by Frost & Sullivan's Information and Communication Technologies Business Unit Leader for Africa, Birgitta Cederstrom
The year of SMART
The passing year was a year that was, for most South African companies, a very challenging financial year. Budgets were cut to the bone, expansion plans were put on hold and, overall, the year of 2011 was a rather cautious year with no big bold movements. We predict that 2012 will continue in the same cautious fashion as 2011 and we therefore call it “the year of smart”. Companies will better utilise their existing technologies and continue to find ways in which to lower CAPEX and OPEX costs when implementing newer IT and telecoms solutions.
Frost & Sullivan has identified the following areas as key predictions for 2012:
Trend # 1 - Smart Green Technology
Green telecoms will take shape in the form of energy efficiency, specifically the use of renewable energy minimising carbon emissions. With escalating costs for energy, companies will adopt smarter green technologies in order to cut costs. Frost & Sullivan has noted a higher adoption rate for Data Centres, especially in the enterprises and SME sector throughout 2011. The South African DC market is currently valued at R2.3 billion 2011 and is expected to continue with double digit growth in 2012. Cloud and virtualised solutions will enable companies to better utilise and implement smarter data centre solutions throughout 2012.
Data Centre service providers are implementing alternative smart solutions, especially around cooling and energy solutions. The industry is already in a wave of transformation with new initiatives, such as ocean water being used for cooling strategies.
