Machine-to-machine communications take advantage of ubiquitous connectivity

As a leader in the field of machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, the Siemens display of GSM devices that enable such interactions attracted significant attention from the more than 50 000 visitors to the 3GSM World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain recently.

Dubbed 'wireless modules' to distinguish these devices from handsets, M2M devices are, in essence, the GSM innards of a cellular telephone that enables simple, rapid and inexpensive connectivity between devices using existing cellular networks that cover much of the world's surface.

According to Norbert Muhrer from Wireless Modules at Siemens AG, the company holds 38% of this market - and it's a market that is expected to experience stellar growth in coming years.

"If one looks at the population of the world, there is a theoretical total of 6.5 billion customers for the many network operators out there. When the M2M market weighs in, it has been estimated that there are as many as 50 billion devices that could benefit from connectivity. That makes this market potentially enormous," he says.

The range of innovative applications for M2M communication on display at Siemens' booth demonstrated that limitations of this technology are bound only by the imagination. These applications included meter readers that enable services such as electricity and water to be accurately billed; a device attached to a medicine bottle that allows medical staff to monitor the consumption of treatments; security devices that monitor homes or offices; and even devices that track and report on children's movement, allowing parents to keep a close eye on their loved ones.

Muhrer says Siemens enjoys some unique advantages over competitors in the M2M market space, with a market share more than double that of its nearest rival.

"Since much of the communication is between machines that we understand through our portfolio in the medical, automation, business services and heavy industrial markets, when combined with the extensive expertise of the Siemens Communications group, we are able to deliver not only the devices that enable M2M communication, but also a full range of complete, integrated solutions," says Muhrer. "Therein lies our major differentiator, and when allied with the dependability and financial strength of the Siemens brand, we can confidently expect to maintain and even grow this market share."

Interestingly, some development of M2M solutions takes place in South Africa. Siemens has a large contingent of electronics and software engineers located at its offices in the sub-continent.

Dr Jan Mrosik, Siemens Communications CEO Southern Africa, notes: "The M2M market is an exciting one for Siemens, our business partners and for the network operator. Partners can develop business models and solutions based on wireless modules, while network operators benefit from an additional revenue stream from predictable traffic on their networks."

Mrosik says the potential of low-cost wireless modules is such that devices as 'low tech' as coffee machines can realistically connect to the network.

"Similar to copiers and printers, the business model for vending commodities like coffee can now change through the introduction of inexpensive connectivity between devices. The product - in this case coffee - can be offered as an on-demand model, while the vending device remains the property of the vendor since coffee consumption can be monitored remotely and online. The potential for similar machine-to-machine applications is really unlimited, particularly given the low cost of the wireless module devices and the ready availability of GSM networks," he concludes.