The Use of Machine-to-Machine Communication in the Swedish Building Sector

Sammanfattning: Keeping pace with the constantly changing surroundings is more important than ever as new game changing technologies appear faster than ever before. In the IT-sector a new technology known as Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Communication is emerging. The technology has been around for almost 15 years but still has not had the major breakthrough on the mainstream market that has been expected. The reasons for this are topics for speculations and debates since many people have different views and opinions on the matter. M2M Communication uses the Internet to connect machines with each other and gives them intelligence so they can communicate with each other and make their own decisions without human interference. Today the decisions the machines make concerns simple things such as temperature control, automatic CCTV monitoring, turning the lights on and off etc., but in the future M2M Communication technology advocates hope the it will be able to predict heart attacks even before they happen by implementing the M2M Communication technology into smart pacemakers sending an emergency signal to a nearby ambulance that a patient may soon suffer from a heart attack. The technology is also hoped to be used in cars where it will send an emergency signal to a Public-Safety Answering Point (PSAP) saying that a car accident has occurred, where it occurred and how many people that were in the car in order to reduce the number of road deaths. So as mentioned above the public can benefit from the technology once it is widely available. Today experts say that there is somewhere between 5 to 10 years before the technology in general has been adopted by 20 to 30 percent of the potential sectors, known as Connected Things (CT) and third or higher generation innovations are implemented. However, as this Master Thesis research shows, at least one sector has already reached 5 to 10 years into the future and adopted the M2M Communication technology. This sector is the building sector with their Connected Buildings (CB). It is a mature sector that is estimated to grow somewhere around 16 percent CAGR globally and around 13 percent CAGR in the Nordic region until somewhere around 2020. In this Master Thesis research the M2M Communication technology was analyzed specifically for the building sector with focus on Real Estate Management Companies (REMC) on the Swedish market. Interviews and surveys were conducted with the 50 largest (based on revenue) REMCs in order to illustrate their opinion on the M2M Communication technology and its usage and advantages in the building sector. Of the 50 REMCs asked to participate in the survey 16 replied giving a response rate of 32 percent.