Research and Markets has announced the addition of "Satellite Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Market Study" to its list of available reports. This Frost & Sullivan research repo rtprovides a detailed analysis of the market drivers and restraints, global revenue and subscriber forecasts, and current market share data.

I thought this piece of information was particulalry interesting:

"At the end of 2007, there were approximately 1.36 million active satellite M2M units in the market, contributing around $527 million in revenues. Going forward, Frost & Sullivan estimates an installed base of roughly 3.5 million active units in 2012. Most of the revenue growth is expected to come from monthly service fees ..."

Quatech recently announced the availability of its new Airborne Embedded 802.11b/g Radio Module.

According to the press release this is Quatech’s first product to include an SDIO/SPI host interface, and is the latest addition to the company’s line of radios for WiFi networking.

From the press release:

"The product’s small form factor, interfaces for both SDIO/SPI and Bluetooth, and rigorous security features make the Airborne Embedded 802.11b/g Radio Module ideal for integrating the latest WiFi technology into designs for power sensitive and hand-held devices used in industrial, medical, surveillance, telematics, and mobile enterprise applications."

Computerworld has a story today about Microsoft's plans to expand its Windows Embedded family of operating systems to fight increasing competition from Linux.

"Microsoft Corp. today announced plans to rejigger and expand its Windows Embedded family of operating systems in an attempt to enlist developers of handhelds and other devices to help the software vendor combat increasing competition from Linux.

For example, Microsoft is developing new versions of Windows Embedded CE and Windows XP Embedded, its two primary embedded operating system lines, that will be rebranded as Windows Embedded Compact and Windows Embedded Standard, respectively. An upgrade of the XP software is scheduled to launch on June 3, and a next-generation CE release will follow next year, said Ilya Bukshteyn, director of marketing for Windows Embedded."

Intel® today unveiled a set of tiny "Atom™" processors it says will give mobile devices desktop computing power. Intel claims the Atom™ chips coupled with graphics technology will be built into smart phones and other mobile Internet devices. No mention of M2M applications, but we'll surely see these chips in our futures!

From the press release:

"Atom™ processing combined with innovation from device manufacturers and software makers "will change the way consumers will come to know and access" the Web," Intel promised. "Today is a historic day for Intel and the high-tech industry," Intel senior vice president Anand Chandrasekher said in a written release. "These forthcoming MIDs, and some incredible longer-term plans our customers are sharing with us, will show how small devices can deliver a big Internet experience." Atom™ chips with speeds as fast as 1.86 GHz enable quick downloading of Internet pages and playing of rich video and audio files, according to Intel®. Intel®'s five new chips are described as energy misers, drawing less than three watts of electricity while they work. The processors should foster "a new class of next-generation" Internet-based portable video players and navigation devices, Intel predicts. Gadgets embedded with Atom™ chips will be on the market by August, according to Intel®."

More here

Motorola announced today the launch of the W24 M2M wireless module, which is designed to meet customer demand for cost-effective and secure Wi-Fi access for wireless broadband communications.

From the press release:

"The W24 module conforms to Motorola's vision of supporting all technologies with a common form factor, thereby enabling smooth and fast integration into M2M applications, including fleet management, security, automation and remote control, and vending machines.

The W24 provides M2M applications with high speed throughput and secure access to IP networks via wireless LANs or via cellular networks when connected to the G24 GSM family of modules. The module also supports seamless Wi-Fi - cellular data routing by linking a local subnet to the Internet via a single cellular connection, thus enabling linkage between local area network (WLAN) and wide area network (WAN)."