Revealing how IP (Internet Protocol) and GBE (Gigabit Ethernet) upgrades will support new services -- "A study from MRG shows how the eight largest U.S. cable MSOs (Multi System Operators) are sequencing and prioritizing new services to address triple-play threats from Satellite and emerging Telco competition. Although Wall Street recently financed over $65 billion in infrastructure upgrades for cable (spending roughly $1000 per subscriber), MSOs are now having to finance further upgrades to deploy VOIP (voice over IP), enhanced HSD (High Speed Data), VOD (Video on Demand), advanced DVRs (Digital Video Recorders), and related Interactive (iTV) services. In the process of adding new services, MSOs have also discovered the problematic silo effect of running simultaneous -- but independent -- IP and non-IP services, adding significant complexities and costs."
Gartner's latest worldwide IT spending forecast exposes a trend every CIO has already felt in budget negotiations. Total spending will climb 14.2 percent in 2026, reaching $6.37 trillion. It seems that the IT infrastructure market is simply having a strong year. However, the more useful insight is how unevenly that growth is distributed. The Headline Number vs. The Real Story Data center systems and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) are absorbing capital at a pace several multiples faster than devices, communications services, and traditional IT services. This is not incremental growth spread across a healthy portfolio. It is a wholesale reallocation of enterprise technology budgets toward AI infrastructure, made on the expectation that demand for AI workloads will justify the outlay before that demand has been fully proven. Where the Money is Going Data center systems are forecast to grow 62.5 percent in 2026, that's up from 51.6 percent growth in 2025, reaching $822 billion....