Digital Lifescapes

If you remember back when Centrex service was available from your local phone company, then the latest trend of enterprise voice communication moving to the cloud is like Deja Vu. It seems that we've been here before. Infonetics Research conducted in-depth surveys with 162 medium and large organizations in North America and discovered that by 2016 over 50 percent of respondents will be running some of their Unified Communications (UC) applications over either a private or public cloud service. UC integrates fragmented communication modes -- such as voice, e-mail and instant messaging -- into a single integrated communication experience. The latest Infonetics worldwide market study explored CIO and IT manager plans for UC and their perceptions of UC vendors and cloud unified-communications‑as-a-service (UCaaS) providers. "Businesses continue to migrate their unified communications applications to the cloud, citing flexibility as the key reason. Cloud solutions are in

The introduction of open-source cloud computing services has helped to drive the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), enabling new forms of wireless digital devices that are able to both send and receive data that's stored online. Moreover, since the introduction of low-energy mobile communications began in the mid 2000s, we're moving beyond the early definition of IoT to now include consumer electronics (CE) devices which become part of the user's personal space. Case in point: research from Juniper Research has found that annual revenues from connected healthcare and fitness online services will approach $2 billion by 2019 --that's nearly six times the $320 million value estimated for this year. The findings from Juniper's latest market study also reveal that connected healthcare devices -- and the data they generate -- will offer substantial benefits to the consumers of these new products. However, cloud service deployments will initially be constrain

Traditional forms of video entertainment are already saturated in most of the developed nations around the globe. Meanwhile, some of the more promising emerging markets are growing at a more gradual rate than was anticipated, due to current economic pressures. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, the worldwide pay-TV market grew by just 4 percent in 2014 to reach 923.5 million subscribers. "Despite the growth in subscriber base, weak currency exchange rates resulted in a slower increase of pay-TV market service revenue. Worldwide, the pay-TV market generated $257 billion in 2014 and is expected to surpass 1.1 billion subscribers in 2020 with a CAGR 2.7 percent," said Jake Saunders, VP and practice director at ABI Research . Cable and terrestrial TV markets had weaker growth rates in 2014 compared to satellite and IPTV platforms. However, high definition (HD) penetration is increasing across all pay-TV platforms because of the increasing number of HD cha

According to the latest global study by International Data Corporation (IDC), the combined total market of smartphones, media tablets and PCs is now forecast to grow from 1.8 billion units in 2014 to 2.5 billion units in 2019. During the forecast period, smartphones will grow to represent the majority of total Smart Connected Device (IDC's term for the combined market) shipments -- dwarfing both tablets and PCs in terms of shipment volumes. As recently as 2010, PCs still made up the lion's share of the total device market, with the combined desktop and notebook categories accounting for about 52.5 percent of shipments, versus 44.7 percent for smartphones and 2.8 percent for tablets. However, by 2014, smartphones had grown to represent 73.4 percent of total shipment, while PCs had slipped to 16.8 percent and tablets had increased to 12.5 percent. By 2019, IDC expects the distribution to be 77.8 percent smartphones, 11.6 percent PCs, and 10.7 percent tablets. "Smartp

By 2018, one third of the top twenty market-share leaders in most industries will be significantly impacted by new competitors -- and "reinvented" incumbents -- that proactively apply digital technologies to create new services and associated business models. According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), the adoption of Digital Transformation (DX) methodologies will eventually disrupt the status-quo of all traditional enterprise business models and established strategic partner ecosystems. Business leaders are therefore challenged to move their enterprise to the next level of commercial competency -- by employing new digital technologies, coupled with organizational, operational, and business model innovation that will differentiate them in the marketplace. Their ultimate goal is to create new ways of operating and growing their commercial venture within the rapidly evolving Global Networked Economy. Framework for Digital Business Tr

While Microsoft and Intel were busy planning the introduction of a high-price Ultrabook PC concept -- that was focused on vendor needs for higher profit margins -- Google was working on developing a low-price Chromebook model that was targeted at an under-served market. What's the primary benefits of a Chromebook? They're cloud-centric, budget-friendly, fast-booting, battery-efficient, secure computing devices that are more functional than media tablets and less expensive than the typical notebook PC. Besides, the Chromebook is a forward-thinking device, enabled by a software platform that has already transformed server computing -- the operating system is based on open-source Linux. Built for the Mobile Cloud Era In 2014, Chromebooks gained more traction in the North America market, and are set to continue growing as online streaming devices become more popular among consumers and business buyers. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, Chromebooks exp

The emergence of Bitcoin and an array of alternative cryptocurrencies over the past 5 years has been one of the true phenomena of global eCommerce. Initially a purely person-to-person mechanism, cryptocurrencies are increasingly being offered by online retailers as purchasing options. According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, the number of active Bitcoin users worldwide will reach 4.7 million by the end of 2019 -- that's up from just over 1.3 million in 2014. However, the findings from the study also reveal that usage will continue to be dominated by exchange trading, with retail adoption largely restricted to relatively niche demographics. While a number of high profile retailers are enabling Bitcoin payment, activity levels from both online and offline deployments are extremely low. Of course, growth in new user adoption could change, over time. "While average daily transaction volumes have increased by around 50 percent since March 2014, the indicati

Personal computer (PC) vendors have a complex market development challenge in 2015 -- learn how to embrace ongoing demand volatility. Worldwide PC shipments are expected to fall by -4.9 percent in 2015, while growth projections for 2016 and 2017 were raised slightly, according to the latest study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Fourth quarter 2014 (4Q14) results were 1.7 percent ahead of forecast, but economic and product changes will create more challenges in the short term. Total 2015 volume is projected at 293.1 million PCs, slipping a little further to 291.4 million in 2019. In value terms, the PC market reached $201 billion in 2014 -- that's a decline of -0.8 percent, and is expected to fall another -6.9 percent in 2015 with potentially smaller declines in subsequent years bringing the total to $175 billion by 2019. Furthermore, while recent processor updates have generated some positive momentum, more significant product refreshes -- such as Intel Skylake and M

Most utility companies have a plan to utilize technologies that are key ingredients of the Internet of Things (IoT). As an example, the Smart Grid Sensor market will expand rapidly in the coming decade, with revenues growing nearly ten-fold, according to the latest worldwide market study by IHS. IHS forecasts that while the smart grid sensor market only accounted for less than 20 percent of total sensor sales revenues in 2014, they will account for 75 percent of the total sensor market in 2021. The smart grid sensor market is expected to reach the $100 million mark in 2017. To date, the market for smart grid sensors is centered mainly in North America, where there is a mixture of a few large installations and many smaller pilot projects. There's a pressing need to monitor the electric grid in real-time, and utilities are expected to gain greater value by installing smart grid sensors, which can potentially improve utility operations and performance. The United States marke

​As the worldwide market for the Internet of Things (IoT) evolves, specific use-cases are emerging at an accelerated rate. Case in point: hospital laboratories are the smallest share of laboratory locations yet its diagnostic test equipment run more tests than any other medical testing facility provider. Connectivity to lab equipment -- and the services enabled by that connectivity -- will increase total global laboratory test throughput to over 3.02 billion more diagnostic tests over the next 5 years. The medical testing laboratory market consists of hospitals, independent labs, physician offices, and other healthcare-related lab environments. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, the benefits of increased lab efficiency cannot be understated -- the diagnostic tests from these labs influence 70 percent of medical decisions ranging from treatment choices to hospital discharge decisions to early detection and prevention of chronic disease. "We have a small

The media tablet market has apparently matured. Following the first year-over-year decline in worldwide media tablet shipments in the fourth quarter of 2014 (4Q14), International Data Corporation (IDC) has scaled back its five year forecast for the product category. That being said, the market outlook is still somewhat promising. Worldwide shipments are now expected to reach 234.5 million units in 2015 -- that's a modest year-over-year increase of 2.1 percent from 2014. Although the outlook has been tempered, IDC expects positive growth for the market in the years to come as demand in the commercial sector increases -- particularly as more enterprise mobility applications gain adoption and improve user productivity in meaningful an substantive ways. "Despite the growing popularity of phablets, there still remains a portion of the market that wants to use a larger device so they can tailor their experience to the appropriate screen size," said Jitesh Ubrani, senior

Over 1.5 billion airline boarding passes will be delivered via smartphones by 2019, compared to approximately 745 million boarding passes estimated to be delivered this year, according to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research. This means boarding passes that are presented via a smartphone will represent 1 in 3 boarding passes issued by all airlines at the end of 2019. However, adoption of this approach is not mainstream. Mobile boarding passes are increasingly used by frequent flyers, but less used by leisure passengers who are less familiar with the technology. According to SITA, the airline IT specialist, 53 percent of airlines have already implemented mobile boarding passes via software apps -- which is expected to rise to 91 percent by 2017. Furthermore, Juniper found that the majority of airlines have implemented boarding passes via apps, and the industry is witnessing rapid adoption in markets such as the U.S., Far East and Europe. Some of the early a

Worldwide computer server shipments increased 2.8 percent to 2.5 million units in 4Q14 when compared with the same year-ago period, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Growth was due to an ongoing enterprise data center refresh cycle, coupled with infrastructure investments by public cloud computing service providers. For the full year 2014, worldwide server revenue increased 2.3 percent to $50.9 billion when compared to 2013, while worldwide unit shipments increased 2.9 percent to 9.2 million units, a record high. On a year-over-year basis, volume system revenue increased 4.9 percent and mid-range system demand increased 21.2 percent in 4Q14 to $10.8 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively. The volume segment was aided by a continued expansion of x86-based hyperscale open server infrastructures while mid-range systems were helped by enterprise investment in scalable systems for virtualization and consolidation. "Public cloud servic

More Americans continue to adopt smartphones, although the market is clearly saturated. comScore released the key trends within the U.S. smartphone industry for January 2015. Apple ranked as the top smartphone manufacturer, with 41.3 percent OEM market share. Meanwhile, Google Android once again led as the number one smartphone platform with 53.2 percent platform market share. Facebook ranked as the top individual smartphone software application, and various Google apps collectively dominate the top-15 rankings. Smartphone OEM Market Share 184 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (75.8 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in January, up 4 percent since October. Apple ranked as the top OEM with 41.3 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers. Samsung ranked second with 29.3 percent market share, followed by LG with 8 percent (up 0.6 percentage points from October), Motorola with 5.2 percent and HTC with 3.8 percent. Smartphone Platform Market

Once again, the bring-you-own-device (BYOD) to work phenomena will help to elevate personal communications within the typical office or factory environment -- thanks to the ongoing adoption of smartphone apps in the workplace. Today, Wi-Fi is being used to connect a variety of devices, besides notebook PCs. Many consumers already use their home Wi-Fi connection to improve the communication capabilities of their smartphone while indoors. They use Facebook WhatsApp for impromptu chats with friends and family and Google Hangouts Dialer to make high-quality voice calls to anywhere in America, for free. Naturally, they expect the same type of benefits at their employer's facilities. Consumer and Enterprise Mobility Advances The combined consumer and enterprise worldwide wireless local area network (WLAN) market segments increased 7.0 percent year over year in the fourth quarter of 2014 (4Q14), according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The ente

Cloud computing is now a potential fit for more IT projects, requiring Infrastructure and Operations (I&O) leaders to consider it as a viable option -- but it won't matter to the closed-minded CIOs that have already lost credibility at their company, according to the latest market study by Gartner, Inc. This is the first of four major impacts identified by Gartner from its recent 2015 CIO Survey. "The survey results show that, for most CIOs, public cloud is an option for projects, but only a first consideration for a small minority," said Dave Russell, vice president at Gartner . Gartner believes that many traditional IT leaders are too protective of their existing infrastructure and have been the biggest obstacle to cloud-based solution adoption. Moreover, the Shadow IT phenomenon is not the work of radical troublemakers. It's merely the result of Line of Business leaders refusing to accept the excuses of CIOs that have failed to transform their legacy practi

While much of the upside potential for cloud computing service adoption will occur in the developed markets this year, there's significant opportunities within the emerging markets around the globe. In Brazil, as an example, cloud computing  demand is evolving rapidly -- with 41 percent of companies already using these solutions and 42 percent planning to use them by the end of 2015, according to the latest market study by Frost & Sullivan. Approximately 25 percent of Brazilian companies will be investing in cloud solutions for the first time. While the majority of these companies are opting for the private cloud model, it is anticipated that the hybrid (public/private) model will become the preferred approach over time. By the end of 2015, 66 percent of Brazilian companies are forecast to use at least one cloud offering. The upside opportunity does include some caveats, however, that may impact further adoption. While the Brazilian companies now have a better understan

According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), Google Android and Apple iOS accounted for 96.3 percent of all smartphone shipments -- that's up slightly from 95.6 percent in 4Q13. In terms of year-over-year shipment growth, Android outpaced the overall smartphone market for 2014 (32.0 percent vs 27.7 percent, respectively) while iOS beat the market in 4Q14 (46.1 percent vs 29.2 percent, respectively). "Many of the same drivers were in play for Android and iOS to tighten their grip on the market," said Ramon Llamas, research manager at IDC . "A combination of strong end-user demand, refreshed product portfolios, and the availability of low-cost devices – particularly for Android – drove volumes higher." What will bear close observation is how the two operating systems fare in 2015 and beyond. Now that Apple has entered the phablet market, there are few new opportunities for the company to address. Meanwhile, Samsung experience

Location-based mobile software applications are evolving, opening up a whole new realm of possibilities for smartphones and other devices. Ambient intelligence, also known as deep learning, is a relatively new term in the technology lexicon. And yet, according to the latest market study by ABI Research, it will become the major evolution in technology-based consumer services and quality of life applications over the next 10 years. Essentially, ambient intelligence is the ability of a system to appreciate its environment, be aware of the user -- and other people or objects -- within that environment and react. Moreover, the technology is capable of interpreting and responding to the user's needs, unprompted. "In technology terms ambient intelligence is the unification of hot new areas such as neural networks, big data, IoT, connected home, wearables, device user interfaces, and health or fitness, into services that can automate processes and make recommendations to improv

The traditional enterprise networking market will continue to evolve as more companies deploy new technologies to increase overall efficiency and productivity, drive revenue growth, and secure their essential network infrastructure. The overall enterprise networking market will grow at a 5.9 percent CAGR through 2018, reaching $99 billion in revenue -- due to double-digit CAGRs in the wireless networks and security segments, according to the latest global market study by Technology Business Research (TBR). Fueled by a 7.2 percent CAGR, professional services will become the largest revenue segment by 2018, as vendors such as Cisco evolve their legacy hardware-based business models to facilitate engagement with Line-of-Business buyers through a services-led approach. Traditional hardware segments -- such as IP network infrastructure and unified communications and collaboration -- will grow at low single-digit rates due to the ongoing adoption of cloud computing and software define

Cable companies around the globe continue to invest in network infrastructure to meet consumer demand for broadband internet access and better tiered service offerings. Infonetics Research reported that DOCSIS channel shipments rose to record levels in 2014 -- that's up 114 percent to 4.8 million worldwide -- as cable operators continue to improve their networks to offer services to customers at ever-higher speeds. Their fourth quarter 2014 (4Q14) and year-end CCAP, CMTS, and Edge QAM Hardware market study tracked cable broadband subscribers and equipment -- including converged cable access platforms (CCAPs), cable modem termination systems (CMTSs), coaxial media converters (CMCs) and edge quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) channels. "The continued growth of DOCSIS channel shipments is a strong sign of operators ongoing investment to ramp DOCSIS bandwidth and services like IP video by splitting optical nodes and reducing service group sizes via CCAP," said Jeff

The market for smartphone and tablet software applications has evolved dramatically over the past 6 years. A storefront-oriented ecosystem which was effectively created in mid-2008 by the Apple App Store rapidly branched out across other operating systems. Meanwhile, the traditional payment mechanism, Pay Per Download (PPD) has been eclipsed by the more attractive freemium model, which enables apps to generate ongoing revenue streams for the app developers. Juniper Research has found that the number of apps downloaded to mobile phone handsets and media tablets is expected to rise by nearly 28 percent this year to over 235 billion. Findings from the latest Juniper market study uncovered that the recent surge in app downloads is in large part attributable to phenomenal growth in the Chinese market, which last year accounted for nearly 60 percent of downloads worldwide. Mobile Apps Market Development in China According to the Juniper study, local storefronts have benefited from