Is cellular M2M actually relevant to your industry?

Help us to connect the dots

By Dale Vile, Freeform Dynamics • Get more from this author

Posted in Workshop, 26th September 2007 09:53 GMT

Reader Poll Machine-to-Machine (M2M) wireless communications, which enables applications such as remote measurement, monitoring and management, is a fairly niche topic.

Yet, responses to a recent Reg reader panel survey indicated it's becoming more and more widespread.

Seven per cent of respondents rated M2M's importance as 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 5, and this percentage rose to more than 20 per cent when we looked ahead two years.

Clearly, many of you are seeing potential in this area.

While the previous survey garnered that this is a relevant, or potentially relevant, area to your industry, we'd be interested in a little more detail.

So, let us know your thoughts in our poll below and we’ll report back, as usual.

READER POLL

Do you work for
A company to which M2M is relevant (or potentially relevant)
A company that provides M2M related solutions and/or services
Neither of the above (please state)

Which industry are you in, or do you provide services/solutions to?
Energy and Utilities
Financial services
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Oil and Gas
Pharmaceuticals
Central/Local Government
Retail and wholesale
Services
Telecommunications
Travel and Transportation
Other (please state)

To what degree has the organisation you are working with implemented M2M technology, wireless or otherwise?
Extensively, across many parts of the business
Selectively, in one or two key areas
Just getting started on first implementation
Currently investigating
On the agenda, but no activity yet
Not considering that seriously

To what degree has the organisation you are working with implemented wireless M2M technology in particular?
Extensively, across many parts of the business
Selectively, in one or two key areas
Just getting started on first implementation
Currently investigating
On the agenda, but no activity yet
Not considering that seriously

Which of the following categories of generic M2M functionality are relevant to the organisation you are working with, and which does it make sense to enable via wireless communication?

Relevant to business	Wireless enablement
		Remote monitoring (e.g. for maintenance purposes)
		Remote metering (e.g. for billing purposes)
		Remote control (e.g. for management and support)
		Tracking of people (e.g. for personal security)
		Tracking of vehicles (e.g. fleet and logistics management)
		Tracking of other mobile/movable assets
		Other 1
		Other 2
		Other 3