Navigant Research expects utilities to spend close to $100 billion on networking and communications equipment over the next decade

A new report from Navigant Research provides a granular look at the global marketplace for utility networking and communications equipment and services for smart grid applications. This report expects utilities to spend nearly $100 billion on networking and communications equipment and services over the next decade.

Power utilities are faced with a fast-changing operating environment. Not only are competitive threats and operational challenges mounting, but customers are also demanding more from their utilities—as are regulators. Meanwhile, technological advances are making it easier and cheaper to deploy connectivity throughout a utility’s territory.

Globally, $7.9 billion is forecast for investments in smart grid communications equipment and services in 2018, with $6.8 billion attributable to utility capital expenditure in networking equipment. Services, which include leased lines, cellular service, tower leasing, satellite services, and low power wide area (LPWA) solutions, are anticipated to account for more than $1 billion, according to the report.

The report, Networking and Communications for Smart Grids and Utility Applications, provides a granular look at the global marketplace for utility networking and communications equipment and services for smart grid applications. The study covers three smart grid applications: advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), distribution automation, and substation automation at the transmission and distribution levels (as well as secondary substations in Europe).

Technologies covered include cellular, RF mesh, point-to-multipoint, microwave point-to-point, private 4G, Wi-Fi-based systems, satellite services, leased lines, TDM/ethernet/broadband, power line carrier (PLC), fiber, and low power wide area (LPWA).

Global market forecasts, segmented by application, technology, utility type (in the US), and region, extend through 2027. The forecasts include spend on equipment and services for near area networks (NANs, or field area networks) and wide area networks (WANs). Services forecasts include those provided by cellular carriers, satellite providers, tower leasing companies, and telcos for leased line, TDM/ethernet, or broadband services.

NEC acquires Danish IT company KMD to promote development of its core technologies and solutions

NEC Corp. (NEC) announced acquisition of KMD Holding ApS, the holding company of KMD A/S (KMD), the largest Danish IT company. NEC is acquiring KMD for approximately 8 billion Danish Kroner (DKK) from Advent International, one of the world’s largest and most experienced private equity investors. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of February next year.

NEC will continue to promote the development of its core technologies and solutions, while acquiring new customer bases, delivery resources, core technologies and business models through M&A and partnerships, in order to further expand the social solutions business, centering on the safety business, and to improve profitability.

The KMD acquisition will accelerate NEC’s global safety business, which it has positioned as a growth engine in its three-year medium-term management plan, the "Mid-term Management Plan 2020,” and is promoting a shift towards service businesses that utilize horizontally deployable platforms.

NEC is also expanding its business domain through the utilization of its advanced biometrics and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to develop areas that include public safety, digital government and smart transportation. These initiatives are being implemented under the "NEC Safer Cities" program, which supports the realization of safe, secure, efficient and equal cities.

KMD provides software and IT services in Denmark through business models that generate profit continuously on a recurring basis, such as software as a service (SaaS) offerings.

Specifically, KMD has a strong customer base among central and local governments and has a variety of software for supporting the digitization of Denmark, which is the top ranking country in the "UN E-Government Survey 2018," announced by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. In addition, KMD has a successful track record of executing strategic M&A which has broadened its service offering in a number of key verticals.

“Denmark and the United Kingdom are considered European role models for the implementation of unified digital government measures in order to improve administrative services and reduce costs,” said Takashi Niino, president and CEO, NEC. “Through this acquisition, NEC will acquire a business model that leverages platforms in the digital government domain as it aims to expand business from northern Europe to the whole of Europe and globally.”

NEC expects its AI technologies, "NEC the WISE" and its biometric technologies, “Bio-IDiom” to be among the areas of great mutual opportunity.

Furthermore, NEC will promote the global reach of KMD's software by utilizing the NEC Group's sales channels, including the mutual sale of software between KMD and UK-based Northgate Public Services Limited, which NEC acquired this January.

IDG’s 2018 Customer Engagement Survey explores content preferences and connecting with sales during the purchase process

IDG Communications explores the role of content consumption and sales enablement during the technology purchase process in the 2018 Customer Engagement research.

The majority of organizations (93 percent) have digital business plans, with most finding themselves in the exploratory phase, making tech investments a key priority. Unfortunately, technology vendors are often missing the mark in their content development; only 40 percent of content downloaded by IT decision-makers (ITDMs) is considered valuable.

IDG’s 2018 Customer Engagement Survey was conducted among the audiences of eight IDG brands (CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, ITworld Macworld, Network World and PCWorld) representing IT and security decision-makers across multiple industries.

The survey was fielded online with the objective of understanding the various types and volume of content consumed throughout the purchase process for major technology products and services. It also looks to gain insight into the preferences of IT decisions-makers with regard to IT solution provider contact and follow-up during the purchase process. Results are based on 1,200+ global tech decision-maker respondents.

Over the past six months, 92 percent of ITDMs have registered for tech content, and insights on security, cloud and IT services have topped the list in their searches. With a remarkable amount of content available, 93 percent of ITDMs prefer content that is tailored for them: 54 percent would like the content tailored based on their industry; and 49 percent by technology platforms already installed in their organization.

When content is considered valuable, additional steps in self-education are taken, including research on technology content sites (64 percent), visiting the vendor website (63 percent), and participating in a product demo (50 percent).

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While content can introduce prospects to a company or product, and lead them through the purchase process, it can also cause them to abandon their research of a specific vendor.

Factors leading to abandonment issues include, promotional/self-serving content (51 percent); not enough content available to do research on their own (48 percent); content is not clear (47 percent); too many requirements to download (44 percent); and level of expertise in content is not at the right level (42 percent).

“Content and educational tools can both positively and negatively impact the likelihood of a sale,” said Julie Ekstrom, SVP, IDG Communications, Inc. “Vendors need to invest in content that navigates tech decision-makers through the purchase process. If they do not, they risk negatively impacting the impression of their organization for three-quarters of decision-makers.”

ITDMs still rely on traditional content formats like product demos/literature, product tests and reviews, and tech news, but as more ITDMs are watching webcasts (96 percent) and listening to podcasts (74 percent), it increases the importance of a multi-channel content approach. Not all webcasts are valued the same, as 51 percent of ITDMs prefer webcasts on-demand, aligning to their busy and changing schedules.

Additionally, 60 percent of ITDMs prefer to download podcasts to listen to later. To keep them hooked, podcast producers should consider interactive formats such as panel discussions or interviews.

Social media continues to be a channel ITDMs use to learn about tech topics, with 93 percent of tech professionals using social media for work. LinkedIn continues to hold the top ranking; however, YouTube has shown significant growth with 67 percent of ITDMs using this channel, compared to 46 percent in 2017.

LinkedIn and YouTube are not just the top used social channels, they are the social channels where content is most often consumed. However, when it comes to sharing and posting content, LinkedIn and Facebook rank the highest.

IBM strengthens Samsung partnership to include 7nm chip manufacturing process

IBM announced an agreement with Samsung to manufacture 7-nanometer (nm) microprocessors for IBM Power Systems, IBM Z and LinuxONE, high-performance computing (HPC) systems, and cloud offerings.

The agreement combines Samsung's semiconductor manufacturing with IBM's high-performance CPU designs. This combination is being designed to drive unmatched systems performance, including acceleration, memory and I/O bandwidth, encryption and compression speed, as well as system scaling.

It positions IBM and Samsung as partners leading the new era of high-performance computing specifically designed for AI.

This announcement also expands and extends the 15-year strategic process technology R&D partnership between the two companies which, as part of IBM's Research Alliance, includes many industry firsts such as the first NanoSheet Device innovation for sub 5nm, the production of the industry's first 7nm test chip and the High-K Metal Gate foundry manufacturing.

IBM's Research Alliance ecosystem continues to define the leadership roadmap for the semiconductor industry.

"At IBM, our first priority is our clients," said John Acocella, vice president of enterprise systems and technology development for IBM Systems. "IBM selected Samsung to build our next generation of microprocessors because they share our level of commitment to the performance, reliability, security, and innovation that will position our clients for continued success on the next generation of IBM hardware."

"We are excited to expand our decade-long strategic relationship with IBM with our 7nm EUV process technology," said Ryan Lee, vice president of foundry marketing at Samsung Electronics. "This collaboration is an important milestone for Samsung's foundry business as it signifies confidence in Samsung's cutting-edge high performance EUV process technology."

MIT study discovers that Asia is set to become favourite AI destination

MIT Technology Review Insights released details from a study that placed Asia as a frontrunner in the development and adoption of artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has quite possibly been the most widely discussed technology theme of 2018. The projections for how these new big data, machine learning and automation capabilities will transform cities, companies, and societies are startling, and causing policymakers and business leaders around the world to plan for a future where AI is a core competency.

Experts increasingly view technological readiness, particularly having a sophisticated AI base, as a determinant of future competitiveness for nations and for companies.

Asian governments have ambitious plans for leadership in the AI era, and this white paper explores the success they are having in building fertile ecosystems that will attract much-needed AI talent and capital, as well as allowing companies to apply AI quickly and effectively across their organizations.

MIT Technology Review Insights surveyed 871 Asia-based senior executives to gather perspectives, and conducted in-depth interviews with more than a dozen global experts in the field.

From China to Japan, Singapore to India, policymakers across Asia are developing national-level plans for how AI can be used to enhance domestic and regional competitiveness, which include public and private sector collaboration.

Asia has credible potential for becoming a front runner in the AI era. Business leaders in Asia are positive about the AI resources available in the region, particularly the availability of data and quality of talent. More can be done to bolster the R&D environment, and governments can still provide greater support.

China is rapidly applying AI, but basic research lags. The abundance of data, firm government push, and highly innovative tech companies give China a distinct advantage in applying AI to a variety of domains, such as healthcare and finance, and across mobile platforms. Yet foundational research can be strengthened by further integrating private sector and academic R&D.

Building digital economies and digital societies is a key to competitiveness. Asia’s domestic challenges and industries are providing focal points for the development of AI. In southeast Asia, this is taking shape in economic future-proofing, through a networking effect that stems from investments in startups, matching business problem statements with research talent, and developing a broad base of AI knowledge.

The big issues include securing foundational assets and managing AI’s evolution. To become self-sufficient in the advancement of AI, Asia must strengthen its research environment and underlying capabilities, such as chipmaking and supercomputing strength. Additionally, policymakers need to tackle tricky questions such as how to manage the social contract between citizens (the creators of data) and the companies that capture it.

Kaspersky Lab Research shows that 32 percent of shoppers have had their financial information compromised

Kaspersky Lab released a report, which revealed that one-in-three people (32 percent) who shop online experienced a financial incident in the past year, despite the vast majority of shoppers (93 percent) stating that they are aware of the danger of financial cyber-threats.

With millions of people making purchases online this holiday season, this research sought to examine consumers’ attitudes and habits towards their money and digital security.

Online shopping is one of the most popular internet activities for consumers. The holidays in particular are a time of unrestrained shopping for many, starting with Black Friday and Cyber Monday in November, and continuing throughout January with post-holiday sales. However, this means that cybercriminals targeting consumers’ banking credentials or online shopping accounts could also hit the jackpot this season.

Even browsing for products has become a popular pastime, with most consumers resorting to this form of entertainment during lunch breaks, while commuting to work, or when sitting in front of the television.

It is hardly surprising then, that retailers try to entice us into buying by putting their best bargains online. And with more than £747 billion spent in just five countries during the festive season in 2017, digital spending will be crucial to retailers making a profit this Christmas.

The e-commerce boom has made it easy to spend money online with every type of retailer present – right from those selling groceries and gifts, through to paying service providers or buying a boat. The possibilities are endless and the choice of payment options is growing.

However, once upon time, this was far from the case.

For example, auction website eBay has encouraged both buyers and sellers to use PayPal off the back of a strategic partnership for the last 15 years. The majority of retailers are now happy to use whatever payment method consumers prefer in order to prevent the loss of a possible sale. From credit card transactions and bank transfers, to cryptocurrency, subscriptions, and loyalty points, consumers can now pay for goods and services in more ways than ever before.

Kaspersky Lab’s research found that half of people (52 percent) are worried about being vulnerable when purchasing products or making financial transactions online. These concerns, unfortunately, are well founded, as just 20 percent of respondents stated that they know what to look for to verify a payment website’s security.

Furthermore, these threats can have significant consequences; out of the 32 percent of shoppers who have had financial credentials compromised in the last year, a quarter (26 percent) of them were never refunded their money.

Faced with a seemingly endless supply of e-commerce sites, it’s no surprise that many shoppers struggle to keep all of their online payment login information under control. Just 48 percent of people said that they are able to remember login details for all of the websites where they have made an online payment.

Additionally, with the rise of subscription services that offer easy access to television shows, clothes and more for a monthly fee, some shoppers are also losing track of their spending on these sites. A third of people (32 percent) surveyed said that they do not always remember every service or automated payment to which they have subscribed.

To help consumers find and remember payment details, one-in-five (20 percent) store this information on their devices. While this can make submitting credentials more convenient when shopping online, it can also put the user at significant risk of losing their money if this information is stored in an insecure way, such as in the smartphone’s notes functionality.

IDC finds that Middle East, Africa & Turkey wearable devices segment garners strong growth

Research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) released on Modnay that shipments of wearable devices in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META) region reached 1.13 million units in the third quarter of 2018 (Q3 2018).

The global technology research and consulting firm's Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker shows that shipments were up 77.6 percent on the corresponding period of 2017, and up 50.0 percent on the previous quarter.

The market witnessed various new product launches in the third quarter of 2018 from brands such as Fitbit, Huawei, and Garmin, which all helped spur growth in the basic wearables category.

A large number of shipments from Xiaomi, particularly to Turkey and the UAE, was another driver of basic wearables growth in the region. Xiaomi launched its first flagship store in Turkey and shipped large number of basic wearables to the country, alongside other consumer devices such as PCs and smartphones.

"The basic wearables category has been growing for a number of years now and the new features and functionalities added to the basic watch category are proving attractive to the first-time users," says Ayse Kaptanoglu, a senior research analyst within IDC's devices group. "These users will invest in upgrades over the coming years as they become used to the convenience of using smart wearable devices. As such, the market presents a clear opportunity for new players, which is why various fashion brands are now looking to enter this space and tap into the growing demand."

"However, affordability remains the biggest issue in the META region," continues Kaptanoglu. "Most countries are price sensitive due to fluctuating exchange rates, rising inflation, low consumer confidence, and other unfavorable macroeconomic conditions, all of which are causing some consumers to postpone their purchases. While demand for connectivity will spur the market for smart wearables, which are mainly supplied by Apple and Samsung, pricing will play a critical role in determining buyer behavior in this space. Despite these issues, IDC expects the young population's strong interest in new technologies to keep demand for wearables alive in the region."

Tangoe releases its 2019 enterprise mobility trends and predictions with security, AI, 5G set to fuel change

Tangoe revealed its predictions for the technologies that will have the biggest impact on enterprise mobility in 2019. As mobile technology evolves in unexpected ways, businesses will begin to take advantage of and utilize digital transformation initiatives.

As more organizations launch AI initiatives, they will look to enterprise mobility data governance to make information more visible, understandable, and ultimately usable. To store and safeguard this data successfully, a mix of public, private, and data center-based cloud networks will be incorporated in mobility management. Enterprises will also invest in edge computing solutions to process analytics in real-time.

Technology leaders believe that two-thirds of employees will experience consistent 5G connectivity by 2020. As 5G connectivity rolls out, 2019 will see a rise in cost-effective as-a-Service packages and new companies providing network connectivity—especially for rural communities.

Data will become a crucial component in accelerating digital transformation. With a cutting-edge analysis platform, digital transformation leaders will be able to uncover insights and optimize stored data. However, with new regulations such as the GDPR, enterprises will be held more accountable than ever for their data vulnerabilities, causing industries to seek more efficient and secure data management solutions.

As security becomes an increased concern for organizations and consumers alike, 2019 will bring an increase in access security technologies such as advanced facial recognition, scanless security features, enhanced biometrics, and zero trust cybersecurity.

The as-a-Service industry will grow in 2019 and, with this, companies will be able to choose capabilities that best align with their organizational objectives. This will enable organizations to maximize the impact of new devices, accelerate procurement cycles, and increase customer responsiveness. Ultimately, this leads to an expansion in IT budgets to accommodate these new services and offerings.

“The technology landscape is constantly shifting with the introduction of new devices and ever-changing employee expectations, and 2019 will be no different.” said Josh Garrett, president of MMS at Tangoe. “As new technologies like 5G and AI evolve, enterprise mobility programs will change alongside them. Tangoe looks forward to helping our customers align their mobile technology to organizational strategies and the market needs of tomorrow.”

StreamSets adopts InfluxDB for Time Series data collection and analysis for multi-pipeline dataflows

InfluxData announced its inclusion in the StreamSets DataOps platform. StreamSets customers adopting StreamSets Dataflow Performance Manager (DPM) have two options featuring the InfluxData platform for handling time series data within either open source InfluxDB or InfluxEnterprise for projects requiring clustering.

StreamSets DPM offers advanced dataflow management, including Data SLAs for availability, accuracy and data privacy; as well as tracking of historical performance across data pipeline versions.

Together, InfluxData and StreamSets present a unique offering for provisioning, testing, and scaling complex dataflows, with optimized handling of time series data, which is a key component in cloud-native application infrastructure workloads.

StreamSets built its initial multi-cloud DataOps platform for modern data integration, helping enterprises to continuously flow big, streaming and traditional data to their data scientists and data-intensive applications. It uniquely handles data drift, those frequent and unexpected changes to data that break pipelines and damage data integrity.

The platform combines the open source StreamSets Data Collector for execution of any-to-any pipelines (the data plane) with cloud-native StreamSets Control Hub for the design, monitoring and performance management of multi-pipeline topologies (the control plane).

“At InfluxData, our focus is twofold – building the highest performance time series platform in the world and minimizing developers’ Time to Awesome,” said Brian Mullen, VP of Business Development at InfluxData. “StreamSets is single-handedly defining the DataOps market for enterprise data integration. We are thrilled to be working with their world-class product team to serve this massive market opportunity, bringing simplicity and performance for time series data to StreamSets developers.”

“As enterprises continuously deploy and scale out their cloud-native architectures, there is a geometric increase in the variety of data sources and the volume of data in motion,” said Harikiran Nayak, Director of Engineering at StreamSets. “StreamSets enables companies to efficiently develop and operate data movement across multi-platform hybrid infrastructures, yet remain agile in the face of change. In InfluxData, we have integrated a first-class system to handle this relentless, ever-growing stream of time series data in order to maximize performance for our DPM users.”

The companies have entered into an OEM partnership agreement, in which StreamSets will distribute InfluxData products in specific editions of its platform, sold to customers around the world.

Broadcom updates FibreChannel with SAN management; increases operational efficiencies, delivers actionable information, simplified processes

Broadcom announced new SAN management platforms, Brocade SANnav Management Portal and Brocade SANnav Global View that delivers a dynamic, comprehensive, and faster SAN management experience.

In addition, Broadcom announced a new replication connectivity solution, the Brocade 7810 Extension Switch that moves more data faster over distance to meet demanding disaster recovery requirements.

Enterprises are faced with large amounts of operational data points and increased infrastructure complexity that can be overwhelming to manage. In fact, according to ESG’s research, 68 percent of IT decision makers say that IT is more complex than it was just two years ago.

To address this complexity, Brocade SANnav Management Portal and SANnav Global View provides visibility across multiple SAN fabrics, transforms SAN behavior and performance data into actionable insights, and reduces administrative tasks through automation. This enables administrators to associate real-time data with historical metrics and logs for in-depth analysis to spot trends, establish baselines, and identify any behavioral changes over time.

These advanced capabilities accelerate administrative tasks by simplifying workflows and automating redundant steps, making it easier for organizations to realize their goal of an autonomous SAN.

SANnav Management Portal captures SAN telemetry data and contextualizes this data into visual dashboards, enabling administrators to quickly detect and isolate points of interest for both troubleshooting and performance optimization.

For large organizations with multiple SANs within a data center or spread across the globe, Brocade SANnav Global View allows administrators to understand the health of their SAN resources, and navigate from a holistic view down to the individual fabrics and switches in a specific local environment.

Brocade SANnav Management Portal is a next-generation SAN management application, architected from the ground up with a simple browser-based user interface (UI) and with a focus on streamlining common workflows, such as configuration, zoning, deployment, troubleshooting, and reporting. It also increases operational efficiencies with a modernized graphical user interface (GUI) that enables enhanced monitoring capabilities, faster troubleshooting, and advanced analytics.

With Brocade SANnav Global View, administrators can visualize the health, performance, and inventory of multiple SANnav Management Portal instances using a simple, intelligent dashboard. In addition, they can easily navigate from a global view down to local environments to investigate points of interest. Important events across all local environments are propagated at a global level for instant visibility in the alerts box.

Using the search capabilities within SANnav Global View, administrators can then seamlessly navigate across instances and drill down into any individual SANnav Management Portal instance for additional details.

Brocade Gen 6 Fibre Channel hardware includes integrated network sensors that non-disruptively gather millions of real-time metrics that SANnav Management Portal uses to identify, monitor, and analyze the overall health and performance of the SAN. This data is then contextualized into dashboards that can be used to quickly detect and isolate problems.

At a glance, administrators have actionable intelligence on the overall health of their fabric, switches, servers, and storage, which they can view in the form of summary health score circles. The summary health score circles help administrators identify areas that require further investigation. Administrators can drill down from each dashboard into investigation mode to further examine any relevant data for performance optimization or troubleshooting.