Difference Between IoT and M2M
The Internet of Things is coming out as Industrial IoT and the Internet of medical things but there are still some bits and pieces of IoT technology that people barely know of. For example, only one in four people fully understand the term IoT. Another misconception is also there about the difference between IoT and M2M, both of them provide remote access and exchange of information automatically without the need for human intervention but how they are different?
The answer will be the different objectives that both of those technologies follow while getting implemented. IoT as its name suggests connects the internet to physical devices in order to work better overall performance. On the other hand, M2M or machine-to-machine connects 2 or more machines to the internet for ease of only data sharing and doing analytics getting performance or more usability is not the objective here.
What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?
In order to understand the difference between M2M vs IoT we need to understand what are those. In simpler terms is an amalgamation of many different technologies and sensors that work together as a single unit while staying connected to the internet. Together all these devices collect information and analyze them in order to get information about user habits and preferences and provide a more refined service and also improve the overall service operations. IoT is the technology today that the smartphone was in the early 2000s. The number of IoT is increasing every day and it is expected to reach 20 Billion by the end of 2022.
A good IoT has many endpoints and it can be upgraded to add more. IoT consists of an application, a bunch of sensors, and a connection to the internet. IoT is a technology that has limitless versatility in many industries and many places from streetlights, parking meters, and home appliances, and now even some clothes are coming today with IoT capabilities. The IoT devices with sensors gather information from the environment and send information to other devices with actuators to act accordingly.
Where IoT is used?
The main goal of IoT is to create convenience and a better user experience for its users. Its also used in manufacturing, healthcare, and many other sectors and brings revolution to each by bringing a completely new way of using them by capturing real-time data for them. That can be used to monitor, track, and control physical devices. Not only it can be used used to track devices and machines it is also useful for looking at the health of patients, groceries, pets, and livestock. All the information help take care of things easily and that too from remote. IoT and M2M differences will their functionality.
IoT is an interconnected amalgamation of different computing devices. These devices together give and take information from each other for their user’s convenience and for the performance of the devices. The IoT’s main aim is to develop societies by connecting all the technologies to create an interconnected world.
What is M2M?
If we see how IoT and M2M work you won’t find much difference between those two. Basically, M2M technology allows a connection between two or more machines and humans. It is an extension of the Internet of Things (IoT) that allows for easier and more direct access to the data and functionality of connected devices. M2M is used for devices that are used for things such as metering, automation, tracking and tracing, healthcare, and many others. M2M is used for the exchange of communication between utility objects such as smart electric meters in homes and businesses.
Where is M2M used?
The primary purpose of Machine to Machine communications is to enable machine-to-machine (M2M) interaction, which has been coming as a subset of the Internet of Things (IoT). M2M communications allow smart objects to communicate with each other without the intervention of humans. If we take the example of a smart electrical meter again here which measures electrical power consumption in real-time and communicates it wirelessly to other devices.
M2M is still new but rapidly growing technology. and it is expected to have a wide range of both immediate and long-term impacts on all areas of life. M2M will be especially useful in heavy industries where we need cheaper and faster technology that are more efficient. It is expected that the use of M2M communications will decrease cost, time, and energy consumption. It can also increase safety, reliability, and quality.
How both of them are different though?
The Internet of Things is real physical devices connected together. It can be devices that connect home appliances, industrial technologies, and many other things. They share data with each other. It connects technologies with networks. On the other hand, M2M also has a physical form but it only has a connection to the other machines instead of connecting to the internet connection directly. The IoT is used to connect machines to machines across different cellular networks. Below here is a list of some other differences between IoT and M2M.
| Classes | IoT | M2M |
| Long-form | Internet of Things | Point-to-point connection |
| How it connects | It connects sensors and actuators to the internet | It connects machines with other machines |
| Face of connection | It does not have limitations for connections | IoT here connects with Ai and gets able to decision making |
| Communication protocols | HTTP, Ftp, Telnet, etc are used | Communication technology techniques and traditional protocols are used. |
| Intelligence | Software coupled with hardware | Observation of some degree of intelligence |
| Mode of Technology | Needs the internet to work | Only hard to hardware |
| Delivery of Data | Depends on the protocol | Devices can be connected through mobile or other networks |
| Requirement | Needs internet to work | does not need an internet connection |
| Range | Connects with a number of devices together | Can connect one at a time |
| Data Sharing | Data is shared with applications that tend to improve the end-user experience | Data is shared with the communication parties themselves |
Do they have any similarities?
| Aim | It’s targeted at B2B and B2C market | It is also aimed to connected different devices to each other |
| Market | It’s targeted to B2B and B2C market | It targeted mainly the B2B market |
| Purpose | It was developed to do business and monitor things | it was developed to monitor crucial information |
Conclusion
The mode of connection is a big difference between these two. IoT is anything that gains more performance just by connecting to the internet. M2M is usually a connection of two or more devices with the Internet for data sharing and analytics.
IoT receives orders and does stuff while staying connected with other devices through the internet and does automated things like doing something over voice command, temperature control, and so on. On the other hand, connects two machines to use to solve data managing analytics and do more data processing types of things. M2M is a comparatively short-range low-power technology.
M2M today is vastly used in Smart Grid; Retail; Remote Patient Monitoring; Agriculture; Smart Cities; Industrial Automation; Supply Chain Management, etc. IoT can also be used in all of these places but IoT is also used in B2C places. For now, we hope you liked our article. Thank you for reading have a great day.