Machine to machine (M2M) communications, one of the fastest areas of growth in the technology industry, will notch up $90-billion or more in turnover by 2017, says Derick Roberts, CEO of TruTeq Devices.

“M2M is associated with the Internet of Things, but is a relatively new market. It has been growing exponentially over the last five years,” says Roberts. “The concept of M2M is fairly simple. This methodology connects millions of devices together through a network that ranges from heart monitors, vending machines, appliances and building environmental systems.”

In fact trillions of devices will be connected within the next few years.

“If one summarises the concept of M2M, basically everything with software or sensors that can feed back information to other devices, in real time – or close to it- is all part of the M2M technology.”

M2M actually goes back several decades to the telecommunication industry where machines were networked with other appropriate machines as phone companies looked at expanding services to businesses and the general public.

Thanks to the development of the Internet and the vision of industry pundits who ultimately saw M2M expanding into many different industries beyond telecommunications, the world now lives in a fast-evolving world that has now been readied – and primed for – machine to machine technology to expand to more lofty levels than what was thought possible 20 years ago.

As M2M grows there is also a looming possibility that this technology sector will become a fairly big employer.

Today, the aspect of M2M includes industries that monitor devices, activities or changes in status – from a distance.

“Additionally, as it picks up momentum it looks more and more likely to become a job creation opportunity. A $90-billion market by 2017 is pretty big. There are going to be job hiring opportunities – quite a number. M2M is not going to slow down anytime soon,” says Roberts.