The International M2M Council, formed at the recent CTIA Wireless show in the US, styles itself as a new trade association that aims to help companies install and manage communications between machines. It includes connectivity providers, software developers, component makers and integrators.

The announcement says the group's founding board is comprised of senior executives from Deutsche Telekom, Digi International, Kore Telematics, Oracle, ORBCOMM, and Telit, and its aim, it says, is to "help those deploying machines in wide-ranging vertical markets by showing that a basic technology set already exists for M2M, and that connectivity is creating new revenue, cutting costs, and easing regulatory compliance."

"Unlike existing standards bodies that concentrate on developing technical specifications, the IMC will publish use-cases and business benchmarks for M2M that show ROI for deployments. And the IMC intends to be the first trade organisation to service the entire M2M ecosystem, which is global in nature and covers a wide range of vertical markets."

The body appears to be keen to highlight the fact that viable M2M solutions exist today but are in danger of being, not quite drowned out, but somehow shaded by the attention now being given to what might be described as the Web-scale connectivity movement which envisages billions of embedded devices.

"As the M2M industry enters a new phase of broad-based growth and increasing complexity, now's the time for leadership companies in the M2M community to create a forum where they can share lessons learned, best practices and ideas for future growth," said Patrick Shay, EVP of sales and marketing, of ORBCOMM and a charter IMC board member. "The International M2M Council will serve as a voice for our rapidly growing industry and a bridge M2M solutions providers, users and standard organizations around the globe. Most importantly it will help to propel the growth curve in M2M business and promote best practices internationally."

The IMC founding board includes:

- Patrick Shay, EVP of sales and marketing, ORBCOMM

- Juergen Hase, VP M2M Competence Center, Deutsche Telekom

- Matt Jennings, VP Digital Solutions Group, Digi International

- Alex Brisbourne, CEO, Kore Telematics

- Chris Baker, SVP ISV/OEM/Java, Oracle Corporation

- Alexander Bufalino, VP Global Marketing, Telit Wireless Solutions

For more information, please contact +44 20.7596.8777, or [email protected].