The number of retail machine-to-machine connections reached 10.3 million last year, according to a new research report from Berg Insight, as the technology transformed businesses where fixed line connectivity is unavailable or impractical. The research firm forecasts that the number of M2M connections in the global retail industry will grow at a CAGR of 21.6 per cent during the next six years to reach 33.2 million connections in 2017. Shipments of cellular M2M devices for retail applications will at the same time increase at a CAGR of 10.7 per cent from 5.2 million units in 2011 to 9.6 million units in 2017, according to Berg. "PoS terminals will constitute the lion's share of cellular M2M connections in the retail sector throughout the forecast period", said Berg analyst Lars Kurkinen. "But the penetration rate for cellular connectivity is today actually highest in the multi-space parking meter segment where it is well above 30 percent." Report (PDF)