An interesting article today in RCR Wireless:
German computer expo CeBIT, believed to be the world's largest at more than twice the size of CES in Vegas, reports that participation in its machine-to-machine (M2M) section will double in size next year, for the second year in a row. Announced over the holiday week, the news is a major indicator of the commercial expectations invested in the M2M paradigm. Will that participation double again the next year, bringing eight-times as many M2M companies to CeBIT in 2013 as were there in 2010? That doesn't seem like such a long-shot.
This growth in M2M is a primary reason that I'm excited about the new USB MBIM 1.0 specification.
There's a simple reason. M2M product designers will want to buy modems (to access the cloud) based on what carrier is providing cloud access, and based on local availability of service. Many designers will prefer a standardized modem, and MBIM (by defining a standard control protocol, in place of the ubiquitous but non-standard "AT" command set) will allow them to switch modems with minimal retesting.
In addition to MBIM, another important technology is being adopted. HSIC USB is being widely adopted in embedded systems for connecting to things like connecting to the cloud-access module, and HSIC is both low power and fast. It uses essentially the same host software as normal USB 2.0, but the power consumed is much lower.
This ecosystem of standards, operating at different levels, will make it possible to create an industry of competing and cooperating vendors, and will make it possible for the market to grow very rapidly. Of course, the demand must be there too! But if RCR Wireless is correct, demand will not be a problem.
For more on this topic:
My previous article on MBIM mentions a little more about MCCI's early implementations of device code and our automated test tool MBIMDVT.