear much about outside the vendors and their clients.”
