The coming issue of Business Week features a short story on the Internet of Things, or Machine to Machine (M2) applications, which this blog calls Always On.

The story focuses on cheap cellular radios and industrial applications.

The story misses the opportunity and the market.

It's a good example of the Intel failure noted below because if no one is going to tell the story a reporter can't write it.

Cellular can enhance an Always On application, making it mobile and ubiquitous. If you have a heart monitor in your shirt you don't want to die just because you walked outside the reach of your Local Area Network.

But these are enhancements. And the industrial market is just the tip of the Always On iceberg.

The big money, as I've said, is based on the wireless broadband platform.

It's true that wireless broadband isn't seen as a platform now. It's seen as an end-point. It's seen as a way for you to link your PC to broadband resources. It is seen as an extension of an existing IP protocol. And a lot of people are waiting for IPv6 to tag every device with a unique number before getting excited over linking such devices.

This is very misguided. You can build true PC functionality into something that runs on rechargeable batteries for just a few hundred dollars. Instead of placing the processing of applications on a desktop PC that's turned off, or a laptop that might be taken away, this puts processing for these new applications on the network itself.

When a gateway (like the one in my house, right) runs a modular, scalable, robust operating system, it can run applications that use the wireless network, and order automatic responses to what the data tells the application.

• No one in the room? Turn off the lights.
  
• No one moving in the room? Turn down the heat.
  
• Soil in the yard too dry? Turn on the water. Wet enough? Override the timer.
  
• Is the baby sleeping on its stomach? Alert the parents so the kid doesn't die of SIDS.
  
• Is there sudden movement outside the door while the security system is on? Turn on the cameras, and be ready to alert the police.
  
• Is grandpa's heart rate getting a little erratic, is his blood pressure fluctuating, is he starting to sweat? Let him know, or let his doctor know.
  
• Is grandma, who has Alzheimer's, moving around in a strange way? Let her caregiver know.
  

There are also applications that can be queried from anywhere.

• Where did I leave my keys or my wallet? Show me.
• Do I have enough sour cream to make beef stroganoff tonight? Is it past its sell-by date?

These are just a few examples of what I call Always On applications. They require a wireless networking platform to work, consisting of wireless broadband in the home, a robust, scalable operating system on which applications can be written, and a low-power gateway PC that never goes off.

All this can be done in any factory. It can be done in any office building.

But things really get exciting when millions and millions of people start using it. That's where the mass market lies, in the home.

And it can all be done today, if we just have the vision to start doing it.