The market outlook for M2M in 2013 appears positive but there are also going to be a number of challenges that must be overcome which are outlined in the Strategy Analytics M2M Strategies report, “The Top 10 Trends that will define the M2M Market in 2013”, such as:

·         How to cost effectively manage and process big data from M2M communications and action that information in order to achieve business transformation?

·         How will security of M2M be managed going forwards? Are current safeguards sufficient?

·         What should the industry do about 2G GSM switch off? Is an alternative bearer the answer?

·         Will anyone wait for M2M standards or will vendors just go it alone?

With new devices and services reaching Machine-to-Person and Person-to-Machine areas, such as consumer electronics and mHealth, M2M represents a sizeable opportunity, potentially reaching 2.5 billion connections by 2020. M2M opportunities abound in connected consumer devices, smart metering, automation, mHealth devices, maintenance and vehicles.

“Developments in the M2M space have progressed significantly; connectivity has become table stakes, partnerships are rife and mergers and acquisitions continue to see large players take an increasing share of the value stack, which speeds deployment for customers and reduces complexity and cost.” said Andrew Brown, Director of Enterprise Research and author of the report. “There are clearly still major challenges, such as standardization, the 2G sunset and security in a decentralized IoT (Internet of Things) model, but the outlook is very promising”, he added.