Digital Lifescapes

Smartphones have changed the way that users interact with devices, where touch is the main method of interaction. Moreover, the development of wearables that provide VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) technology is helping to advance gesture control applications. While most software app developers are primarily focused on providing a method of control for VR and AR computing devices, such as head-mounted displays, there's an emerging ecosystem of companies working to bring this technology to smartphones and personal computers as well. According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, gesture and motion control will become vital components for certain forms of human-computer interaction during the next decade. New User Interface Market Development The application of gesture and motion control technology in smartphone-based VR will be particularly important in promoting new usage. Juniper forecasts 128 million devices equipped with the technolog...

Telecom service providers are exploring the applications for the Internet of Things (IoT), as an extension of their network access offerings. Demand for IoT gateways, which manage and control complex connected environments by aggregating and transmitting sensor data, are on the rise. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, IoT gateway shipments will grow to exceed 64 million units in 2021. Home automation and security market components will likely account for over 50 percent of all IoT gateway shipments over the next five years. But it's the mobility and transportation segments -- as well as industrial and infrastructure -- that are forecast to generate the most revenue for vendors and service providers. IoT Gateway Market Development "The home automation and security market relies on gateways for aggregating and orchestrating communications between an increasing variety of home sensors and cloud services," said Dan Shey, vice president at ...

Historically, computers had to be told what to do -- programmed by software developers -- before they could complete an assigned task. Now, computers will begin to learn how to perform various tasks that are based upon experience -- similar to the development of human cognitive skills attainment. However, unlike humans, these intelligent computing systems will retain and recall everything that they learn. That said, imagine the possibilities of every human worker having access to an informed assistant that will always be prepared to offer useful information and guidance. That's the essence of a cognitive computing era . It's forecast that the adoption of cognitive systems and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies across all industries will drive worldwide revenues from nearly $8.0 billion in 2016 to more than $47 billion in 2020. Cognitive and AI Solutions Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), the ...

IT infrastructure vendors are hopeful that, one day, their investment in the support of OpenStack is proven worthwhile. According to the latest worldwide market study by 451 Research, revenue from OpenStack business models are forecast to exceed $5 billion by 2020 and grow at a 35 percent CAGR. So far, OpenStack revenue has come from cloud service providers offering multi-tenant IaaS, but the latest research indicates that private cloud revenue will exceed public cloud by 2019. Meanwhile, even though it's true that OpenStack has experienced new growth, the vendor revenue contribution is relatively small. That being said, based on their latest analysis, 451 Research believes that OpenStack profitability will likely be achieved in the private cloud space, and in providing the hybrid orchestration for public cloud integration with on-premises or hosted OpenStack environments. OpenStack Use Case Development "This year OpenStack has become a top priority and credible cloud ...

Many CIOs know they must respond to the growing demand for public cloud services within their organizations. Building a private cloud with on-premises infrastructure is a path to progress, and OpenStack is the software platform. The eighth User Survey conducted by the OpenStack Foundation demonstrates the maturity and broad adoption of the open source cloud platform, pointing to significant increases in the percentage of full production deployments. The results of the latest survey findings were released by the foundation leadership, along with a new survey dashboard , now in beta, and six global filter categories enabling anyone to perform their own analysis on the data. OpenStack Market Development Trends The market study is intended to enable a better understanding of user attitudes, organization profiles, use cases, and technology choices surrounding OpenStack deployments. Data is shared with the OpenStack community to help make design decisions and plan for the future dev...

Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity has improved in 2016, with deal value experiencing two consecutive quarterly increases, according to the latest worldwide market study by Mergermarket . Case in point: during the third quarter (Q3) of 2016, a reported 666 deals worth $179.6 billion represented a 39 percent climb in value -- that's compared to Q3 2015 (828 deals, $128.8 billion). With year-to-date activity (2,168 deals, $403.1 billion) still 21 percent lower by value when compared to the Q1-Q3 2015 period (2,410 deals, $510.2 billion), a re-balancing effect following the 2015 record high is still impacting the market. Why Market Development Gained Momentum Furthermore, according to the Mergermarket assessment, Q3 2016 strength demonstrates that some M&A deals put on-hold at the beginning of the year -- due to uncertainties about the UK Brexit referendum and the British and American central bank interest rate poli...

While many people now prefer digital banking and online channels, a sizable group still prefer an in-branch experience -- particularly when compared with a call to the bank's customer service center. While this continued to be the case in the past 12 months, it will change as more banks utilize multiple channels. This transition is likely to be centered on the mobile device as banks enhance their smartphone apps with more functionality and increased security. It's a trend that will coincide with the declining workforce and the number of bank branches. Mobile Banking Market Development "Recent industry shifts highlight why traditional banks must respond rapidly to retain market share by cultivating new revenue channels and enhancing existing base through sustained innovation," said Nitin Bhas, head of research at Juniper Research . Over 2 billion mobile users will have used their devices for banking purposes by the end of 2021 -- that's compared to 1.2 bil...

IT security issues continue to be top-of-mind for many enterprise organizations. Worldwide revenues for security-related hardware, software, and services will grow from $73.7 billion in 2016 to reach $101.6 billion in 2020, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). This security-related spending represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.3 percent -- that's more than twice the rate of overall IT spending growth, over the five-year forecast period. The ongoing demand for hybrid cloud infrastructure will likely be a catalyst for enhanced security. "Today's security climate is such that enterprises fear becoming victims of the next major cyber attack or cyber extortion," said Sean Pike, program vice president at IDC . "As a result, security has become heavily scrutinized by boards of directors demanding that security budgets are used wisely and solutions operate at peak efficiency." Security Solutions Market D...

A new type of commercial infrastructure needs to be built that reshapes business, according to the latest market study by Gartner. Moreover, they believe that enterprise CIOs are the builders of this infrastructure, which Gartner calls the "civilization infrastructure" for the next decade. Clearly, many CIOs now feel the need to redefine their role, as IT strategy shifts to other executives. Meanwhile, Gartner has forecast that worldwide IT spending will total $3.4 trillion by the end of 2016 -- that's a 0.3 percent decline from 2015. In 2017, however, global IT spending is projected to grow 2.9 percent and reach $3.5 trillion. Growth will be driven by the software and IT services segments. Worldwide spending on software is projected to grow 7.2 percent, and IT services 4.8 percent. Garner analysts believe that software and IT services will be key to the development of the civilization infrastructure. That said, in many organizations today, Line of Business (LoB) le...

Informed telecommunications service providers have reduced their infrastructure cost and improved their development agility by adopting open source software.  According to findings from a recent survey, 85.8 percent of telecom industry respondents consider OpenStack to be essential or important to their success. The survey, commissioned by the OpenStack Foundation, explores current usage and adoption plans of telecom service providers -- particularly with respect to Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), 5G cellular communications, Internet of Things (IoT) and enterprise cloud computing. Facing unprecedented traffic and rapidly evolving customer expectations, telecom providers worldwide are accelerating their adoption of NFV to increase network agility and mitigate costs, and OpenStack has emerged as the NFV infrastructure platform of choice. OpenStack Market Development Results The OpenStack survey included 113 responses from representatives of telecom companies around th...

Online retailers have been a source of disruption for many incumbents around the globe. Over the past decade, eRetail adoption has accelerated and in 2015 online payments for physical goods totaled $1.66 trillion, while sales of digital goods and services generated a additional $754 billion. Credit and debit card payments have been the primary payment method in the online arena. There are now about 9.5 billion credit and debit cards in circulation worldwide. Moreover, the dominance of the leading payment card provider is reinforced by the fact that online retailers typically prefer these cards. Meanwhile, there's been an important shift in the market. In the past, the smartphone was used as a means of discovery, but not purchase of products and services. Now, the smartphone is used for both product discovery as well as the actual purchase. New technologies are enabling this shift. eRetail Market Development Trends According to the latest market study by Juniper Research,...

Worldwide mobility revenues are forecast to grow from $1.5 trillion in 2016 to more than $1.7 trillion in 2020, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). That's a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.2 percent -- or about $40 billion in annual revenue gains. Mobility revenues will primarily come from purchases of hardware and connectivity services. However, software revenues will likely experience double-digit growth, as app developers meet the mobility needs of both consumers and businesses. Software revenue growth will result from investments in mobile application development platforms, new mobile enterprise use cases, and mobile enterprise security solutions. By 2020, spending on software will increase by 15 percent, driven by mobile DevOps and mobile security capabilities. Mobility Solutions Market Development "Despite the belief that the mobility market is maturing, there is still plenty of opportunity to drive enterprise spe...

Mobile internet applications are evolving rapidly. Cognitive computing technologies will inspire telecom service providers to profoundly change their business model in new creative ways. Deploying intelligent voice control apps on smartphones was just the beginning of this trend. As an example, mobile network operators are increasing their investment in big data analytics and machine learning technologies as they transform into digital application developers and cognitive service providers. With a long history of handling huge datasets, and with their path now led by the IT ecosystem, mobile operators will devote more than $50 billion to big data analytics and machine learning technologies through 2021, according to the latest global market study by ABI Research. Cognitive Technologies Market Development "Machine learning-based predictive analytics are applicable to all aspects of the telecom business," said Joe Hoffman, vice president at ABI Research . "It's...

At leading multinational corporations, this year will be remembered as a time when board meeting agenda topics were dominated by discussions about the strategic use of business technologies. Meanwhile, savvy IT vendors have developed the offerings required to meet the demands of their most progressive clients. Executive leaders across the global markets are moving beyond initial proof of concept projects to more scalable Internet of Things (IoT) deployments that incorporate hybrid cloud, big data analytics and associated security capabilities, according to the latest study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Their worldwide survey -- now in its third year -- explores data and insights from enterprise IT and business decision makers about their perception of IoT -- as well as their early deployments or plans for IoT solutions. Topics covered in the survey included: levels of enterprise awareness of IoT; current deployment plans; IoT adoption drivers and inhibitors; perception...

We're seeing a lot of new investment in Fintech start-up companies, and for good reason -- money transfers and mobile payments are a huge upside opportunity. In 2015, international remittances totaled $582 billion, with approximately $440 billion remitted to developing countries. Besides, the value of domestic money transfers are forecast to reach $520 billion in mobile transactions by 2018 -- that's up nearly 200 percent from an estimated $178 billion last year. Money Transfer Market Development Typically, person to person (P2P) domestic transfers show higher usage in developing markets -- including M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Orange Money and MTN Mobile Money -- supplemented by users making social transfers in developed markets via services such as Venmo and WeChat. However, according to the Juniper assessment, the bulk of transfer activity is currently occurring via WeChat and Alipay within China, with growth fostered by ‘red envelope’ promotions at the Lunar New Year. ...

Organizations with smaller IT teams, and many others, have already adopted hyper-converged technologies. According to the latest market study by 451 Research, hyperconverged infrastructure is used at 40 percent of companies, with more deployments expected during the next two years. Nearly one quarter of survey respondents indicated that they have these systems either in a current pilot, or included in future plans. The research uncovered that hyperconverged systems are evolving from prior network edge applications into a primary component of Hybrid IT infrastructure. The latest quarterly survey results indicate that 74.4 percent of the respondent organizations currently using hyperconverged have deployed the solutions in their central data centers, signaling a key transition. Hyperconverged Systems Market Development "Loyalties to traditional, standalone x86 servers are diminishing in today's IT ecosystems as managers adopt innovative technologies that eliminate multip...

The data-driven business era is creating demand for new products and services. Worldwide revenues for big data and business analytics (BDA) will grow from $130.1 billion in 2016 to more than $203 billion in 2020, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). This market is forecast to grow 11.3 percent in 2016 after revenues reached $122 billion worldwide in 2015, and is forecast to continue at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7 percent through 2020. "The availability of data, a new generation of technology, and a cultural shift toward data-driven decision making continue to drive demand for big data and analytics technology and services," said Dan Vesset, group vice president at  IDC . Big Data Analytics Market Development The primary industries driving this growth include banking, discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, federal government, and professional services. Together, they will account for nearly 50 percent of...

Use of cash varies widely, even in developed markets. However, there's been steady growth of credit and debit card use across the globe. Therefore, point-of-sale (POS) terminals are becoming more commonplace, as growth is driven by adoption of electronic payments by emerging markets. For example, China experienced the most significant growth among the larger emerging economies during 2015, with a year-on-year increase in terminal numbers of ~20 percent. Industry analysts estimate that the global total number of POS terminals reached nearly 80 million in 2015. Worldwide POS Transaction Growth A new market study by Juniper Research has found that the value of contactless POS terminal transactions -- conducted in-store via cards, mobile phones and wearables -- will approach $500 billion annually by 2017; that's up from an estimated $321 billion this year. However, the low value nature of contactless payments means that it will only represent about 5 percent of the total va...

Global cloud computing service providers are well known in China and India, but they're clearly not alone. According to the latest market study by 451 Research, there are nearly 200 vendors in both nations that are providing cloud services -- such as IaaS, PaaS and SaaS. 451 Research analysts believe that China and India will become major cloud computing markets within the Asia-Pacific region, generating revenue of $1.59 billion and $851 million respectively, with a CAGR of 27 percent and 24 percent through 2020. Combined, these two countries will account for about 30 percent of the total Asia-Pacific cloud computing market. Market Development in China and India The majority of revenue comes from compute use cases within the IaaS segment today, but the evolution of big data analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT) applications will likely accelerate the future adoption of cloud storage in both markets. Government-led cloud initiatives are helping to drive growth. Govern...

Mobile network service provider revenue loss from 'grey route' application-to-person (A2P) traffic will amount to $62 billion over the next 6 years, despite the increased deployment of security measures, according to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research. Historically, the A2P service offering was used for mobile alerts or as a billing methodology and transport for simple content and services -- both for one-off downloads or actions (such as voting) and for recurring transaction payments. The study discovered that the high levels of grey route traffic -- essentially A2P messages masquerading as P2P (Person to Person) messages and delivered via non-interconnected routes -- could be attributed by the scale of the price differential between A2P and P2P. Mobile Messaging Market Development Today, the trend has become more pronounced as mobile network operators have offered high-volume, low cost SMS bundles to cope with the challenge of Over-the-Top (OTT) mes...

Cloud computing application demand is growing, but challenges remain. According to the latest market study by Gartner, the worldwide public cloud computing market is projected to grow 17.2 percent in 2016 to reach $208.6 billion -- that's up from $178 billion in 2015. The highest growth will come from cloud system infrastructure services (IaaS), which are projected to grow 42.8 percent in 2016. Cloud application services (SaaS), one of the largest segments in the global cloud services market, is forecast to grow 21.7 percent during 2016 to reach $38.9 billion. Growth of public cloud is partly because organizations are saving 14 percent of their IT budgets as an outcome of public cloud adoption. However, the typical CIO aspiration for using cloud services outpaces actual adoption. Ongoing Market Development Challenges Gartner believes that while many organizations have assessed the need for cloud services, they resist the change. In fact, a large number of organizations stil...