[SatNews] There is however, one common thread ever-present across the fabric of the entire industrial IoT ecosystem—wireless networks.

According to multiple analyst reports, the Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to see at least 10 times growth between now and the year 2020—forecasts based on both market size and the number of connections across the globe. The adoption of IoT technology is resulting in significant advancements across all kinds of industries, from consumer to industrial, and making the possibilities of a connected world almost limitless.

Despite the intriguing future of a connected world, IoT is still very fragmented. Recognizable on the industrial side, these diverse markets require vastly different solutions based on specific considerations for security, networking, technology and probably most noted, daily operations. For example, oil and gas producers have different requirements than manufacturers, which have different requirements than government entities, and so on. There is however, one common thread ever-present across the fabric of the entire industrial IoT ecosystem—wireless networks.

When there is discussion about IoT, most people think of data and devices, and how the two are inextricably linked together; thus the concept behind Machine to Machine (M2M). Without wireless communications as the conduit to deliver data between devices (or machines), M2M and therefore IoT wouldn’t exist. A “smart” device with no connection isn’t really “smart” at all. Wireless, therefore, is ubiquitous in the IoT and M2M ecosystem, and if fragmentation is the question, wireless—the glue that connects everything, everywhere together—is the ultimate answer.

“The underlying force behind M2M and our increasingly connected world is the communications technologies that bring it all together,” explained Sam Lucero, senior principal analyst at IHS. “Mobility, productivity and connecting geographically distributed resources provides a strong case for wireless as a strategic business tool for the future.”

Connecting the unconnected to automate process, access data and control things from afar. 2014 proved to be a banner year for the Boulder, Colorado based innovator with WavePoint® platform, a versatile high speed wireless networking platform that securely communicates industrial data over long distances to enable M2M, broadband and SCADA system applications. Last month, FreeWave introduced the WaveContact product family, expanding the company’s wireless I/O solutions for industrial M2M and IoT applications in remote and hazardous locations. Both of these products reinforced the central core belief that surrounds FreeWave’s direction for the future.

“Our goal is to enable a world where implementing the Internet of Things (IoT) is effortless through universal wireless access to data from any Machine to Machine (M2M) device from any location across the world,” explained Kim Niederman, CEO of FreeWave Technologies. “WavePoint and WaveContact are our first steps toward making this vision a reality.”

FreeWave accomplished several other achievements in 2014 including:

• Finished developing and installing a sophisticated wireless M2M network that serves more than 27 million residents connected to the Mexico City Smart Grid. 


• Won a significant bid to install more than 3,000 wireless M2M communication modules with a major oil and gas producer in the USA. Also several thousand wireless M2M communication modules were deployed in The Bakken, Eagleford and Permian Basins.


• Exceeding two million flight hours on unmanned aerial systems (UAS)


• Nearing one million wireless M2M communications modules deployed in the field


• Earned six industry awards and named a Top 100 Brand Influencer for M2M by Onalytica.