Digital Lifescapes

Flash-based, solid-state storage demand has grown rapidly within the IT infrastructure sector, as more CIOs and CTOs adopt this technology. The outlook for the solid state drive (SSD) industry remains strong as units, revenue, and total capacity shipped are all expected to see robust growth. According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), SSD unit shipments will increase at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.1 percent. As a result, SSD vendor revenue is expected to reach $33.6 billion in 2021, growing at a CAGR of 14.8 percent. SSD Storage Market Development The key factors underlying the improved outlook for the SSD market are greater product availability and improved pricing dynamics as the industry transitions to 3D NAND Flash. However, IDC believes the current NAND flash supply constraints will begin to diminish in 2018 and contribute to further price erosion in the overall SSD market. In turn, lower SSD pricing be...

Digital TV and online video has seen the battle between Over the Top (OTT) providers and traditional television networks pushed to the forefront. In order to differentiate themselves, and reduce the need to rely on expensive content partnerships, OTTs will produce more of their own entertainment content. According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) services -- from leading providers such as Netflix and Amazon -- will drive a surge in OTT revenues to reach $120 billion in 2022, and that's up from $64 billion in 2017. In this environment, the traditional expensive bundle of pay-TV services will surely continue their decline. Original Content Market Development The upside market opportunity for the innovative low-cost video entertainment providers is significant. The in-depth market research also uncovered that over a quarter of global households will eventually subscribe to SVOD services by 2022. The new research foun...

More telecom service providers will invest in emerging technologies that enable them to improve operational productivity via automation, and introduce new capabilities for their customers. Virtual assistant applications are emerging, as telcos start to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). While the telecom network operators are prioritizing these virtual assistants primarily to improve customer engagements and consequently reduce churn rates, they are also positioning themselves to compete directly with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple Siri and Microsoft Cortana. Telco Virtual Assistant Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, the virtual assistants will enable telecom service providers to save $1.2 billion on customer care management by 2022, resulting in a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17 percent over the next five years. "The recent introduction of virtual assistants in customer service sig...

There has been a significant evolution in the range of use cases for Application to Person (A2P) messaging in recent years. Historically, A2P was used for alerts and as a billing mechanism for simple content and services -- for one-off downloads or actions, and for recurring payments. The latter use case has declined markedly in the past 5 years, due to a combination of the transition to an app-based economy largely driven by card billing and by regulatory action against fraudsters. A2P Messaging Market Development The volume of A2P messaging is expected to increase by 20 percent over the next 5 years to more than 2.7 trillion by 2022 -- that's up from 2.1 trillion in 2017, according to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research. The analyst claimed that this growth would be driven by an increase in automated marketing, payments and authentication messages. Note, A2P is defined as an automated SMS message sent from an enterprise to an end user. The research unc...

Spending on digital transformation (DX) technologies will reach nearly $1.3 trillion in 2018 -- that's an increase of 16.8 percent over 2017. In 2021, DX spending will nearly double to more than $2.1 trillion, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The majority of DX spending in 2018 ($662 billion) will go toward technologies that support new or expanded operating models, as organizations seek to make their operations more effective and responsive by leveraging digitally-connected products or services, assets, people, and trading partners. Digital Transformation Market Development The second largest DX investment area in 2018 ($326 billion) will be technologies supporting omni-experience innovations that transform how customers, partners, employees, and things communicate with each other and the products and services created to meet unique and individualized demand. Information will also be an important DX investment area ($2...

Ignore the doom and gloom, artificial intelligence (AI) will become a positive job motivator. Moreover, 2020 will be a pivotal year in AI-related employment dynamics, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. The number of jobs affected by AI will vary by industry. Through 2019, healthcare, the public sector and education will see continuously growing job demand, while manufacturing will be negatively impacted. Starting in 2020, AI-related job creation will cross into positive territory, reaching two million net-new jobs in 2025. Artificial Intelligence Market Development "Many significant innovations in the past have been associated with a transition period of temporary job loss, followed by recovery, then business transformation and AI will likely follow this route," said Svetlana Sicular, research vice president at Gartner . AI will improve the productivity of many jobs, eliminating millions of middle- and low-level positions, but also creating mil...

Worldwide spending on industry cloud services in the finance sector -- such as banking, insurance, securities and investment services -- is expected to reach $3.2 billion in 2017, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Furthermore, IDC expects the amount to more than double in 2021, amassing total worldwide spending of $7.2 billion. Industry Cloud Market Development The manufacturing industry (both discrete and process combined) was a larger spender on industry cloud though, relative to its finance counterpart. This industry is expected to spend $4.2 billion in 2017 and achieve year-over-year growth of 23 percent in 2018. Similar to the finance industry, the manufacturing industry is also set to double its 2017 spending in 2021, reaching a total of $9.2 billion. However, IDC forecasts healthcare providers across the world will spend a total of $8.9 billion in adopting industry cloud solutions during 2017. This industry is expected to incre...

Worldwide spending on the Internet of Things (IoT) is forecast to reach $772.5 billion in 2018 -- that's an increase of 14.6 percent over the $674 billion that will be spent in 2017, according to the latest global market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Moreover, overall worldwide IoT-related revenue will sustain a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.4 percent throughout the 2017-2021 forecast period, surpassing the $1 trillion mark in 2020 and reaching $1.1 trillion in 2021. IoT Technology Market Development IoT hardware will be the largest technology category in 2018 with $239 billion going largely toward modules and sensors, along with some spending on infrastructure and security. IDC reports that services will be the second largest technology category, followed by software and connectivity. Software spending will be led by application software along with analytics software, IoT platforms, and security software. Software will also be the fastest growin...

If you want to appreciate the full extent of the cloud computing phenomena, then you need to comprehend the ongoing impact to the IT ecosystem. It's been fueled by a disruptive series of innovations that have enabled software developers to accelerate the speed of digital transformation. The cloud delivery and consumption model has revolutionized the entire IT industry. But the cloud opportunity extends well beyond the public cloud -- which makes up less than half of all cloud-related spending today -- and includes private and hybrid clouds, as well as managed cloud services, cloud-related professional services, and hardware and software infrastructure for building clouds. Cloud Computing Market Development In its first forecast of the 'whole cloud' opportunity, International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that worldwide whole cloud revenues will reach $554 billion in 2021 -- that's more than double those of 2016. "The most obvious takeaway from this forec...

IT Vendor revenue in the worldwide server market increased 19.9 percent year-over-year to reach $17 billion in the third quarter of 2017 (3Q17), according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). While demand from cloud computing service providers has driven overall market performance in the past, other areas of the server market are beginning to show growth. Worldwide server shipments increased 11.1 percent year-over-year to 2.67 million units in 3Q17. Server Systems Market Development Volume server revenue increased by 19.3 percent to $14.2 billion, while midrange server revenue grew 26.9 percent to $1.4 billion. High-end systems grew 19.4 percent to $1.3 billion, benefiting from the IBM z14 launch this quarter. That said, IDC expects continued long-term secular declines in high-end system revenue, with short periods of growth related to major platform refreshes. "Hyperscalers continued driving volume demand in the third quarter, with Amazon ...

The healthcare sector was slow to adopt new technologies, including cloud services, according to the latest worldwide market study by Frost & Sullivan. That's about to change. Industry-wide demand to use health data to improve system efficiency, deliver value-based care and enable productive collaborations is driving new investment in cloud solutions. At the heart of these innovations is a clear shift in healthcare provider attitude toward hybrid IT trends, with key decision makers now convinced that cloud computing environments could be more secure than on-premise infrastructure -- especially in terms of data back-up and disaster recovery. Healthcare Enterprise Market Development Frost & Sullivan finds that the global market for healthcare cloud computing -- revenue generated by cloud computing services offered to providers -- will be worth almost $10 billion by 2021, primarily driven by the need to store the exponentially increasing volume of healthcare data. Thei...