IoT versus M2M

M2M or Machine to Machine communications have been around for a long time. So how is the IoT or the Internet of Things different?

The picture below shows that basic paradigm shift between the two concepts.

IoT versus M2M

The easiest way to think about this is that Machine to Machine communications is a subset of the Internet of Things. IoT can make use of M2M but M2M on its own is not sufficient to create IoT.

On the left you see that you can have specific devices connected to each other via some form of communications. So I can send a Fax or check my fitness level. Even get back data from the Pioneer and Voyage spacecraft as they explore the solar system and eventually head beyond it.

One the right, we add ubiquitous communications, cloud services and Big Data correlation and we have a much more power ecosystem that also creates a lot more value. And that is what is driving IoT Growth, the extra value it creates.

Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for nearly 30 years. This post is Copyright © 2015 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.