This study is aimed at vendors operating in the M2M ecosystem, be they hardware focused, telecoms, or services-oriented. It gives the reader insights into key market trends and competitive structures. The study has further profiles of the leading vendors in each market segment. Finally, it gives the reader IDC's view of the current and future market size measured on the different solution components.

"The European M2M market continues to show significant growth as the key barriers are removed," said Brian Troelsen, research manager, European Services and Telecoms, at IDC.

"M2M continues to exhibit the characteristics of an early adopter's market. Many M2M implementations are technology-centric, built from the ground up to solve a single task. These early adopters usually work with software and hardware providers as well as with mobile operators to define and implement a unique M2M architecture, often requiring retrofitting the equipment to add sensors or data acquisition capabilities. Vendors should focus on creating simple and standardized solutions and target these at specific market niches. This is a very fragmented market still, with very different demand requirements from the end users."