Intel and Wipro today announced that they are joining the International M2M Council (IMC), a global trade association for the growing industry known as the Internet of Things (or machine-to-machine communications). IMC, which has quickly gained over 10,000 members, comprised almost entirely of OEMs, enterprise users, and applications developers, aims to boost understanding and sales in IoT.
"The IMC is an industry-leading professional organisation that is reaching out to adopters of IoT technology on a broad scale. The organisation is gaining an average of 275 new members per week – members that are developing, buying, and deploying IoT solutions. Clearly, there is a demand in the market to learn more," says Rose Schooler, Vice President of the IoT Strategy Office at Intel, who sits on the IMC Board of Governors. The IMC attracts new members by producing content that is geared to various vertical markets, including energy, logistics, healthcare, transportation, construction, and retail, among others.
Vijay Anand V.R., Practice Director, IoT Business, Wipro Digital, says, "The IMC's focus on business results suits our role as a provider of end-to-end IoT solutions very well." The IMC's online IoT Content Library features nearly 100 case studies that emphasize ROI and related business metrics. "This trade group also has a truly global footprint that fits our business model and aspirations," says Anand, who has also joined the IMC Board. Roughly 30% of IMC members come from Europe, 25% from North America, and 18% from Asia, while the rest of the members are from other regions.
The IMC recently unveiled its Quarterly IoT Buyers' Index, which polls the group's members to track buying patterns for IoT solutions according to vertical-market sectors and more. The IMC is on track to have 15,000 members by year's end 2015.
The IMC is a London-based, non-commercial enterprise with the mission to increase deployments of M2M technology by proving the business case for the Internet of Things. Companies on the IMC Board of Governors include: Aeris, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Digi International, Inmarsat, Intel, Iridium, KORE, Nighthawk Controls, Numerex, ORBCOMM, Synapse Wireless, Telecom Italia, Telit, Verizon, Wipro, and Wyless.