Digital Lifescapes

Ever since the mainstream adoption of the mobile smartphone, the word 'smart' is used broadly to define any device that has some form of on-board communication connectivity. Likewise, a Smart Home is designed to deliver a number of digital services inside and outside the home, through a range of networked devices. Juniper Research believes the entertainment segment to be the most viable in terms of consumer uptake, for the simple reason that these services are almost universally desired. Revenues from smart home hardware and services will reach $83 billion this year, rising to $195 billion by 2021, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research. This revenue upside will be generated through entertainment, automation, healthcare and connected devices. Smart Home Market Development The new research also found that home automation and smart appliances will be the two fastest growing segments over the next 5 years, driven by established manufacturers such as Sa...

Technology Business Research (TBR) forecasts revenue of $12 billion in 2020 for the global enterprise software-defined networking (SDN) market, that's a CAGR of 70.2 percent from 2015 to 2020. Moreover, it's going to become a substantial portion of the overall enterprise networking infrastructure market, as it displaces legacy technologies. Large enterprise organizations are in the early stages of SDN trials to reduce network bottlenecks. As the technological and business value of the SDN architecture is established, ongoing user adoption will expand over time. Notably, vendors will need to help their customers evolve their internal organization silos to support digital business transformation projects and enable SDN to flourish. Open Networking Systems Gain Momentum "Adoption is still fairly small and concentrated," said Krista Macomber, senior analyst at TBR . But 2016 will be a telling year as standards bodies, such as the Open Networking Foundation, matu...

According to the latest worldwide market study by Technology Business Research (TBR), total revenue for IT security hardware and software products -- including managed and hosted security services -- totaled nearly $50 billion in 2014 and will grow at an 18.9 percent CAGR to more than $118 billion by 2019. "Customers are opening their wallets in an urgent effort to protect their data and their reputations from increasingly sophisticated attacks," said Jane Wright, senior analyst and security research lead at TBR . According to the TBR assessment, cyber criminals and hackers are exploiting enterprise user endpoints to infiltrate and navigate customer infrastructures and steal data or disrupt business operations. To block the attacker entry points, enterprise IT managers will increase their spending for endpoint-based advanced threat detection and response solutions, which will propel revenue growth in the endpoint security segment to an estimated 23.2 percent CAGR throug...

While the concept of an automated home was conceived many years ago, various technical limitations have, until recently, meant that a truly connected home was but a dream for the average consumer. With the advent of mass-deployed broadband Internet access and the development of wireless technology, smart connected devices in the home are now a very real possibility. Juniper Research forecasts that the installed base of connected appliances in Smart Homes will exceed the 10 million mark by 2017 -- that's rising from 4 million units in 2013. Their latest global market study found that consumer awareness of connected appliances -- such as smart refrigerators and washing machines -- was gradually increasing, but that such devices are not widely considered to offer attractive value-added benefits. The Internet of Things for an Intelligent Home According to the Juniper assessment, smart appliances remain a niche item, given their high retail prices, poor use cases and ongoing se...

Like the closely-related market for home energy management systems (HEMS), the smart appliances market has failed to develop as many in the industry had anticipated. Most internet connected appliance product applications are still in the early pilot project stage and have failed to reach retail outlets in any large number. However, according to the latest market study by ABI Research, shipments will soon begin to accelerate and eventually exceed 24 million units by 2017. With smart meter deployment growing apace, energy costs following a seemingly upward trajectory, and progress made on improving interoperability of all aspects of the smart grid, it is only a matter of time before shipments gather momentum. That being said, it is likely that it will take a couple of years for ultra-premium price tags to erode, and for dynamic pricing structures to become more widely implemented in order to stimulate consumer demand. The number of major appliance manufacturers that have used r...