Unstructured Data Storage is Getting Expensive

Some 35 percent of more than 300 global information technology professionals surveyed by Komprise say unstructured data is growing too fast and getting too expensive to store and backup. Some argue edge computing will help if it can prioritize data and process it locally, eliminating the need to store irrelevant data, either locally or at remote locations.

According to the survey, 65 percent of organizations spend more than 30 percent of their IT budgets on data storage and management: One-third (33 percent) are spending 30-40 percent of IT budget on storage and data protection, while 31 percent are spending more than 40 percent of their total IT budget on storage. 

Unstructured data includes files that aren’t stored in a structured database format, such as surveillance data, geo-spatial data, audio, weather data; documents such as invoices, records, email, productivity applications or sensor data. 

Unstructured data also includes social media; websites; mobile data: text messages, location data; instant messages; podcasts; photos; audio and video files. 

Structured data sources include customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, sales and finance data or event registrations that are in database format. So structured data is standardized. 

source: ORI 

By most estimates, up to 80 percent of all data is unstructured.  

source: Oracle 

Unstructured data--in documents, social media, emails, audio/visual files, open-ended response fields, notes fields, and other forms of content--is not easily analyzed using standard data analytics tools.

Managed Edge Services Revenue Perhaps $2.8 Billion Globally by 2025

Global revenues for  managed edge services will reach $445.3 million in 2021, an increase of 43.5 percent over 2020. Over the 2021 to 2025 forecast period, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for managed edge services is expected to be 55.1 percent, reaching total global revenues of perhaps $2.8 billion by 2025.

If so, managed services might represent about 10 percent of the total market for edge computing hardware, software, platforms and connectivity or computing services.   

IDC believes public cloud providers, or hyperscalers, will be key enablers of edge services.

How Connectivity Providers Can Add IoT Value

There is a route for adding new value to internet of things business operations, argue researchers at Beecham Research, in a paper prepared for Sierra Wireless. That path corresponds to the way greater value can be added to any connectivity-oriented service, others might add.

To the extent that solutions to business problems ultimately drive the value of any information technology or communications investment by enterprises and businesses, the more complete and simple a solution, the higher the value to the customer. 

In other words, people want connections with other people, so they buy iPhones, not chipsets.  People want transportation, so they buy automobiles, not tires, batteries and engines. 

Though all IP communications require access to IP networks, and therefore internet service provider connections, nobody buys broadband except as a means to use higher-value applications for communications, e-commerce, entertainment, discovery or learning. 

Beecham researchers argue that  “as the application becomes more important to the business operations, it is increasingly important to manage all aspects of the connectivity (Connectivity Management) to ensure the application is not disrupted by the connection being broken, not working correctly or being hacked.”

Beecham Research, Sierra Wireless

In other words, a mission-critical function requires mission-critical reliability. And that might extend beyond the physical internet connection to the device and the applications and insight  built on the generated data. 

There is another way to phrase this observation: value is generated at many points in a complete value chain, for IoT or any other solution or product. Entities can generate more value and revenue by supplying greater portions of the value chain. 

Most firms that are leaders in any segment of the computing and communications ecosystems eventually find they must consider moving into new segments of their existing value chains to maintain growth. “Up the stack” or “across the value chain” are typical options. 

For suppliers positioned high in the value stack (application providers, for example) movement down the value chain also makes sense. The older notion of “vertical integration” applies, even when there is no attempt to completely vertically integrate operations. 

For connectivity providers, the movement is almost always going to involve moving up the stack, from physical layer IP connectivity towards application and platform supply roles. It almost never makes much sense to integrate “lower” in the value chain by becoming a manufacturer of radios, cable, fittings, connectors,  servers, chipsets or other infrastructure used to create and support IP connections.

Fixed Wireless Might Dwarf IoT and Edge Computing Revenues Earned by Mobile Operators

As important as edge computing might be, as a revenue growth driver for mobile operators, revenue contributions might be relatively slight for some time. The same might be said for the revenue contributions made by internet of things services as well.

In 2024, it is conceivable that  IoT connectivity revenues for mobile operators globally could  be in the low millions to tens of millions of dollars, according to Machina Research. Millions, not billions. 

In 2026 the global multi-access edge computing market might generate $1.72 billion. Even if one assumes all that revenue is connectivity revenue booked by mobile operators, it still is a far smaller new revenue stream than fixed wireless represents. 

By way of comparison, consider 5G fixed wireless services. It is not cutting edge or buzzy. it is consumer revenue in most cases, rather than enterprise or business revenue. Fixed wireless, always a niche in the access business, does not inherently create revenue in computing-related new areas.

Still, in the near term--five years or so--5G fixed wireless might be the most-tangible new revenue stream most mobile operators can hope for.

Assume there are 75 million 5G fixed wireless connections in service by about 2026. Since most 5G consumer mobility accounts will replace a 4G connection, there is relatively little incremental revenue upside, even if 5G accounts wind up generating higher average revenue than a 4G account, for any reason. 

source: Ericsson

5G fixed wireless connections could--in many cases--provide significant incremental revenue growth, allowing mobile operators to compete for home broadband accounts now largely the province of fixed network operators. 

Assume global gross national income gross national income per capita of about $11,600 and a monthly home broadband cost of five percent of GNI per capita. That is about $580 in annual revenue per line. 

So 75 million new fixed wireless accounts represents perhaps $43.5 billion in new annual revenue for mobile service providers. That can take the form of new accounts or market share taken from other suppliers. 

To put that into perspective, consider projected revenue for other new services.

In 2020 there were perhaps 80 million fixed wireless subscriptions in service. Researchers at Mobile Experts see that number growing to almost 200 million by 2026. 

Ericsson notes that more than 70 percent of all service providers now offer fixed wireless access   services. Ericsson also predicts that fixed wireless connections will exceed 180 million by the end of 2026.

By 2026, assuming these forecasts are accurate, fixed wireless will represent about 12 percent of fixed network broadband connections, Ericsson estimates.  

Keep in mind that the incremental revenue from 75 million 5G fixed wireless connections does not include the revenue from 4G fixed wireless connections, which might represent another 110 million connections. 

That represents an additional $104.3 billion in annual revenue, assuming a global average of $48 per month, per line. 

 

source: Mobile Experts 

The point is that incremental revenue from 5G fixed wireless is likely to dwarf new revenues earned by mobile operators from edge computing and internet of things.

5G Architecture was Developed to Support IoT, Dense Device Populations

There is a good reason why one of the design goals for 5G was vastly-increased ability to support huge device density. 5G was intended to support internet of things sensors that often would be deployed in huge numbers.

Consider present use of IoT devices in hospitals. A survey by Philips found that device populations can easily exceed 1000 to 10,000 devices at a single location. Some 56 percent of locations already have more than 10,000 devices in operation, up to 50,000 or more. 

4G networks can handle a maximum of about 100,000 devices per square kilometer (an area of about 0.46 miles). 5G is designed to handle a million devices per square kilometer. 

 

source: Cybermdx 

Blockchain Immutability - Why does it matter?

IoT Device Density in Hospitals Already Exceeds 10,000 Devices in 56% of Cases

There is a good reason why one of the design goals for 5G was vastly-increased ability to support huge device density. 5G was intended to support internet of things sensors that often would be deployed in huge numbers.

Consider present use of IoT devices in hospitals. A survey by Philips found that device populations can easily exceed 1000 to 10,000 devices at a single location. Some 56 percent of locations already have more than 10,000 devices in operation, up to 50,000 or more. 

4G networks can handle a maximum of about 100,000 devices per square kilometer (an area of about 0.46 miles). 5G is designed to handle a million devices per square kilometer. 

 

source: Cybermdx 

In Industrial Settings, It Might be Hard to Separate AR, AI, Edge Computing and 5G Value

Augmented reality is a touted potential benefit of edge computing. In fact, many enterprises had been using AR since at least 2018 for training applications. That suggests we could see many more such use cases in broader settings.

But AR also is easier for some use cases when IoT sensing also is available and edge computing also is available, showing the interplay of a complex of new technologies enabling value from IoT, edge computing, artificial intelligence and 5G (private and public), all interworking.

That might be true for organizations in industrial settings conducting remote diagnostics and adjustment. One study by Forrester Research of PTC’s “Vuforia” industrial AR system found return on investment in the form of 50-percent-reduced training time; 60-percent-faster document creation time and a reduction in overtime payments between 10 percent and 12 percent.

The usual caveats apply. It is not clear that any one innovation drives organization results by itself. We cannot tell whether firms that are "best in class" are better at most things, or whether a particular innovation produces the results change.

In other words, maybe "best" firms adopt new technologies more effectively, rather than new technologies producing better outcomes by themselves.

source: Forrester Research

Also, industrial AR often relies on a complex of new technologies, all introduced together: 5G, AI, AR and edge computing, for example. Observed results might be produced only when all are used together, and are gainfully producing measurable results in business operations.

In other words, IoT allows real-time or near-real-time data collection. Whether that is translated into dynamic process reconfiguration or integrated into other business functions is another issue.

As early as 2018, surveys of enterprises made by Aberdeen Group had found 72 percent  of “best-in-class” organizations already use internet of things sensors and systems to capture and share diagnostics data with off-site stakeholders.

Specifically, 67 percent of users of augmented reality technology use IoT specifically as a means to conduct remote repairs.

Those firms also used augmented reality. Researchers at Aberdeen Group found that AR-powered knowledge sharing is being employed by 25 percent of “best-in-class” firms.

AR-powered on-site guides were used by 31 percent of best-in-class organizations. Eventually, one might hope, AR will be used not only to train but to aid technicians in the process of making repairs, for example, especially remote repairs.

 source: Aberdeen Group, PTC

Aberdeen argues that AR is a tool to improve the quality and consistency of customer support, as well as reduce service technician turnover.

On average, organizations are seeing technician turnover of 31.5 percent, Aberdeen Group has found. To add to this problem, an increasing number of service technicians are contracted (an average of 26.4 percent), meaning less consistency in service delivery, and more short-term labor that needs to be quickly on-boarded and trained.

Organizations with higher-than-average turnover see a 14 percent lower first-time fix rate compared to firms with lower turnover (52 percent compared to 66 percent). 

High-turnover companies also see customer Organizations with higher-than-average turnover see a 14 percent lower first-time fix rate compared to firms with lower turnover. v3 3 retention at a mere 60 percent, compared to 72 percent for those with lower than-average turnover, Aberdeen Group researchers say. 

Verizon Adds 3 More Cities to AWS Wavelength Service

Verizon has added its edge computing capabilities in Chicago, Houston and Phoenix, bringing to 13 the number of U.S. cities where the AWS Wavelength edge computing service is available. The new Wavelength zones mean Verizon 5G customers can access the AWS edge computing facilities using the Verizon 5G network.

source: AWS 

That typically is useful for applications requiring ultra-low latency.

Australia and New Zealand IoT Will be Led by Manufacturing Use Cases

 Internet of Things (IoT) spending in Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ) is forecast to surpass US$14.3 billion in 2021, delivering an annual growth rate of 10.4 percent, according to IDC researchers. 

Assuming the use cases remain roughly as they presently are, enterprise applications will be 90 percent of the IoT total. Manufacturing might represent 30 percent of IoT spending with utility and transportation uses at about 11 percent and nine percent of total IoT volume. 

source: IDC