The International M2M Council (IMC) announced the election of its first slate of officers. The new association aims to bring together all segments of the global machine-to-machine (M2M) industry, including automotive telematics, transportation, remote asset management, healthcare, supply chain logistics, smart utilities and location-based services.

IMC Chairman is Jürgen Hase, vice president, M2M Competence Center, Deutsche Telekom AG. Hase joined Deutsche Telekom in 2011 with responsibility for the company’s international M2M business. He has worked for more than 20 years in the telecommunications industry and in the M2M sector, including previous senior management positions at MC Technologies, Keymile and Datentechnik GmbH.

Other founding members of the IMC Board of Governors are:

  • Matthew Jennings, vice president, Digital Solutions Group, Digi International
  • Alex Brisbourne, president and COO, Kore Telematics
  • Chris Baker, senior vice president, ISV/OEM/Java Sales, Oracle Corporation
  • Patrick Shay, executive vice president, Sales and Marketing, ORBCOMM, Inc.
  • Alexander Buffalino, senior executive vice president, Sales and Marketing, Telit Wireless Solutions

“IMC has a pragmatic goal of increasing deployment volumes of M2M products, services and solutions worldwide,” said Hase. “We will do this by creating a forum where all segments of the industry can share information on the challenges, solutions and best practices in M2M implementation. We will also seek to build greater awareness across the many vertical markets for M2M technology, work to advance industry-wide business standards and provide a unified public voice for issues affecting the M2M industry.”

The group has ambitious plans for developing content and best practices that will ease M2M deployments, and has formed a Research/Content Committee, chaired by Kore’s Brisbourne, to begin work immediately. The Outreach Committee, chaired by Telit’s Buffalino, will leverage IMC resources to begin a formal process of recruiting adopters of M2M technology in key vertical markets like automotive, healthcare and energy.

IMC Executive Director Keith Kreisher said that the organization is adding new members and expects to sign up several major international telecommunications companies and M2M solution providers in the near future. One of the first initiatives of the group, according to Kreisher, will be the creation of a library of in-depth case studies of successful M2M deployments across the widest possible range of vertical markets.