Latest News & Executive Interviews
Gartner Says Global Chip Shortage Expected to Persist Until Second Quarter of 2022
The worldwide semiconductor shortage will persist through 2021, and is expected to recover to normal levels by the second quarter of 2022. The chip shortage started primarily with devices, such as power management, display devices and microcontrollers, fabricated on legacy nodes at 8-inch foundry fabs, which have a limited supply. The shortage has now extended to other devices, and there are capacity constraints and shortages for substrates, wire bonding, passives, materials, and testing, all of which are parts of the supply chain beyond chip fabs.
BCG: One in Five North American Public Companies Remains Under Financial or Operational Stress
Despite the apparent recovery from the effects of the pandemic, about 22% of North American public companies were not financially or operationally stable at the end of Q12021. Of these companies, 20% were stressed, meaning underperforming industry peers or experiencing pressure from internal or external sources, and 2% were distressed, meaning having trouble meeting financial obligations or experiencing severe operational challenges.
Rising SOX Compliance Hours and Costs Underscore Need for Technology Enablement, Finds New Protiviti Survey
While most organizations continue to spend more hours on their SOX compliance activities year-over-year, digital leaders have reported experiencing a lesser impact of increasing hours, which suggests they are gaining advantages through greater use of technology (including automation) in the SOX compliance process. 51% of survey respondents utilized technology tools in the testing of controls for their fiscal year, marking a yearly increase of 5%.
ABI Research: RIC Will Upset Telco Applecarts as it Becomes the Operating System for Future 5G RAN
O-RAN ALLIANCE aims to reshape Radio Access Network (RAN) deployment toward more intelligent, virtualized, and multi-vendor interposable strategies. RAN RIC will disrupt the status quo and create new opportunities for a wider ecosystem to join this segment of the market by helping operators save Total Cost Ownership and users optimized Quality of Experience . Analysts expect the trend of standard RIC deployment to dominate the market around 2024 and 2025.
Data Centers Set to Increase Their Capacity by 20 Million Square Feet in 2021, New Findings From Omdia
The top 35 cloud and colocation service providers opened 10 million square feet of data center capacity in 2H20 according to Omdia’s latest Cloud & Colocation Data Center Building Tracker, despite lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 51% of the new capacity was brought online by colocation service providers and 48% by cloud service providers.
Frost & Sullivan: Airports to be Fastest-growing Critical Infrastructure Sector to Invest in Cybersecurity by 2030
While corporate and consumer businesses remain popular marks for cyberattacks, critical infrastructure facilities have become increasingly viable threat targets. They are highly vulnerable to major operational disruptions. Despite critical infrastructure organizations remaining far behind where they should be in cyber maturity, the cybersecurity market is estimated to reach $24.22 billion by 2030.
CIO.com Virtual Roundtable: Establishing A Strategic Foundation For Modern Data Fabric Across Hybrid Multi-cloud Infrastructures
The majority of IT organizations in mid- to large-sized organizations are now using a complex combination of services that are constantly evolving in response to the introduction of new technologies and changing business requirements. Optimizing data management across hybrid, multi-cloud infrastructure environments is increasingly recognized as a critical area of competency.
With 681 Million 5G Handsets Set to Ship in 2022, Mobile Device Vendors Scramble for Differentiation, states ABI Research
5G mobile device models are becoming more diverse and being brought to market more quickly at a wide variety of price points, accelerating affordability and adoption. The mobile market is quickly transitioning to 5G and many leading OEMs are pushing ever-deeper into the lower-priced 5G smartphone segment. The race is on for OEMs to find that all-important level of differentiation to help boost margins and market share.
Parks Associates: 37% of US Broadband Households Interested in Services That Monitor Network Traffic and Devices on the Network for Malicious Behavior
Research firm Parks Associates finds that 16% of US broadband households report that home network problems have disrupted their work-at-home activities during COVID-19 and that 37% are interested in a service that monitors network traffic and devices on the network for malicious behavior.
Digital Television: State of the Nation 2021; New Findings From Futuresource Consulting
In these unprecedented times, television’s prominence as a link to the outside world has strengthened, becoming the primary source of entertainment for many. Inevitably, households became a battleground for the big screen. Viewers have been spending significantly more money last year on new TVs, additional sets and extra audio equipment to optimise viewing experiences, as well as keeping family members at peace.
Gaming PCs and Monitors Market in Asia/Pacific Experienced Record Growth of 12.3% in 2020, says IDC
The COVID-19 pandemic had caused lockdown in all markets throughout 2020, and it had helped to create opportunities for many consumer technologies – especially gaming-related devices (PCs and Monitors). According to IDC, the gaming PC market (Desktops and Notebooks) and monitor market in the APeJ region posted a 12.3% year-over-year (YoY) increase in 2020 – reaching 21.7M units.
Investors Are Betting on “Deep Tech” Unicorn Startups Aimed at Major Social Problems; New Findings From BCG
The goal of deep tech is to offer breakthrough innovations to address sweeping problems like climate change. A new article by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Hello Tomorrow, “Meeting the Challenges of Deep Tech Investing,” notes that there are already unicorns in the field. There’s potential to accelerate this growth if a new investor model can be built.
Modernization vs Migration: The Future of SAP in the Industrial and Distribution Sector
The paths to success with SAP depend greatly on specific circumstances and market dynamics of an enterprise. This is causing organizations to develop agile, future-proof SAP strategies. A recent IDC survey revealed 96% of organizations that had already embarked on application modernization initiatives — or plan to do so in the next 18 months — expect their long-term IT strategy to be affected by the events of 2020, with cloud playing a more pivotal role in the future of their deployments.
Global Security Industry Powered by Rising Need for Niche Security Solutions and Rapid Advancements in Technology, Says Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis finds that threats posed by the proliferation of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), frictionless borders, and integrated border stations will expand this industry worldwide. Segmented into three categories—critical national infrastructure (CNI), public safety, and border security—this market is estimated to garner $230.79 billion in revenues by 2030.
68% of Enterprises Fail to Achieve Desired ROI on Digital Transformation, and Most Cite Change Resistance as Key Obstacle; New Findings From Everest Group
About 68% of enterprises that embarked upon digital transformation have not realized the envisioned outcomes, according to Everest Group. A majority of enterprises attribute this shortfall in return on investment to having an undefined or ineffective change management strategy, with 58% of enterprises citing change resistance as a key obstacle.
Fixed Broadband Traffic Growth Shows Signs of Slowing, New Findings Reported From Strategy Analytics
Strategy Analytics finds that explosive growth in consumer broadband Internet traffic is coming to an end. The Strategy Analytics Service Provider Strategies (SPS) service report, “Is Fixed Broadband Traffic Growth Slowing Down?,” predicts that annual growth in consumer broadband Internet traffic will decline by 82 percent in 2018 – 2028.
CIO Virtual Roundtable: The Role of SDN in Hybrid Multi-Cloud Data Management
Most large organizations that have been around for a while have come to the conclusion that they will continue to operate in an environment in which data centers with legacy systems coexist with private cloud and multiple public cloud resources. As leaders explore ways to automate the management of this hybrid environment, many are looking at SDN as a way to virtualize and integrate disparate assets in a scalable and manageable manner.
Despite Global Semiconductor Shortage, PC Market Continues to Surge with Expected Growth of 18.1%, According to IDC
According to a new forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, shipments of PCs are expected to grow 18.1% in 2021 with shipments of just over 357 million units. While IDC still expects PC growth to drop slightly in 2022 (-2.9%), the overall five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) remains positive at 3%
Majority of Internal Audit Groups Slow to Adopt Next-Gen Technologies and Upskill; At Risk of Becoming Obsolete, According to Protiviti Survey
Teams are still in the early stages of next-gen internal audit journeys. Amidst digital acceleration efforts perpetuated by the pandemic, internal audit teams face a more disruptive environment and demands to add value to their organizations. 66% of survey respondents report plans to increase their focus on innovation and transformation initiatives.