M2M hungering for 3G speeds

When Verizon Wireless launched its open developer initiative last year, the first vendors to sign up weren’t phone and consumer gadget makers looking to access Verizon’s ubiquitous 3G network. Instead dozens of telematics module and device makers banged down the doors, attempting to get their machine-to-machine applications certified for Verizon’s 3G network. The interest from M2M vendors was so intense, VZW Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam found himself forced at CTIA Wireless to defend the program, reiterating that Verizon’s network would still open to outside consumer devices.

“We wanted to be smart enough to go where the market was driving us,” McAdam said. “Right now the market has a lot of pent-up demand for machine-to-machine, but you will see phones and PDAs.”

The M2M world is starting to evolve from one where connected devices transmitted only the minutest amounts of data to one craving broadband capacities that only a 3G wireless network can deliver. Consequently, M2M service providers are starting to get pressure from their customers to deliver data services that can feed video surveillance systems, real-time telemetry systems and even car onboard entertainment systems. M2M providers like Kore Telematics are passing that pressure onto 3G network operators.

Last week, Kore announced its first M2M service delivery modules embedded with CDMA EV-DO and high-speed packet access (HSPA) 3G radios, which it plans to sell to customers with high-capacity M2M needs such as traffic and security surveillance, remote enterprise router back-up solutions, utility network monitoring backhaul and the burgeoning field of telematics content delivery. Unlike its previous solutions, which ran on GSM/GPRS or CDMA 1X links, the new service can deliver up to 1.7 Mb/s as well as supply very low latency rates for time-sensitive real-time applications.

Kore president and chief operating officer Alex Brisbourne said the majority of M2M applications still only need a narrowband connection. The millions of smart meters, alarm systems and fleet tracking devices in the field send only tiny amounts of data every month, and there’s no reason for these applications to embrace 3G. “A typical alarm system would take months to generate 100 kilobytes of data,” Brisbourne said.

The average telematics device transmits 300 KBs over the space of a month, Brisbourne said, but the industry is starting to see more examples of extreme cases at either end of the spectrum. On one end are devices that may activate maybe just once a month sending a minute amount of data. On the other end are broadband devices. “The market is polarizing,” Brisbourne said. “There is a substantial minority of devices in the market consuming tens of megabytes a month.”

While that demand for 3G telematics connections has been building, networks haven’t necessarily been ready to meet that demand. A host of factors, from the cost of 3G telematics modules to network coverage to resistance from the operators, has kept M2M off the 3G map only to resolve themselves recently.