Digital Lifescapes

Vendor revenue from sales of infrastructure products -- server, storage, and Ethernet switch -- for cloud IT grew by 45.5 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2018 (1Q18), reaching $12.9 billion according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). IDC also raised its forecast for total spending on cloud IT infrastructure in 2018 to $57.2 billion with year-over-year growth of 21.3 percent. Let's consider the key trends that are driving this phenomena. What really matters most, going forward? Cloud Infrastructure Market Development Public cloud infrastructure quarterly revenue has more than doubled in the past three years to $9 billion in 1Q18, growing 55.8 percent year-over -year. Private cloud revenue reached $3.9 billion for an annual increase of 26.5 percent. The combined public and private cloud revenues now represent 46.1 percent of the total worldwide IT infrastructure spending, up from 41.8 percent a year ago. Traditional (...

Ongoing disruption of the video entertainment industry is most apparent in North America, where incumbent pay-TV service providers continue to report significant subscriber declines. Past attempts to slow or reverse the customer losses have proven to be unsuccessful. Clearly, it's a huge challenge. Furthermore, relatively new rivals in the sector, such as AT&T and Verizon, have invested heavily to acquire legacy media and online advertising companies in the hope of finding a viable business model to compete with more innovative offerings from a growing list of alternative providers. Video Entertainment Market Development Meanwhile, the growth of subscription over-the-top (OTT) video services has been driving the changing trends in the pay-TV landscape. OTT video services have attracted hundreds of millions of subscribers worldwide, causing pressure on traditional pay-TV operators. This OTT growth trend is expected to continue, reaching a subscriber base of 400 million i...

While there's less commentary about the challenges of "Shadow IT" projects within the enterprise market, the underlying issues that created this phenomena are still very apparent in the workplace. Bypassing the legacy IT organization is a common practice. It's now somewhat expected. As many IT workers develop greater technology skills and apply them to advance their careers, savvy digital workers in non-IT departments believe their CIO is out of touch with their technology needs. Less than 50 percent of workers (both IT and non-IT) believe their CIOs are aware of digital technology problems that affect them, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. The Gartner survey further revealed that European workers said that their CIO is more aware of technical challenges (58 percent) than U.S. workers believe they are (41 percent). Clearly, it's a big problem. Ongoing Indifference to Legacy IT "Non-IT workers aren't likely to use the IT h...

Across the globe, more CIOs and CTOs are exploring new applications for internet-related technologies. As a result, mobile network service providers continue to make infrastructure investments to support the growing demand. Global IT vendors are also developing new product offerings. International Data Corporation (IDC) announced that Internet of Things (IoT) technology spending will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.6 percent over the 2017-2022 forecast period and reach $1.2 trillion in 2022. The forecast is based on the latest worldwide research in the burgeoning IoT technology and associated applications market, which offers business investment opportunities across a spectrum of industries and illuminated through new use case implementations. IoT Applications Market Development As the diverse IoT market reaches broad-based critical mass, innovative offerings in analytics software, cloud computing technologies, business and IT services have expanded rapidl...

While mobile service subscriber growth rates are slowing, operator-billed ARPU (Average Revenue per User) levels continue to shrink. The decline in certain regions is exaggerated because of the depreciation of local currency bundles against the dollar (e.g. in Latin America and Europe), but the implications are clear. Juniper Research believes that the key trends of recent years are likely to continue. In pluralistic markets typically inhabited by at least three network operators and MVNO providers, competitive pricing will continue to impact service provider revenue growth. Mobile Services Market Development Juniper Research has found that annual global mobile network operator-billed revenues from voice and data services are expected to fall by over $50 billion during the next 5 years -- that's from $837 billion last year to $785 billion in 2022. Their latest global research findings attributed the anticipated decline to further consumer migration toward Over-the-Top (OTT)...

As more organizations in different industries consider emerging applications for robotics technology, new business models for vendors are also envisioned. Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) is an elastic concept. It refers to robotics systems providers that in addition to selling products, will now rent or lease their product to customers as a full-service solution. Though the total market continues to grow, competitive pressure on robotics vendors to maintain profit margins means that they'll have to broaden growth opportunities beyond selling robots as products. Following a recent worldwide market study, ABI Research highlights the potential of RaaS in unlocking the next phase of robotics adoption. Robotics Market Development Overall, ABI Research estimates that the installed base for RaaS will grow from 4,442 units in 2016 to 1.3 million in 2026. The yearly revenue from RaaS providers is expected to increase from $217 million in 2016 to nearly $34 billion in 2026. "This w...

Once upon a time, a few years ago, technology industry analysts reported on global market growth for new devices -- where personal computers, media tablets and smartphones were in demand by both consumers and businesses. However, then came widespread market saturation, and declines in demand. Worldwide tablet and PC shipments will fall by 2.1 percent to 398 million units in 2018, according to the latest market study by Canalys. But this represents the smallest decline of the past four years and sets the tone for an era of stability. So, when does the market trend return to growth? That remains a mystery. Personal Computing Device Market Development Consumer refresh cycles have started to stabilize, and the legacy PC vendors have focused on new categories, such as gaming PCs, Chromebooks and convertibles. On the commercial side, Microsoft Windows 10 migration is a driver for hardware refresh, as some businesses are forced to move from Intel Skylake-generation architectures to newe...

Across the globe, CEOs continue to promote business technology-enabled growth. Worldwide spending on the technologies and services that enable digital transformation (DX) is forecast to be more than $1.1 trillion in 2018 -- that's an increase of 16.8 percent over the $958 billion spent in 2017, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). DX spending will be led by the discrete and process manufacturing industries, which will not only spend the most on DX solutions but also set the agenda for many DX priorities, programs, and use cases. Discrete manufacturing and process manufacturing are expected to spend more than $333 billion combined on DX solutions in 2018. This represents nearly 30 percent of all DX spending worldwide this year. Digital Transformation Market Development From a technology perspective, the largest categories of spending will be applications, connectivity services, and IT services as manufacturers build out their digital ...

Who is leading digital transformation at the most forward-thinking organizations across the globe, and what are the most significant roadblocks to their progress? That depends, on who you ask. Let's consider the most common digital business challenges today, and how savvy leaders overcome them. Digital growth tops the list of CEO business priorities in 2018 and 2019, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. However, as growth becomes harder to achieve, CEOs are concentrating on changing and upgrading the structure of their companies -- including digital business investments. Exploring Digital Business Transformation Culture "Although growth remains a CEO's biggest priority, there was a significant fall in simple mentions of it this year, from 58 percent in 2017 to just 40 percent in 2018. This doesn't mean CEOs are less focused on growth, instead it shows that they're shifting perspective on how to obtain it," said Mark Raskino, vice pr...

There has been a significant evolution in the variety of use cases for mobile Application to Person (A2P) messaging. Historically, A2P was used for alerts and as a billing mechanism and carrier for simple content and services, both for one-off downloads or actions (e.g. voting) and for recurring payments. The latter use case has declined 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 -- in markets such as the U.S. and the UK -- against the many known fraudsters. However, the near demise of this use case has been more than offset by the emergence of alternative opportunities, many of which have themselves been created by consumer adoption of software apps and smartphones. A2P Messaging Market Development A recent worldwide market study by Juniper Research found that revenues from Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging will exceed $9 billion by 2022 -- that's up from an estimate...

All consumer electronics devices eventually reach market saturation, where most of the people that crave the product already have it. After declining by 0.3 percent in 2017, the worldwide smartphone market will shrink again this year. Smartphone shipments are forecast to drop by 0.2 percent in 2018 to 1.462 billion units, which is down from 1.465 billion in 2017 and 1.469 billion in 2016. However, IDC expects the market to grow by 3 percent annually from 2019 onwards. Worldwide shipments should reach 1.654 billion in 2022 -- that's a five year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.5 percent. Smartphone Market Development The biggest driver of the 2017 shipment downturn was the saturated market in China, which saw its smartphone market decline 4.9 percent year-over-year. Tough times are expected to continue in 2018, as IDC forecasts consumption in China to decline another 7.1 percent before flattening out in 2019. The biggest upside potential in Asia-Pacific continues to b...

The online tracking of trailers, containers, rail wagons and cargo boxes is becoming increasingly common in all markets across the globe. New technology, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain, will enable more secure automation of this activity. Berg Insight released the findings from their latest global market study. The number of active tracking devices deployed for cargo loading units -- including trailers, intermodal containers, rail freight wagons, air cargo containers, cargo boxes and pallets -- reached 3.7 million worldwide in 2017. Market Development of Cargo Tracking Devices Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.6 percent, the number of devices is expected to reach 8.9 million by 2022, according to the Berg Insight forecast. Based upon the current assessment, the tracking solutions market will greatly benefit from a digital transformation. Trailer telematics is the most developed market today, however in terms of installed units the interm...

Savvy communication service provider CIOs and CTOs have abandoned the past -- where they would align their new technology infrastructure investments with traditional IT and networking equipment vendors. In hindsight, the status-quo disruption was somewhat inevitable. Today, 77 percent of all telecom service providers will now require some level of digital transformation over the next three years, to meet the changing market needs in their franchise area and to remain competitive, according to the latest worldwide market study by 451 Research. Telecom Transformation Market Development Specifically, service providers are challenged by IT and networking automation, scalability and reliability issues. But they're not alone. Traditional technology hardware and software vendors will also have to compete with the public cloud providers, as service providers consider hyperscalers for their next compute and storage purchases, since many enterprises are moving workloads off-premises. ...

Across the globe, most wireline service providers operate in a monopoly or duopoly environment where competition is limited and somewhat predictable. The prior limitations of wireless broadband internet access have not impacted the wireline status-quo. That could change. The worldwide fixed wireless broadband access market has been growing steadily over the past several years. ABI Research now forecasts that the market will grow by 30 percent in 2018 and will generate $18 billion in service revenue. That being said, let's explore the market dynamics. Wireless Broadband Market Development As 5G fixed wireless broadband access is about to be launched in North America during 2018, it's likely to expand and provide some telecom service provider customers with better quality service in the years to come. Today, LTE is the most widely used technology to provide fixed wireless broadband service across the world. Fixed LTE is mainly deployed for residential broadband service in...

Strategic investment in business technology is led by CIOs and CTOs that launch new digital transformation initiatives. Those digital growth plans result in the modernization of IT infrastructure. However, an internal IT staff skills shortfall will continue to fuel demand for more savvy and experienced digital business talent. Worldwide revenues for IT Services and Business Services totaled $502 billion in the second half of 2017 (2H17) -- that's an increase of 3.6 percent year-over-year (in constant currency), according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Digital Business Services Market Development "As customers look to digital transformation initiatives to stay relevant in the new economy, vendors face both opportunities and challenges," said Xiao-Fei Zhang, program director at IDC . "While automation and new cloud delivery models reduce overall price, new digital services will require clients to spend more time and resources ...

More CIOs and CTOs are exploring the commercial value of intelligent systems that can enhance their organization's performance. Global business value from artificial intelligence (AI) is forecast to total $1.2 trillion in 2018 -- that's an increase of 70 percent from 2017, according to the latest market study by Gartner. Moreover, AI-derived business value is forecast to reach $3.9 trillion in 2022. According to the Gartner assessment, there are three different sources of AI business value: Customer experience: The positive or negative effects on indirect cost. Customer experience is a necessary precondition for widespread adoption of AI technology to both unlock its full potential and enable value. New revenue: Increasing sales of existing products and services, and/or creating new product or service opportunity beyond the existing situation. Cost reduction: Reduced costs incurred in producing and delivering those new or existing products and services. AI Technology ...

As more companies use technology innovation to improve their scale, automation and robotics continue to generate interest among investors. Mapping and software development have significant potential, particularly as most business leaders seek to digitize their commercial operations. This trend will continue for some time. Consulting on the various types of new technology tools will also likely be an area to follow in the near future, according to the latest worldwide market study by Mergermarket . Technology, Media & Telecom Market Development Moreover, emerging applications for artificial intelligence (AI) are in vogue, and China has emerged as a potential leader in this space, with dealmakers looking to invest in startups specializing in this area. Until the Facebook data protection issue became public knowledge in mid-March, first-quarter (Q1) 2018 activity within the global Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) sector as a whole was experiencing a boost from ...

Worldwide information and communications technology (ICT) spending -- including new technologies -- is expected to exceed $5.6 trillion in 2021 with growth accelerating through the end of the forecast period, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). By 2021, new technologies, including Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, robots and drones, augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) headsets, and 3D printers, will account for almost a quarter (23 percent) of total ICT spending. ICT Market Development Overall, new technology investments -- including the four pillars of cloud, mobile, big data analytics, and social -- will make up more than 70 percent of worldwide ICT spending. IDC reports that the fastest-growing technology markets last year were AR/VR, cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI), 3D printing, and robotics. Meanwhile, IoT has already grown to account for 15 percent of ICT spending, including new operational technol...

The money transfer segment of the commercial financial services sector is vast, with transactions taking place on both a domestic and international cross-border basis. A recent Juniper Research market study found that global cross-border B2B money transfers totalled $136 trillion in 2017. Yet, to date, the B2B money transfer industry has not experienced the start-up innovation and disruption like other areas in the finance and commerce space. That being said, we can anticipate that 2018 will be pivotal, as more fintech entrepreneurs pursue this previously untapped opportunity. B2B Money Transfer Market Development New study findings have concluded that the cross-border B2B money transfer market is ripe for disruption, as new technologies and legislative changes redefine traditional banking practices across the globe. Cross-border B2B transactions will exceed $218 trillion by 2022, up from $150 trillion this year. In comparison, global GDP was placed at just $77 trillion last ye...

Many CIOs and CTOs are pursuing a competitive advantage that's enabled by emerging technologies. As an example, early-adopters in the automobile industry are exploring use cases with Augmented Reality (AR), because it offers benefits to the whole value chain -- from product design through production and sales. As a result, smart glasses shipment for global automotive industry use will reach 1.7 million units in 2022. The total automotive AR market is expected to grow at CAGR of 177 percent during the forecast period and reach $5.5 billion in 2022, according to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research. Augmented Reality Apps Market Development "Augmented Reality benefits automotive manufacturers at many stages of a product cycle, including design, prototyping, manufacturing, and marketing," said Marina Lu, senior analyst at ABI Research . In design, digital 3D visualization and analysis of body structure and components can save time and resources. Collabor...