No, it’s not some Sci Fi movie, but machines were a focus of CTIA this year. In the South Hall of the Vegas Convention Center, CTIA had a sizeable area of about 30 companies involved in wireless Machine to Machine (M2M) technologies. In addition to this, other booths throughout the show had an M2M focus, and Verizon had an entire booth devoted to assisting people getting new hardware devices certified on the Verizon network (including a strong M2M focus).
For those of you who don’t know, M2M is all about a machine monitoring some set of variables, and reporting over a wireless network to another computer. Sometimes commands are sent back to the device over the cellular network so that it can take some type of action. Semi trucks have had this for a number of years. Small computers reside on many big rigs and monitor everything from speed, to when the next oil change is required. This information is then communicated over a wireless network to a computer at some headquarters location, where it is examined, and where a human will be notified if certain events or thresholds occur.
So what does this have to do with business, especially the small and medium businesses that make up the majority of our economy? Well, as devices become smaller and smaller, this type of technology will play an increasingly large role in our businesses and personal lives. Let’s assume for a moment you have a company that focuses on home healthcare. Imagine that some of your patients need more than just a daily monitoring of vitals. Maybe they ideally should be monitoried 3 or 4 times a day.
Dr. Eric Topol spoke in one of the CTIA keynotes and pointed out several M2M implementations that allow remote monitoring of vitals wirelessly through an intelligent bandage. No, it’s not Star Trek. It’s becoming reality today. The video shows an animation of how one of these types of devices works.
If produced inexpensively enough this same type of technology might monitor your air conditioner at home, and phone your HVAC repair service if problems are detected. The OnStar service provided on GM cars already provides this type of service on vehicles. Think about your own business, and imagine what you could do if you were able to monitor equipment, vehicles, people, or processes remotely. This whole world of mobility has so much to offer beyond ringtones and wallpaper for your cell phone.