Last week I attended the WaveForum user conference put on by Digi, our partner for wireless connectivity. I have been following the wireless "M2M" (Machine-to-Machine) market for years, and it always seems to be a year away from really taking off. Back in 2002 we did a demo with Nokia - connecting a printer using a cellular modem. At that time the modem was really expensive, around $200 I think, and the connection was slow and expensive as well.

All of our customers to date have used a wired connection for remote service. The advantage over wireless is that it is essentially free, and the technology is simple and straightforward - TCP/IP over the Internet. To move to a wireless connection, you need to add to your ROI calculation the cost of the modem, the cost of connection, and the cost of complexity.

Thanks to Moore's Law, semiconductors continue to get cheaper and faster which makes the modem and cost of connection cheaper and faster. Digi brings together the hardware along with software works with the Python scripts to help solve the cost of complexity. Axeda Agent technology works with the Python in the Digi ConnectPort Gateways to make connection of assets easy like a wired connection.

Given the decreasing price points and simplicity, M2M wireless connectivity is enabling all sorts of new and interesting applications. At the user conference, I talked to people that were using or planning to use wireless to monitor vending machines, traffic lights, pottery kilns, remote ATM's, Oil production equipment and many others. Some of our current customers are also looking to M2M technology to connect to additional product lines, or to locations where a wired connection is not practical or possible.

So is M2M for remote service still a year away? I'd say it's ready now, and I expect by next year it will have really arrived - you heard it here first!