What if your industry had two nicknames and couldn’t decide between them?

For the International M2M Council (IMC), this was more than semantics; it was a real problem. “Machine to machine” (M2M) is  the term of choice in many niche industry fields, but the slightly buzzier “Internet of Things” (IoT) has caught on with the consumer end of the market. Rather than choose between two well-known terms, the council decided to incorporate both, recently changing its name to the IoT M2M Council and keeping the IMC acronym.

“The change in our name acknowledges a perceptual shift toward the internet of things at the top of the market, and yet the heritage of machine-to-machine communication is as vibrant as ever,” IMC Chairman Alex Brisbourne said in a news release [PDF]. “In many industrial sectors, M2M remains the accepted nomenclature, and, in fact, the two phrases vary in interpretations mainly depending on the industry or geography where the conversation takes place. Our new name, ‘IoT M2M Council,’ is meant to reflect a spirit of inclusivity and resonate with the entire population of stakeholders.”

Inclusiveness is an important element of the association’s appeal. The council, which launched in 2013, has seen significant membership growth, particularly after creating a content hub last year.

Currently, the trade group has more than 10,000 members, the most recent additions [PDF] being Intel and Wipro Limited.

“The organization is gaining an average of 275 new members per week—members that are developing, buying, and deploying IoT solutions. Clearly, there is a demand in the market to learn more,” said Rose Schooler, vice president of Intel’s IoT Strategy Office and a member of IMC’s board of governors.

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