The Internet of Things: Sizing up the business opportunities

Look for "The Internet of Things" (IoT) -- also known as machine-to-machine (M2M) -- to be one of the hottest topics in business technology in 2013. That's why ZDNet and TechRepublic are making IoT/M2M the global topic of the month for January, and that's why we dedicated an entire webcast to the topic as part of our IT Factor series. 

During this webcast, Larry Dignan and I go through the business pact of M2M and where it has the greatest potential to create value in the near future.

We cover:

• How to define IoT/M2M
• How it relates to big data
• Examples of where it's happening already
• The infrastructure and IT requirements
• Which industries will be most impacted by IoT
• The privacy/security implications
• How long it will take to have a larger societal impact

Our colleague Juan Martinez serves as the moderator for this 30-minute discussion.

You can view the webcast over on TechRepublic. It is free to all registered ZDNet and TechRepublic members (if you aren't already registered then it only takes a moment). Once you're registered, you'll be able to open the web console to watch the webcast.

Read more on M2M:

• The business benefits of machine to machine
• 71 percent say M2M is about developing new business opportunities
• Rural India can give M2M critical push
• Digitising the physical world: Forging a global M2M standard
• M2M and the Internet of Things: How secure is it?