Digital Lifescapes

Cloud computing solutions continue to move closer to the edge of networks across the globe, where compute and storage are located near the source of the data. Worldwide spending on edge computing is forecast at $176 billion in 2022 -- that's an increase of 14.8 percent over 2021. Enterprise and service provider spending on hardware, software, and services for edge solutions is forecast to sustain this pace of growth through 2025 when spending will reach nearly $274 billion, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). IDC defines edge as the technology-related actions that are performed outside of the centralized data center, where edge computing is the intermediary between the connected endpoints and the core IT environment. Characteristically, the edge is distributed, software-defined, and flexible. Edge Computing Market Development "Edge computing continues to gain momentum as digital-first organizations seek to innovate outside of...

Enterprise network management complexity grows as more devices require connectivity from more locations. Case in point, the remote working phenomena has driven demand for software-defined solutions to reduce networking costs, improve scalability, and enable the integration of security. Although the emergence of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) -- which integrates SD-WAN with edge security -- has caused some vendors to rethink their solutions, market opportunity remains across the software-defined networking sector for innovative vendors to explore vertical industry demand. Established networking vendors already lead the SD-WAN market. Next, the cloud-native innovators will drive growth by also offering solutions that shift end-user computing and integrated security to the cloud, enabling CIOs and CTOs to develop versatile enterprise networking strategies. SD-WAN Market Development Cloud-based solution providers will become increasingly important, given the benefits that shifting netwo...

Many senior executives remain upbeat about the potential of a business technology investment to drive digital business growth. Worldwide information technology (IT) spending is projected to total $4.5 trillion in 2022 -- that's an increase of 5.1 percent over 2021, according to the latest market study by Gartner. Despite the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and commercial disruption fueled by the Omicron variant, economic recovery with high expectations for digital market prosperity will continue to boost technology investments. Hybrid Enterprise IT Market Development "2022 is the year that the future returns for the CIO," said John-David Lovelock, vice president at Gartner . "They are now in a position to move beyond the critical, short-term projects over the past two years and focus on the long term." Simultaneously, staff skills gaps, wage inflation, and the demand for digital transformation talent will push CIOs to rely more on consultancies and ma...

The healthcare sector has advanced technological innovation. But the fragmented way in which many hospitals acquire solutions can introduce cost, time, and resource inefficiencies that hinder care delivery and the ability to meet strategic objectives. Therefore, the last several years have seen healthcare providers around the world embrace the concept of the 'smart hospital' as a means of optimizing multiple aspects of their IT performance. However, hospital implementation of new technologies can present significant challenges for the adopting organizations in terms of cybersecurity, interoperability, and execution. Smart Hospital Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, smart hospitals will deploy 7.4 million connected Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices globally by 2026 -- that's estimated to be over 3,850 devices per smart hospital. This global figure represents total growth of 231 percent over 2021 when 3.2 million dev...

Chief executive officers want business technology leadership as a top goal for their C-suite this year. To compete in a Global Networked Economy, organizations are prioritizing investments in digital tools to augment physical spaces and assets. Plus, enable secure data gathering and analysis. These IT investments empower organizations to provision enterprise workloads at edge locations in support of innovative use cases. Edge computing includes IT infrastructure and software apps deployed outside of central data centers, to support data gathering and analysis closer to the source. Edge Computing Market Development IDC has identified four workloads from its taxonomy that have a significant influence among edge use cases: business intelligence or data analytics; content delivery; text and image analytics; plus networking and security. Multiple workloads are combined to support specific edge use cases. For each workload category, IDC ranks the contained workloads by the primary, secondary...

This year may very well be another period of unprecedented challenges and opportunities. In 2022, several highly anticipated technology-related advancements will NOT happen, according to the predictions by ABI Research. Their analysts identify many trends that will shape the technology market and some others that, although attracting huge amounts of pundit speculation and commentary, are less likely to advance rapidly over the next twelve months. "The fallout from COVID-19 prevention measures, the process of transitioning from pandemic to endemic disease, and global political tensions weigh heavily on the coming year's fortunes," said Stuart Carlaw, chief research officer at ABI Research . What Won’t Happen in 2022? Despite all the headlines and investments, the metaverse will not arrive in 2022 or, for that matter, within the typical 5-year forecast window. The metaverse is still more of a buzzword and vision than a fully-fledged end goal with a clearly defined arrival d...

Across the globe, government agency leaders continue to drive digital transformation initiatives. As a result, there is a growing demand for new digital experience development talent to help drive much-needed changes in online service delivery. By 2023, 85 percent of governments without a Total Experience (TX) strategy will fail to successfully transform government services, according to the latest market study by Gartner. Governments that focus on citizen and employee experience initiatives separately will miss out on potential synergies to effectively transform their services. "Over the past two years, most governments increased their investments in digital initiatives to respond to pandemic-induced operations disruptions. However, many digital initiatives are still occurring in silos," said Apeksha Kaushik, principal research analyst at Gartner . Multi-Experience Market Development Gartner believes that governments must move from a siloed approach to a cohesive strategy en...

Building on significant advances in disruptive mobile app technology, ride-sharing services have emerged to become a popular means of urban mobility. This is unsurprising given the advantages of ride-sharing options over traditional transport modes, such as buses and more expensive taxis. Innovative ride-sharing platforms enable app users to customize their journeys according to real-time phenomena, such as nearby traffic conditions, time of day, and rider demand. However, this is not to say that ride-sharing services are perfect. The popularity of ride-sharing has resulted in some additional traffic congestion in major cities already struggling to control this issue, while the widespread disruption caused by the pandemic affected most stakeholders within the local transportation value chain. Ride-Sharing App Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, ride-sharing spending by consumers globally will exceed $937 billion by 2026 -- that's c...

Cloud computing gained additional momentum during 2021. More organizations modernized their IT applications and invested in new digital transformation projects. Multi-cloud strategies are now pervasive across global markets as CIOs and CTOs spread their apps across the cloud hyperscalers. The European public cloud market continues to grow at double digits, with European organizations investing in public cloud solutions to support their innovation strategies and digital business objectives, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). European Cloud Service Market Development "Over the past five years, the public cloud market has significantly changed the IT industry and grown like no other segment of the European IT market. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of cloud services in Europe as cloud computing is seen as a crucial enabler of business resilience, agility, innovation, and efficiency," said Filippo Vanara, research anal...