Standards for M2M service platform will come first
ETSI has said that mobile operators are pushing for publication of M2M standards by early 2011.
The European standards body is holding its first ever workshop on M2M standards in October, and says that with more than 130 delegates already registered there’s clear evidence that M2M is an area of growing interest in the industry.ETSI says that the standards work of ETSI’s M2M Technical Committee is reaching an advanced stage, “and many network operators are encouraging a first release of M2M standards by early 2011”. The committee is currently finalising the architecture for the service platform that will enable the integration of multiple vertical M2M applications. In addition, the group is looking to the utilities and end users to seek to identify concretely which future trends may drive the development of M2M service offerings and networks.
ETSI’s workshop will present the current status of Machine to Machine standards work, both in ETSI and in other standards bodies, and will examine how M2M capabilities will be one stepping stone amongst several toward the “Internet of Things”. An important facet will be to identify additional needs from the impacted industrial and academic segments for the further standardisation of M2M communications.
Machine-to-Machine can be loosely defined as any communication without (or with only limited) human intervention: however, behind this very generic term there are a large number of potential application areas (healthcare, transportation, utilities, security. manufacturing…) and enabling technologies (IP, RFID, sensor networks, home networks, smart metering…). The expectation is a future where billions of devices of any kind are connected to each other and share data in real time: these may include sensors that are integrated in our cars, our homes, even our own bodies, as well as meters that manage how much energy we consume. Many of the topics currently being researched will also have relevance for the evolution of fixed and mobile telecommunication networks.
Among the diverse applications to be presented at the workshop will be the use of M2M in support of rural farming in India and its potential in fleet management systems.
The ETSI workshop on Machine to Machine Communications is an open event and attendance is free of charge. It will be held at the Agora in Sophia Antipolis, France, on 19 and 20 October. http://www.etsi.org/M2MWORKSHOP