Gartner, Inc. defines a strategic technology trend as one with substantial disruptive potential that is beginning to break out of an emerging state into broader impact and use, or which is rapidly growing with a high degree of volatility reaching tipping points over the next five years.

Artificial intelligence, machine learning and other enablers of predictive and prescriptive analysis have laid the foundation for customer-centric network assurance strategies that will help define successful network service providers (NSPs) as we enter the next decade.

Over the past few years, the decentralized cloud market has emerged with the goal to displace public cloud service providers with cheaper, more secure blockchain-based compute and storage alternatives. ABI Research has identified the 15 hot tech innovators in the space that are already kicking up a storm in the cloud space: 0Chain, ælf, Ankr, DFINITY, Ethernity, Edge, Filecoin, iExec, Internxt, Golem, PPIO, Oasis Labs, Sia, Sonm, and Storj.

Early commercial success, mainly across select use cases such as health professional credentialing, medical billing management, personal health records (PHR), and pharma supply chain track-and-trace, will help this market cross $500 million by 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CARG) of 61.40%. While payback may not be achieved for every dollar invested by 2022, a breakeven stage is expected.

TV viewing habits are shifting from linear TV to online TV, which is accelerating the video streaming market. While subscriptions are dominating the OTT market, the live streaming market is advancing as the demand for sports and other live programming continues to grow. For superior user experience, especially in the live streaming segment, low latency streaming is becoming essential. ABI Research forecasts that live video streaming is expected to grow at a combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10% to a 91 million subscriber base in 2024.

Wearable tech continues to gather pace, building an ecosystem of connected devices and capturing consumer attention to the tune of $108 billion by 2023, according to a new industry report from Futuresource Consulting.

Less than one-fifth of HR leaders believe that performance management is effective at achieving its primary objective, according to Gartner, Inc. Though companies have been prioritizing performance management improvements for years, 81% of HR leaders are still making changes and experimenting with their organization’s performance management efforts.

Addressable TV advertising will leap from $15.6 billion in total worldwide revenue in 2019 to almost six times that value at $85.5 billion by 2025. This reflects advertising dollars switching to addressable as the platforms mature and better understood by the advertising community.

Across the Atlantic, European broadcasters have been developing their Hybrid broadcast and broadband TV (HbbTV) standard for over 10 years. Late to join this ‘living room revolution’, US broadcasters have only recently developed their own equivalent standard, known as ATSC 3.0. This delayed adherence, however, comes with its advantages. Specifically related to consumer interfaces and broadcast apps, Europe had to learn its lessons the hard way, from its own pioneering implementations.  

5G will catalyze change in the industry by enabling new business models and pave the way for new enterprise use cases, according to a new report from ABI Research. Complementary to 5G, cloud-native platforms promise operational efficiencies and new growth for Mobile Service Providers (MSPs). The market for cloudified 4G and 5G network elements is expected to reach US$20 billion by 2024, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 25%, the global tech market advisory firm finds.

By 2023, worldwide net additions of vehicles equipped with hardware that could enable autonomous driving without human supervision will reach 745,705 units, up from 137,129 units in 2018, according to Gartner, Inc. In 2019, net additions will be 332,932 units. This growth will predominantly come from North America, Greater China and Western Europe, as countries in these regions become the first to introduce regulations around autonomous driving technology.

The global market for racks in 2018 generated annual growth 3.4 percent to reach $1.5 billion in size, while the rack power distribution unit (rPDU) segment expanded by 8.9 percent to total $1.0 billion.

In the past year, blockchain has become a controversial global phenomenon, with the technology perceived as either a solution for whatever ails society or “rat poison squared” as Warren Buffet describes Bitcoin. In 2018, we are witnessing the launch of blockchains carrying commercial traffic and moving beyond proof-of-concept (PoC) demonstrations, though the selected applications have yet to demonstrate the capacity and scale of credit card networks. Blockchain-powered international trade finance coming online is just one example.

The global 5G infrastructure market size was valued at USD 720.6 Mn in 2018, is projected to reach USD 50,640.4 Mn by the end of 2026, exhibiting a CAGR of 76.29% according to a report from Fortune Business Insights.

Increasing shift towards an online platform to fuel demand in the global Quality Management Software market. The market has been witnessing the development of new technology. Fortune Business Insights has announced publishing of a report, titled “Quality Management Software Market Size, Industry Share and Growth Rate 2019-2026”.

Smart automation technologies such as robotic process automation, conversational interfaces, and cognitive automation can enable typical IT organizations to improve productivity by up to 23% while helping them reduce costs, improve effectiveness, and enhance customer experience, according to new world-class IT research from The Hackett Group, Inc.

Nearly half of all managed services contracts have a digital component, up significantly in the last two years to a record high of 48 percent in the third quarter, research from Information Services Group (ISG) shows.

As organizations continue to collect customer and employee data, chief audit executives (CAEs) are increasingly concerned about how to govern and protect it, according to Gartner, Inc., which conducted interviews and surveys from across its global network of client organizations to identify the biggest risks facing boards, audit committees and executives in 2020.