M2M has a tremendous growth, but the reality is that much of the demand can be served with existing 2G and 3G systems. As a matter of fact, it’s probably the right answer for about 90 percent of the systems that don’t involve video.

However, the motto “IP over Everything,” suggests that the Internet of things will eventually want end-to-end in entirety including the Evolved Packet Core EPC of 4G solutions.

So when should a company expect to need a 4G network? Or more importantly, should they expect to see the 2G / 3G networks retired? 

Here are some tell-tale signs of desire on the carrier’s part. Verizon Wireless has demonstrated Voice over LTE (News - Alert) (VoLTE), as has the IMTC at their SuperOp event. The desire to get to a single format on the network is real and some operators are going to look to have it in the next few years. Once they have VoLTE implemented, video calls and HD voice are going to be part of the standard capability. 

As individual companies, we probably will see big announcements next year, but I would discount them as probably single vendor and in need of interoperability.

The reality is that the chipsets are not here yet, so we are two years away for most of us. Even then, the roll out does not mean the end of the existing networks.

So the base of M2M will be predominantly on the 3G networks before the 4G networks are ready to take over the traffic.

At that point the question of legacy systems takes precedent and the M2M migration to 4G would need a compelling hook.

The beauty of the Internet is the resilience of packets to repeat, reroute and generally arrive intact. Unlike the nailed up connections of traditional networks, sessions on IP networks can be intermittent and no longer need aggregation and gateways.

IMHO this would mean the systems most likely to benefit from the migration to 4G would be the ones least likely to benefit from it- unless there were different business models available for this kind of traffic. And I don’t see that being a priority given the massive demand from the consumer data side.

The network you have is probably going to be with your for at least the next half decade from the traditional carriers. I could make a case that WiFi (News - Alert) could become the solution at some point down the line, which is something that Brough Turner has stated at our events.

The beauty of IP is that in the End the network does not matter.

Want to learn more about M2M technologies? Then be sure to check out the M2M Evolution conference, collocated with TMC’s (News - Alert) ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. The M2M Evolution Conference is for those industry professionals interested in capitalizing on a rapidly growing segment of the telecom industry. The M2M Evolution Conference embraces the any-to-any strategy of the Internet today. Co-sponsored by TMC Partner Crossfire Media, it showcases the solutions, and examines the data strategies and technological requirements that enterprises and carriers need to capitalize on a market segment that is estimated to grow to $300 Billion in the year ahead. To register, click here.