Cellular M2M Terminal Shipments to Reach 5.7 Million in 2020, Study Says

According to a new research report from M2M/IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of shipped cellular M2M terminals were 2.7 million worldwide during 2015, and the firm predicts that that number will more than double to reach 5.7 million in 2020. Berg Insight defines cellular terminals as standalone devices intended for connecting M2M devices to a cellular network. These include primarily general-purpose cellular routers, gateways and modems that are enclosed in a chassis and have at least one input/output port. Trackers, telematics devices and other specialized devices are excluded from this report.

“North American and Asian vendors dominate the global cellular M2M terminal market”, said Jonas Wennermark, IoT/M2M Analyst, Berg Insight. Cradlepoint, Sierra Wireless and Digi International are the largest vendors in North America, whilst SIMCom is the main manufacturer on the Asian market. “Combined, these four vendors generated close to US$ 290 million in revenues from M2M terminal sales during 2015.”

This is equivalent to more than 50 percent of the global market. Other noteworthy vendors include CalAmp and MultiTech Systems in the US; Xiamen Four-Faith and InHand Networks in Asia; HMS Networks, Advantech B+B SmartWorx, NetModule, Matrix Electrónica, Eurotech, Gemalto, Dr. Neuhaus and Option in Europe and NetComm Wireless in Australia.

“A large number of small and medium sized vendors are active on the European market, whilst the North American market is dominated by a handful of major vendors, largely due to barriers in the form of carrier certifications required for cellular devices in the region,” said Wennermark.

This kind of growth prediction contradicts most, especially in the IoT, in that it is conservative and backed up by logical extrapolations from known data. If these numbers prove to be accurate, and rest of the industry sees similar growth, the IoT is looking at a very good 2020.

And that’s a clear vision.