The International M2M Council reports that it has added hundreds of new members to its rolls in a single month, due in part to what the association calls “a need for industry leadership in the sector.”

Perhaps it’s a sign that the “Internet of Things” (IoT) is starting to gain some bandwidth.

Last week, the International M2M Council (IMC), a trade group that focuses on machine-to-machine communications, announced that it had seen a surge in its membership—scoring more than 500 new members in a single month.

It’s a big boost for the group, which launched last May with the aim of creating industry standards. Now boasting members from large corporations, such as FedEx, and federal agencies, such as the Department of Defense, the association says it’s gaining momentum that will help it reach its goal.

“It’s clear that there has been a leadership vacuum on a global level,” IMC Executive Director Keith Kreisher said in a statement. “Companies looking to deploy IoT business models are hungry for information—how much will it cost and what are the risks? Our group’s mission isn’t easy, but it is simple—to prove the business case for the Internet of Things.”

IMC only started expanding its recruitment efforts beyond its base within the last month. To help with that, it launched a content hub that offers case studies on the technology from various industries. The information is available in full to members who sign up.

On the Ground Floor

The industry’s potential is underlined by the work of one of its earliest corporate members, AT&T, which announced a new partnership with IBM to help municipalities, utility companies, and other entities better manage infrastructure with the technology. The telecommunications giant counts 15 million connected devices as part of its own machine-to-machine infrastructure.

And the auto industry also promises to make the space interesting. The U.S. Department of Transportation is hard at work on a standard for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology, which could put machine-to-machine technology in the hands of millions of consumers.

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