M2M, Internet of Things, and the Industrial Internet of Things - an interview with ICON

Does the Channel understand M2M/IoT? How much education is there still to be done? What is your view of the M2M market ?

Mark Shane, ICON Sales Director commented

“Right now M2M/IoT is not understood in the channel. Ask the average reseller if they deploy M2M/IoT solutions and they will probably say no. Ask them what M2M/IoT means and they will most likely quote the examples of a refrigerator ordering milk or home security monitored through a smartphone. These are the popular consumer examples of M2M/IoT. However, in the business field many of ICON’s channel partners have been deploying M2M/IoT solutions for some time, often without realising it, and earning a healthy return from their efforts.”

“For example at its basic level M2M/IoT is about monitoring a sensor or a device and sending a message to a system, a person or some other thing. This is what solutions from our vendor partners Multitone, BlueSky Wireless, and Fusion are built to do and are already doing in the field.”

“The problem is, the terminology M2M/IoT is not understood. The industry needs to do two things. Firstly, it must explain what is included under the umbrella of M2M/IoT. Secondly, it needs to dispel the myth that solutions are futuristic and high tech – consumer solutions probably are, but many business solutions are mundane, available today, and already being used in hospitality, healthcare and manufacturing. These are part of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) which many expect to be one of the biggest opportunities of the next few years and will ultimately dwarf the consumer IoT. ”

 

What type of solutions are currently available and being actively sold by resellers?

In business, M2M/IoT functionality is realised using solutions available from ICON’s vendor partners Multitone, BlueSky Wireless, and Fusion.

Solutions are used in task management: for example in the hospitality sector housekeeping scheduling is linked to Smartphones as room and mini bar status are monitored and building maintenance solutions are increasingly using M2M/IoT to enable a reactive response to problems as they occur.


Other applications include alarm management: this includes fridge and blood alarms as well as patient monitoring support. All these are achievable with the technology from ICON’s vendor partners and the number, variety of applications is expected to increase as users, and reseller partners become more familiar with what can be achieved.

 

How big is the M2M/ IoT opportunity? How will the M2M/ IoT market evolve over the next 12 -18 months and -what is the best strategy for a business wanting to enter this market?

The opportunity for M2M/IoT solutions is growing and will continue to grow.

There is an urgent need in hospitality to manage fire security. In addition, with the availability of enterprise smartphone devices such as Spectralink Pivot the range of business processes being controlled with M2M/IoT is increasing.


ICON’s solution resellers are already benefiting from the M2M/IoT technologies and some have built up a significant installed base in sectors such as hospitality. Opportunities can present themselves either because the client is looking for a fire solution, or out of an opportunity for a value added component of a traditional telecoms sale, or as a solution attached to an enterprise smartphone sale. In either case, the best way for a channel reseller to tap into this lucrative market is to align themselves with a solutions focused distributor such as ICON.