OYSTER BAY, N.Y.-The market for packet-based cellular machine-to-machine communications is growing, but the final shape of the market will depend on the commitments wireless carriers are willing to make to it, according to a study from ABI Research.
“A number of different pieces must make up this picture,” explained Erik Michielsen, principal analyst at ABI. “Makers of cellular modules, others who make the surrounding equipment; wireless carriers, integrators, application developers-all will participate. But the wireless carriers stand centrally positioned to determine the future shape of this market. They must decide what role to play.”
According to ABI, carriers can follow the example of wireless carrier Orange plc, which plans to create and own a gateway to provide bandwidth, as well as other management and security services for M2M users in the United Kingdom. Alternatively, carriers can sell bandwidth alone, opening the field to mobile virtual network operators and smaller developers to provide hardware, software, integration, certification and airtime.
The Orange model likely will open the market to large information technology and communications vendors as suppliers, said ABI, while the other option will open opportunities for smaller, local suppliers.
