Editor’s Note: With 2014 now upon us, RCR Wireless News has gathered predictions from leading industry analysts and executives on what they expect to see in the new year.
1. 2014 will be the year mobile networks start to converge with enterprise IT needs.
–2014 will be the beginning of a seven-year enterprise transition from 80% capital expenditure to 80% operating expenditure spending on mobility, opening the door to a $100 billion mobile managed services opportunity for mobile operators.
–Leading mobile operators in the United States, Europe and Latin America will start to offer in-building coverage and capacity solutions, followed by managed mobile services (MDM, security, compliance and/or Wi-Fi by the fourth quarter).
2. 2014 will see four of the largest established enterprise vendors move to lower priced SLA-based software services from Amazon and Microsoft (using own or “white label” hardware).
3. In 2014 IBM, Google and Oracle will surpass Cisco when it comes to number of deals in the converged mobile/enterprise space
4. In 2014, leading enterprise customers’ RFPs will demand vendors to offer multi-access Wi-Fi, 3G and LTE connectivity for reliable access and services
–Three of the top six leading consumer and enterprise Wi-Fi vendors will enter the enterprise and outdoor small cell race
5. 2014 will see mobile-enabled devices surpass laptops and desktop phones as the preferred method for enterprise communication
Context for predictions
–There is very clear demand on equipment vendors to reduce the cost of networks, both for mobile operators and their enterprise customers, using cloud and application services and virtualized network capabilities.This trend is having a dramatic impact on the network spend on hardware-only products and services in medium to large enterprise customers, opening the market for software-based applications and services, which reside on “white label” servers in third-party data center operations.The move towards more opex-oriented services will have a dramatic impact on established routing/switching “box” vendors.
–There is also growing market momentum for small cells in the enterprise fuelled by demand from enterprise IT departments and CIOs, backed by a year of significant increases in mobile operator trials and commercial deployments of stand-alone and scalable enterprise small cell systems. 2013 became a breakthrough year for enterprise small cells, with new players entering the market and merger and acquisition activity.
–Research conducted in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Spain by YouGov, a market research firm, revealed that over 61% of IT decision makers from businesses in the United States with over 250 employees said their business has had major issues with indoor coverage. In Germany this stood at 50%, in Spain it was 43% and in the United Kingdom it was 39%.
Ronny Haraldsvik rejoined SpiderCloud Wireless in June 2012 as SVP/CMO, having formerly served as VP Marketing July 2008 through mid-December, 2010. Prior to rejoining SpiderCloud, Haraldsvik was the SVP/CMO at BelAir Networks (acquired by Ericsson in April, 2012). Prior to BelAir Networks, he was VP of Global Marketing at Bytemobile, Inc. (acquired by Citrix). Haraldsvik holds a BA from the University of San Francisco.
