TIA Blog
Last year, for the first time, information and communications technology (ICT) industry spending grew faster in the U.S. than it did across the rest of the globe. And in fact, overall ICT spending in the U.S. leaped ahead of Europe, making our domestic market the second-largest behind only Asia.
What’s driving this dramatic growth? Data. Tons and tons of data. There is a Big Data revolution underway, and it is clear that the U.S. is leading the world in the collection, processing, storage, delivery and protection of data.
With this industry transformation as the backdrop, in early June the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) will gather ICT executives and technologists for a conference that will provide insight on the latest trends and highlight strategies for building the network of the future.
TIA’s Network of the Future Conference will help ICT leaders learn how to thrive in the midst of dramatic change. However, before looking in more detail at the discussion that will take place in June, it is important to understand where the industry is currently growing and investing.
Unprecedented ICT Growth Underway
The TIA Market Review & Forecast (MR&F) – the industry’s most comprehensive data review and analysis – shows that the ICT marketplace is in the midst of unprecedented growth and transformation. It also sets the stage for intense debate and discovery during TIA’s Network of the Future Conference.
According to the MR&F, data usage through smart phones continues to grow rapidly, especially as the LTE rollout advances and U.S. wireless infrastructure spending jump ahead. In 2013, $33.6 billion was spent on wireless infrastructure, an increase of 11.7 percent from 2012, according to TIA’s 2014 ICT Market Review & Forecast (MR&F). A total of $72 billion was spent on both wireless and wireless networks, and by 2017 that figure will rise to $86 billion.
Meanwhile, specialized services – especially cloud computing and machine-to-machine communications (M2M) – are driving the Big Data revolution, and companies are investing heavily. A total of $64.7 billion was spent in 2013 in the U.S. on these two areas alone, according the MR&F.
We know that M2M has the potential to change everything we do – from automating our households, to revolutionizing health care delivery, to building highly sophisticated manufacturing plants. And in fact, the fastest growing of the specialized services is M2M, which jumped 61.6 percent (to $8.5 billion) in 2013 and is predicted to achieve a 34.8 percent compound annual increase over the next four years.
Cloud services, where the most spending is taking place among the data-centric specialized services, rose 19.6 percent in 2013 (to $56.2 billion) and is expected to see a 17.5 percent compound annual growth over the next four years.
At the same time, ICT spending increasingly reflects the significant challenge of protecting data. With high-profile breaches occurring on a regular basis, companies have dramatically increased their investment in cybersecurity. In 2013, cybersecurity spending saw its largest jump in years – rising from $26.5 billion in 2009 to $40 billion in 2013 (a 15.9 percent increase over 2012), and is projected to total $63.5 billion in 2017.
These specialized services and sectors – cloud computing, Big Data, M2M, cybersecurity and more – will take center stage at TIA’s Network of the Future Conference, where the industry’s brightest minds will address and debate ICT’s most critical developments.
Leaders Come Together in June
To examine where the industry is, and where it is headed, TIA is holding its annual flagship conference on June 3-5 in Dallas, TX. TIA 2014: The Network of the Future, will convene leading strategists, policy decision-makers and technologists for interactive discussions and workshops, as well as high profile keynotes on the critical issues facing the telecommunications network, including:
- Exploding Wireless Data: Demand is continually expanding– but significant questions continue to exist about whether the network will be ready.
- Privacy & Security Challenges: How can we address the urgent need for privacy, security and transparency at the device, network, application and data levels?
- Changing Policy & Regulation: Policymakers and regulators are grappling with dramatic changes—from security and privacy, to wearable devices, to the connected car. Their decisions will directly impact innovation, the network, and business models.
- New Business Models: The cloud and other developments are fundamentally changing business models; it’s now clear that existing models for building the network are too slow and expensive.
- Driving Investment: As the network expands, there is a growing need to drive investment in ICT businesses of all sizes, and in the increasingly overburdened network.
- Innovation for Progress: ICT innovations can powerfully serve consumers – from improving health outcomes to creating more efficient transportation options – but to do so, effective standards and smart public policy must be developed.
Tackling these issues will be a remarkable group of leaders. TIA 2014 attendees will hear keynote speeches from: Krish Prabhu, President, AT&T Labs & CTO, AT&T; Jonathan King, VP of Cloud Strategy & Business Development, Savvis/CenturyLink; Vish Nandlall, Head of Strategy, Marketing, & CTO, Ericsson; Dr. John Mattison, MD, Chief Medical Information Officer, Kaiser Permanente; Todd Rytting, CTO, Panasonic N. America; and, Ed Chan, SVP, Network Infrastructure Planning, Verizon. The event will also feature a special State of the Industry session featuring a panel of carrier executives and industry experts from Bell Labs, QuEST Forum, Verizon and more.
Three Tracks: Endless Possibilities
TIA 2014: Network of the Future is centered on three distinct program tracks that will offer an in-depth and interactive look at the topics that are critical to the network’s future: Wireless & 5G Networks; Software Defined Everything (SDx); and, Big Data & Privacy.
Service providers, hardware makers and software developers face new threats and opportunities as the wireless networks go through dramatic transformations. The Wireless & 5G Track will involve leaders from Cisco, Ericcson North America, Juniper Networks, New America Foundation, Nokia, Sprint, University of Texas-Austin, and more for a multi-dimensional, sometimes controversial, and future-oriented discussion of the wireless network.
Through various panels and presentations, this track will include discussions on: how to deal with the spectrum crunch; updates from the researchers working to identify and define the 5th generation mobile network; how to build backhaul networks capable of delivering the capacity and low latency that can deliver on consumer and business demand; and, the emerging approaches to aggregating demand over both licensed and unlicensed spectrum.
Software defined networks (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) are unquestionably disruptive, transformative technologies that are revolutionizing the ICT industry. The rapid adoption of the cloud has placed demands on networks and data centers to dynamically respond to intensifying data traffic. SDN and NFV each play their parts in reducing costs for both carriers and their customers, while heightening control of data flows, enabling automation, improving security, and reducing bottlenecks through service agility.
TIA 2014’s Software Defined Everything Track will look at the dynamics of this growing trend, and address the brand new developments on SDN in the wireless and mobile space, as well as solutions for Software Defined Data Centers. Tackling these issues will be remarkable line-up of speakers from AT&T Global Services, Dell, Fujitsu, GENBAND, JDSU, Nuage/Alcatel-Lucent, and more.
With data being central to the enormous investments being made in the U.S. by the ICT industry, it only makes sense that it would be a central topic of discussion during TIA 2014. The Big Data and Privacy Track will examine the latest trends, opportunities and risks surrounding data, with an intensive look at how data can be secured and how to balance the benefits and power of Big Data against important privacy considerations.
The track begins with a keynote presentation from Jonathan King, CenturyLink’s Vice President of Cloud Strategy & Business Development, and will include panel discussions that focus on privacy in the age of Big Data, the latest developments in Healthcare IT, and the future of the “connected” car. Leading these discussions will be executives from AT&T ForHealth, IBM, Intel, Norse, Panasonic Corp. of North America, University of Texas-Dallas, U.S. Department of Transportation, and more.
Feature Events with Intensive Focus
TIA’s three-day conference will also feature a number of special opportunities, including a unique CTO Roundtable Luncheon. Top technology executives from Dell OEM Solutions, Juniper, Samsung North America, SAVVIS/CenturyLink, and many more leading companies will discuss how they are transformation to agile, intelligent, more capable networks through new technologies such as Software Defined Networks and Network Functions Virtualization. These executives, who represent the full ecosystem of the ICT industry – including carriers, equipment suppliers, software companies, academia, government, and enterprise players – will also discuss how Big Data is creating new service opportunities and dramatically impacting operations.
In TIA’s Start-up Alley, visitors will have the opportunity to hear from young companies that are pushing the benchmark of innovation within the ICT industry. Many of these companies, which will be demonstrating and discussing their leading-edge products, services or solutions, will also be part of the Disruptors Competition – in which they’ll be judged by a panel of industry leaders, and one company will be crowned the best-of-the-best among the ICT industry’s up-and-coming businesses.
And finally, in conjunction with TIA’s Network of the Future Conference, AT&T is hosting its invitation-only Supplier Conference, during which AT&T will address the necessary requirements for adapting to its transformative Domain 2.0 initiative. With the User-Defined Network Cloud, AT&T is putting customers at the center of the network with a modern, cloud-based architecture that is a global first at this scale.
Unprecedented Opportunities
With historic change underway, there are unprecedented opportunities for ICT businesses – but having the latest information, insight, strategies and connections is vital to taking advantage of what lies ahead.
TIA 2014 is the one place this year where industry leaders and technologists can hear from visionary leaders, participate in substantive debate, get critical strategic guidance, network with top decision-makers, gain in-depth insight into technology developments, learn about the public policy landscape, and much more. Visit TIA2014.org for more information and to register.
