Summary Bullets:

• GlobalData’s February 2023 report highlights how IT service providers play a key role in delivering IoT services for enterprises, eliminating many cost and complexity barriers with a one-stop shop, providing access to leading vendors for IoT use case and vertical expertise, and offering consulting and professional services to smooth the deployment path.

• Recent acquisitions of technology vendors as well as new partnerships in adjacent digital transformation technologies to IoT enhanced the ability of ITSPs to positively effect market growth and successful deployment outcomes.

IT service providers (ITSPs) play an important role in delivering IoT services to enterprises, offering a way to deal with cost and complexity barriers with a one-stop shop, provide access to a set of technology and go-to-market partners for key use cases and verticals, and provide consulting and professional services to smooth the path for hesitant customers. Over the last six months, acquisitions and technology partnerships enhanced this proposition, adding capabilities in adjacent technologies to IoT such as AI, machine learning, and digital twins, as well as gaining expertise (and existing customers) in relevant verticals such as manufacturing, warehousing, and supply chain management.

Continue reading “IT Service Providers Bring IoT to the Next Level” →

Summary Bullets:

• GlobalData’s report on global enterprise mobility services highlights a dynamic market. After several years in which offerings such as unified endpoint management and telecom expense management had commoditized and remained static, 2022 was an encouraging year.

• 5G services, edge computing, fixed wireless access, mobile private networks, and a sustainable spin on device lifecycle management were among the key enhancements.

2022 stood out as a time when new connectivity options became more widely available, including public and private 5G; edge computing for low latency and workload optimization began to bear fruit; integration of wireline security operations with unified endpoint management (UEM) became more commonplace; new initiatives were launched linking sustainability with device lifecycle management, and fixed wireless access (FWA) for businesses gained traction. Mobile private networks also continued to gain traction with new reference customers, use cases, and vertical opportunities.

Continue reading “Enterprise Mobility Services on the Rise Energized by 5G, Private Networks, and Sustainable Device Lifecycle Management” →

Summary Bullets:

• Nokia’s Q2 2022 disclosures about its private cellular network market performance provide insights on the overall market, which is seen as a significant growth opportunity by a diverse cast of characters.

• Nokia experienced a slower new-customer growth rate over the last two quarters than in 2021. The company notes regional, seasonal, and go-to-market disparities with some verticals slower to adopt than others.

Nokia transparently discloses details of its private cellular wireless market performance to analysts each quarter, which not only provides insights on the vendor’s momentum, but also enlightens us with information on enablers and challenges that likely apply to most providers. As so many vendors and service providers see private cellular as a major growth opportunity, Nokia’s insights may help explain why the market is still at an early stage of enterprise adoption and why some provider segments appear to be doing better than others in gaining large numbers of new customers and associated revenues.

Continue reading “Nokia Private Cellular Networks Results Point to Market Challenges” →

Summary Bullets:

• GlobalData’s new report (please see ”Private LTE/5G Network Services”) profiles AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, and BT. These operators announced new wins/deals and diverse technology and use case-specific alliances over the last six months.

• Announcements disclose not only the expanded use of private cellular by customers, but also plans to deploy 5G more widely, leverage technologies such as AR/VR and edge, and to deploy low-latency applications.

Private LTE/5G network services are offered by leading mobile operators and are aimed at business customers looking for dedicated connectivity, security, and data privacy combined with the flexibility of cellular technology and its support for advanced use cases within industrial manufacturing sites and other geographically constrained environments such as utilities, mines, ports, and campuses. Many of these businesses are leveraging private 4G; others are deploying or planning to use 5G to take advantage of its high speeds and low latency, often in combination with edge computing. Private 5G is also positioned as a follow-on and/or complement to in-building/campus WiFi networks. Leading mobile operators are gaining new customers from private networks and anticipate substantial future revenues for connectivity, as well as value-added services such as design, testing, proofs of concept, integration, application enablement, edge computing, and ongoing management. According to the Global Mobile Suppliers Association, there are 889 commercial deployments of private cellular networks globally, including only one deployment per customer per country.

Continue reading “US and European Operators See Private Cellular Network Traction” →