Saturday, March 12, 2005

I like this post from Benson Hougland who is vice president of marketing at Opto 22. We write about M2M at Automation World magazine, but we seldom call it that. We're more interested in showing how it works. Analyst firm Harbor Research calls it the "pervasive Internet." But whatever you call all that is happening in this space, there is no doubt that many companies are lining up to provide products and services. I think the benefit to users is real time information that enables faster better decisions and more precise record keeping. It'll be interesting to see if this technology changes the supplier landscape. The X Internet. Another spin on the term M2M has been part of the Forrester Research vernacular for many years. (Forrester Research is a leading IT analyst firm based in Cambridge, MA.) George Colony, president of Forrester, coined the term "X Internet" back in the year 2000 to describe what he believes is the next generation of the Internet.   In a nutshell, the X Internet is composed of two parts: the executable Internet and the extended Internet. The extended Internet is the part that relates very closely to M2M as it is defined by this blog and in the space today.   George was very recently quoted in BusinessWeek as saying the physical-to-digital connection is one of the biggest growth areas in IT today. I like how he describes the past and possible future putting some scope and context to where this technology is headed:   "The difference between 1994 and 2004 is that in that 10-year period, a piece of wire was created from every company to every customer -- the World Wide Web. From 2004 to 2014, a piece of wire will be created from every company to every product they've ever made. I'm exaggerating here a little bit, but that's where we're going."   He follows this statement with some numbers as well, but I've always put little faith in quantitative predictions. I also don't believe his use of the term 'wire' is literal.   He also has a few comments about the role of RFID in M2M/X Internet applications, claiming the practice is more of a sideshow, of which I wholeheartedly agree. As the buzz factor of M2M begins to diminish somewhat (a good thing), there are factions attempting to prop it back up on the buzz of RFID. The technologies are related (moving physical information to digital form), however, RFID is only a component of the bigger picture.   -BH [M2M Blog] 7:45:30 AM    comment []

Automation a bigger deal than offshoring?. Coining "offpeopling," consultant's blog says technology displacing workers is more dramatically affecting the economy. [CNET News.com] When my kids were in high school, I was a sales engineer and systems integrator (pretty low key) in the controls and automation space. If asked what I did, I'd often reply with a dark joke "I put people out of work with automation." Well, this consultant must have heard me and he's worried. I'd say, "Not to worry." Jobs just keep changing. Yes, in the 1700s most workers were farmers. By the mid-1990s that number was under 20%. Where did they go? They went to cities like Detroit or Gary, IN where there were new jobs in the auto factories and steel mills. Due to a combination of factors, one of which is automation, many of those jobs are gone. Well, people are still employed, so what's happening? First, the jobs in steel and autos were perhaps the first in history where unskilled laborers could achieve middle class lifestyles. The post-war demand for products kept the factories cranking. It was perhaps a result of the Henry Ford philosophy of building an affordable product and paying workers enough to buy it. With all the displacements, it still seems like there is a lot of cash in our economy. Look at all things we buy that we didn't even have 10 years ago. Not only does everyone have a phone, but they also have mobiles. Not only do they have mobile phones, but they pay extra for text messaging, ring tones and other options. That's just one small example. So, even with the lower wages unskilled workers make, they still seem to be making enough to spend a lot. The downside is probably that one catastrophic illness (given the shape and expense of insurance) will wipe them out. There are lots of unskilled jobs out there, they are just not in manufacturing making a middle class income. The idea is to train more people to take the skilled jobs. Automation creates another whole set of jobs, but they require training. It takes people to design, build, install and sell automation. It takes people to maintain automation equipment. Then there are all the jobs in financial services and other "knowledge workers" that absorb the job seekers. The consultant in the article above whined about jobs not being the same in the future. Well, duh, the only difference between now and in the past is that the change happens more quickly. Jobs have always changed due to technology. You can look back 5,000 years and see that. It's just that technology changes at a faster pace now. What's the key? Training. And not just when you're 17. Do it when you're 57, too. 7:15:48 AM    comment []