M2.COM is yet another Internet of Things (IoT) sensor platform, born this time out of a collaboration between Advantech, ARM, Bosch Sensortec, Sensirion and Texas Instruments. This open platform aims for more efficient IoT development by standardizing different platforms and technologies. Although only unveiled a few months ago at Embedded World 2016 it claims to be the leading platform to empower the Internet of Things.

Yeah, right.

The good thing about standards… you know the song by now, has never been truer since the start of the IoT craze. This standard was initiated by Advantech (our mission is to enable an intelligent planet with Automation and Embedded Computing products and solutions that empower the development of smarter working and living) with support from a few large companies. We know that these companies will join any IoT “standard”, and any other consortium for that matter, as long as they can sell their products, so the real question is: Will Advantech alone be able to make M2.COM successful?

Well, hum, according to the website, for the moment the product listing of the leading platform consists of two boards: a small microcontroller board with Wi-Fi and a carrier board with a temperature and humidity sensor. Even Elektor – BTW, we too launched an IoT consortium a few years ago – has produced more useful IoT tools than this meagre leading platform.