Global market outlook for smart city IT services
The market for global smart cities IT services is growing rapidly and Technavio’s market research analysts predict it will reach a CAGR of more than 18% until 2019. The application of IoT and cloud computing in creating smart grids is a key contributor to the growth of this market.
In smart grids, digital technology is used for enabling two-way communication between the utility and its customers. Each device associated with the grid is given sensors to gather data. On analyzing the collected data, smart city planners and other authorities can take informative decisions on how to reduce power wastage.
Smart water is another emerging trend that fuels the growth of this market. To support a growing, urban population, government and city planners are expected to invest heavily in making water infrastructure smart. Smart water infrastructure enables the collection of meaningful data about the flow, distribution, and pressure of a city’s water system.
Issues concerning cyber security in smart cities
Key findings of this research report indicate, by 2020, 50 billion internet connected devices will exist globally. However, this technology also brings concerns regarding data security and privacy.
As more and more numbers of devices get connected, the information collected through these devices are will also become more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. The massive scale of information that is likely to be collected on devices and a cloud aggregator platform invokes issues associated with data theft and misuse. The development of smart cities requires assured funding from governments. The development of appropriate financial models continues to impact this market.
Geographical segmentation of smart city IT services market
- APAC
- America
- EMEA
The smart cities IT services in the EMEA region is growing at a promising rate. The European commission’s ‘smart cities and communities' initiative has set a new smart city agenda for Euro cities. The APAC region is also witnessing massive growth with initiatives from emerging economies boosting the growth of this market.
Key vendor analysis in the global cities IT market
Since its inception, initiatives on smart cities are constantly evolving. Presently, a significant number of cities are in the process of empanelling vendors. The evolutionary nature of this market is likely to lead to issues pertaining integration of different components from a large pool of IT and telecom providers.
- Accenture
- IBM
- CISCO
- Ericsson
- Oracle
The other prominent vendors of this market include Alstom, Arup, Hitachi, HP, Huawei, Infosys, Lockheed Martin, NTT Data, Microsoft, Siemens, and Wipro.