Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Meets "The Cloud": A Mandate Emerges.

Keywords: PaaS, Cloud computing benefits, Machine-to-Machine (M2M), asset tracking, SaaS.
Authors: Michael Campbell, President and CEO of SensorLogic™.
Abstract: The potential number of connected devices will reach billions within a small number of years. What’s driving this explosive growth is power of visibility (what is something, where is it, what condition is it in) and the ability to control assets, or change a business process based on this information. Cost and complexity have been inhibitors until now. Michael Campbell, President and CEO of SensorLogic will provide insight as to how delivering Machine-to-Machine (M2M) applications through a Cloud platform (PaaS) make business sense as well as address the unique aspects of tracking and monitoring applications that almost mandate a shift to the Cloud Computing model.

Speaker: Michael Campbell is President and CEO of SensorLogic™, a pioneer in cloud-based computing for asset tracking and monitoring. Prior to joining SensorLogic™, Campbell was Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at InnerWireless, and President and Chief Executive Officer of PanGo Networks, which was acquired by InnerWireless in 2007. PanGo was a pioneer in the enterprise asset visibility market. Prior to PanGo, he was President of Michael James & Company, a national marketing and management consulting business. The firm provided product planning, business development and marketing services for nearly 50 technology companies.

More: The number of cellular M2M connections is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.6 percent to reach 187 million by 2011. The potential number of connected devices will reach billions within a small number of years. What’s driving this explosive growth is power of visibility (what is something, where is it, what condition is it in) and the ability to control assets, or change a business process based on this information. Cost and complexity have been inhibitors until now. Delivering M2M applications through a Cloud platform make business sense and it addresses unique aspects of tracking and monitoring applications that almost mandate a shift to the Cloud Computing model.

Today there are already tens of thousands of M2M applications all have a common set of complex core requirements that drive cost and development time up and value of the investment down. Employing an M2M Platform as a Service (PaaS) allows every enterprise and solution provider to leverage a common framework that can cut the cost of building these applications by a huge margin. These capabilities automate many repetitive tasks for developers and administrators of M2M applications, saving time and money. In the area of complex device management, use of a PaaS platform can automate configuration management, firmware version recognition, device diagnostics, device data translation and normalization, and SIM provisioning and activation. PaaS libraries contain business rules and logic that can be applied to information including geo-fences, alerts, alarms and notifications.

The most prominent technical driver that begs for a Cloud-based architecture is the vast complexity of an M2M application. When built properly, an M2M application can monitor many thousands of assets using a variety of sensors or other tracking devices, over more than one network type and will require remote device provisioning and a mechanism for real time, over the air hardware updates. And this is merely at the network and hardware level. Business logic, rules, events, alerts and notifications need to occur, and evolve, in a business solution.

Delivering the applications as services through the Cloud virtually eliminates the ongoing Operations and IT support costs. Blending application flexibility, system extensibility, virtually unlimited capacity and the pay-as-you-go model and you have the recipe that eliminates almost all of the obstacles in the M2M application market.