London (21 March 2017): The IoT M2M Council – the largest trade group serving the technology sector, with 20,000 IoT buyers as members – announced that it is developing a library of RFPs for IoT solutions in order to assist its membership with procurement. The first product category to be covered by these RFPs will be IoT software platforms, with plans for finished documents to be rolled out in September, and subsequent RFPs covering connectivity services, hardware, and integration services to follow quickly.

The documents will provide enterprise users and OEMs purchasing IoT solutions with formal product categories, checklists of fundamental elements, user references, and lists of vendors that are validated as compliant with the RFP. A major reason to start the project with IoT software platforms is that there has been an explosion in the number of offerings in the category, and it’s an area where rank-and-file IMC members have indicated that they need assistance with procurement. The association plans a strong promotional effort for the use of these RFPs among IoT buyers, both inside and outside of its current member rolls.

Uniquely, the RFPs will be developed in an “open-source” process, where buyers and sellers of IoT solutions will be given input into the final specifications. “The IMC’s Connected Leadership Committee consists of senior IoT buyers, mostly from Fortune 500s, and interaction between them and IMC Board of Governors will be crucial in what we hope is a very robust development process,” said Joel Young, IMC Chairman and CTO of IoT solutions provider Digi International.

The IMC has retained a third-party consultant to validate participating software vendors as compliant with the RFPs in a process that will include hands-on evaluation of software, communication with users, and interaction with the vendors. “Participating software companies that are validated will be listed as such within the RFPs, and given an ‘IMC seal of approval’ that they can promote themselves. Vendors will want to sign on to this program quickly to have a chance to influence the program,” says Young.

About the IoT M2M Council

The IMC is the largest trade group dedicated to the global IoT/M2M sector – with over 28,000 IoT adopters as members. Board companies include 1NCE, 2J Antennas, A1 Digital, Aeris, Airgain, Blues, Digi International, eSAT Global, Eseye, Fibocom, floLIVE, Friendly Technologies, Giesecke+Devrient, Globalstar, Ground Control, Gurtam, Hologram, iBasis, Ignion, IoT Launch, Keyfactor, KORE, KYOCERA AVX, Losant, MultiTech, OQ Technology, Pelion, Printed Energy, Quectel, Somos, Tata Communications, Telit Cinterion, and Vodafone. Visit www.iotm2mcouncil.org