The world of IoT is awash with standards-setting bodies. oneM2M, however claims to be THE global standards initiative for M2M and IoT. It has just released updated editions of its Release 1 global specifications, saying the move “promises to enable IoT interworking and create a foundation platform to interconnect IoT devices and applications.”
oneM2M was formed in 2012 and boasts some significant members. It was formed by eight of the world’s leading standards development organisations: ARIB (Japan), ATIS (North America), CCSA (China), ETSI (Europe), TIA (North America), TSDSI (India), TTA (Korea) and TTC (Japan). It membership also includes six industry fora or consortia: Broadband Forum, Continua Alliance, GlobalPlatform, HGI, Next Generation M2M Consortium, OMA, and over 200 member organisations.
Its specifications, Release 1 of which were issued in February 2015, “provide a framework to support applications and services such as the smart grid, connected car, home automation, public safety, and health.” They cover requirements, architecture, application programming interface (API) specifications, security solutions and mapping to common industry protocols such as CoAP, MQTT and HTTP.
The updated specifications incorporate improvements based on early implementation experience and feedback from oneM2M’s first Interop event held last year.
oneM2M says: “The updated standard enables service providers to combine different IoT devices, technologies and applications – a critical feature in their efforts to provide services across a range of industries.” It says that Release 1 has already been used in service provider deployments in South Korea, Asia and Europe for smart city and transport system deployments.
Dr Omar Elloumi, of Nokia, and oneM2M’s technical plenary chair, said: “The updated standard presents the industry with the first scalable and future-proof platform upon which it can invest and develop IoT applications, without fear of vendor lock-in or needing to commit to one connectivity technology.”
He added: “Tenders now explicitly require that oneM2M be incorporated in deployments; the first release and the impending Release 2 [expected mid 2016] will respond to a critical need as service providers and application developers tackle connectivity demand across industries and across platforms.
