Operators need to be technology agnostic in order to take advantage of the burgeoning M2M market by offering partners the right kinds of services.
Delegates at M2M World Congress in London heard how the industry was changing from the legacy M2M market to something more driven by the Internet of Things. Jimmy Wind, CEO of KPN’s M2M wing, said: “M2M is maybe not a valid label for what is happening any more. M2M just suggested connected machines, rather than connecting everything.”
Alessandro Adriani, CEO of Bridge Alliance, said M2M was more traditionally SIM driven while the Internet of Things was more driven by verticals.
Wind said a “one size fits all model” no longer works for the market but despite its changes, it still sits within the operator space. He said: “Operators should look at what connectivity is available and extend the spectrum of connectivity that we provide to change the types of provision, whether it’s long range, small bandwidth etc etc. They need to be low power or else the business case will not be taken up.”
When asked if he felt operators needed to be technology agnostic, Wind said he agreed with that adding they need to operate according to their customers’ needs. He said: “They should look at the best type of technology for the solution in order to make the most difference.”
Uwe Kubach, Vice President IOT Enablement Products and Innovation for SAP, said the changing face for the M2M market meant services were seen as dead several years ago because of a lack of technology had had new life breathed into them. He said that companies did not care about what they were using, so long as it worked. He said: [They are saying] I need a reliable communication with a reliable energy requirement. Give me the best technology at a competitive price.”
It has been widely anticipated that there will be 50 billion connected devices by 2020. Delegates at this morning’s session reiterated comments made yesterday that collaboration was key in order for operators and vendors to capitalise on the growing market.