Introduction
The process of learning is evolving with advancements in technology. The education technology industry, or for short Ed-Tech, specifically deals with hardware and software to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Ed-tech. industry includes not just virtual learning platforms but also online learning apps, curriculum management software, e-textbooks, and communications and administrative platforms. The industry is not just restricted to online learning or distant learning or for that matter remote learning but also includes in-class learning. However, online learning has become a major part of the Industry due to the pandemic. key drivers for the industry include increasing connectivity and accessibility of the internet, advancing technology, rising investment in the Ed-Tech, government support and new education policies, growing literacy rate, and sustainable development goal for quality education. Further, the introduction of AI has widened the competitive landscape. The spiraling up of artificial intelligence (AI), software, and hardware industry is expected to advance research and development to make learning more efficient and effective.
Evolution of Ed. Tech
Ed. Tech companies have been existed for over more than two decades. However, they have gained prevalence only in the past three years. The plummeting cost of the internet and smart device has significantly contributed to the industry.
Over centuries the leading process has been evolving by using various techniques. People use to learn poems, plays, and songs. Back then the focus on memorization was considered important due to the lack of manuscripts and availability of paper. It was only in the 15th century that the printing press made the written material made available more easily. From then on, the availability of literature and textbooks started publishing and the number of books printed increased. The literacy rate increased in Europe as the region had a high number of printing presses. Apart from this easy access to raw material was also an advantage for the region as most countries imported paper and other raw materials from their respective colonies. In the 18th century tools like blackboard and chalk became extremely popular and are used to this date. Moreover, the use of tools like Hieroglyphics, Quill pen and pencil, and abacus amongst others were used to improve the learning process. However, during World war II, the United States Army adopted film projectors. this marked as an entry of technology for study and training. Further, with the development of high-tech projectors, PowerPoint presentations were delivered for training purposes as well as for schools. With this came the era of the Ed-Tech. The use of audio-visual modules for better learning was a turning point. Further, smart evaluating tests made it easier for the teacher and interactive learning for the students. Apart from in-class technology, with the increasing use of computers, laptops, and the internet; the scope of Ed-Tech widened to online platforms as well. Massive online courses (MOOC), online degree courses with collaboration with top universities became popular phenomena. Companies like EdX, Khan Academy, Coursera, Udemy amongst others became extremely popular. Moreover, with the onset of a pandemic, when most of the countries had to impose shutdowns on schools and offices to prevent the further spread of the virus, the Ed-Tech companies played an important role to provide quality education during such time.
What is Causing the Growth in the Ed-Tech Industry?
- Increasing Accessibility of The Internet
In 2000, only 6.73% of the world population had internet. This was only 49.91% in 2018 which has increased to reach 56.73% in 2019, as per the World Bank data. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimates a 17% increase in the usage of the internet since 2019. According to ITU’s estimates, approximately 63% of the world population is expected to be using the internet in 2021. Which is around 4.9 billion people. The organization also stated, 65.7% of the households have internet access at home. For developed natation the numbers are high, it accounted to 87.8% of the households having internet access. On the other hand, only 22% of the households have access to the internet in the least developed countries. In developing countries, however, the stats are good, with 57.8% of the households having access.
source: ITU
source: ITU
Further, the availability of 5G has also contributed to the industry. 5G is more capable of air interface, giving the user ultra-low latency. Making it 500% faster than 4G LTE. The 5G mobile data network is available in over more than 60 countries. Further, it is expected to launch in India in the coming year in 2022. 5G is designed to link a vast number of embedded sensors in nearly anything by allowing data speeds, power, and mobility to be scaled down, resulting in incredibly lean and low-cost connection solutions. With the availability of faster and cost-effective internet, the demand for online courses and other Ed-Tech platforms is expected to spiral up.
source: ITU
Further, with easy accessibility of the internet and newer technology coming up the cost of the internet has drastically reduced. Especially, for low-income countries in 2008, the fixed broadband median cost was USD 149.6 and in 2020 it cost USD 21.6. The same downward trend is observed in lower-middle-income countries and upper-middle-income countries, due to the rising completion and cutting-edge technology. On the other hand, the higher-income countries' median fixed broadband cast has increased slightly. Moreover, with the rising Internet of Things (IoT) and clouding services, Real-time, remote data monitoring has become easier.
The pandemic has thrown traditional education into disarray. According to UNICEF, more than 1.5 billion children globally have been affected due to covid-19. According to UN Sustainable Development Goals, Covid-19 has wiped out 20 years of education gains. due to lack of devices, internet, and other infrastructure. While this disruption has increased inequities in access to education, it has also expedited gains in innovation that might help narrow those gaps. Immersive technologies, which digitally replicate the actual environment, have a lot of potential in Ed-Tech, according to experts.
Augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) technologies make learning more enjoyable and engaging. Employability skills, often known as soft skills, such as communication, leadership, and teamwork, are at the top of the program's priority list. according to PwC, individuals who are taught using virtual reality technology are 3.75 times more emotionally linked to the content, four times more attentive, and 275 percent more confident about using the skills they acquire the following training. Virtual reality may also be used to teach individuals more rapidly and cost-effectively.
Companies like zSpace, Neo Bear, Strivr, Osso VR, Mursion, Interplay Learning are some of the key players of VR/AR Ed-Tech. Recently, SAP and JFFLabs have established a new initiative called the Skill Immersion Lab to help students prepare for their future careers using immersive learning technologies. JFFLabs and SAP have also coupled up to test how immersive learning may be implemented in classrooms across the country.
Further, with the advent of Artificial intelligence and Machine learning the industry is expected to flourish. It is used to provide analysis of the performance of the learner also the data collected can be used for predictive analysis. Companies like Duolingo, Coursera, Brainly are using such technology get to offer their courses. Further, this technology helps the educators to reach process efficiency, by focusing more on teaching.
Several Chinese firms are actively working on AI technologies for use in schools and colleges. 17 Zuoye is an online learning platform that employs AI algorithms to provide assignments and grades to students. Liulishuo is an English language learning platform that uses algorithms to give students feedback via a software bot. VIPKid is another English learning platform in China that matches students and teachers based on their desired learning style, using AI algorithms.
- Government Support and New Education Policy
Education is the backbone of any nation’s development. Governments of different countries are adapting to more and more e-learning platforms to improve the level of education. Especially, after the outbreak of covid-19. Were children and teenagers extremely susceptible to coronavirus. Governments are promoting schools to collaborate with Ed-Tech to not compromise on education, even if the student is learning from home. Developed and developing nations saw higher adoption of Ed-Tech as they have infrastructural facilities and government support. However, underdevelopment saw a severe drawback. Developing countries like India have progressively shifted their education policy to include digitalization in the education sector. India is also home to many high valued Ed-Tech companies namely Byju’s, Unacademy, and Upgrade amongst others.
United Kingdom’s Department of Education (DfE) has brought some stringent changes in the education system. DfE also announced an education recovery support package, to ensure the education of children from different backgrounds including children with special education needs and disabilities are not affected by the pandemic. For this, DfE has come up with a digital ans technology strategy. The national cabinet established a set of national principles for school education on April 16, 2020, to guarantee that all children get a high-quality education from kindergarten to grade nine, that students progress through their year levels, and that a successful transition to 2021 is realized. Further, in Brazil, IDB Lab, Lemann Foundation, and Imaginable Futures invested $2.36 million in the Ed-Tech program called impulsion. The program aims to connect public schools, non-profit and Ed-Tech startups to develop digital solutions.
Also, in Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Higher and Secondary-Specialized Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan (MHSSE) has entered into a Public-private partnership (PPP) with Alpha DX by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU). It is a joint venture (JV) for the US$50 million, where the primary goal is to be developing and operating the Asnaro University of Uzbekistan (AUU), this will be fully integrated with the Alpha DX subsidiaries' a learning platform
- Rising Investment in Ed. Tech
In the past three years, the investment in the Ed Tech industry has significantly increased. Especially with the outbreak of the pandemic. According to World Economic Forum (WEF), over 1.2 billion children are out of classrooms. Further, more than 90% of the world’s schools and most colleges are closed, and teaching is undertaken online. Ed Tech industry apprehended the market growth. Where investors saw a loss in the aviation, hospitality, and manufacturing sectors. With the rising Ed Tech industry, investors grabbed the opportunity to invest in the Ed. Tech. industry.
2021 saw multiple Ed-Tech companies becoming public by offering IPO. For instance, Coursera offered IPO by becoming listed on New York Stock Exchange in March 2021, valuing the company over $7 billion. Zhangmen, a Chinese Ed-Tech firm also became public by offering IPO in June 2021. This valued the company for over $1.8 billion. Duolingo a US-based language learning Ed-Tech, and PowerSchool, a K-12 Ed-Tech, also became public by offering IPO in July 2021. Most recently in October 2021, Udemy raised $400 million by offering IPO.
A special purpose acquisition company helped Nerdy, a platform for live online learning, become a public corporation (SPAC). In September 2021, it completed its business combination with TPG Pace Tech Opportunities, a publicly-traded SPAC. Further, BYJU’s is expected to launch IPO in Mid-2022.
The year 2021 saw some major acquisitions as well.
For instance, BYJU’s acquired 10 companies including Tynker, epic, Aakash Educational Services, Great Learning, Hashlearn, Scholr, Whodat, Gradeup, Toppr, and Geogebra. All the companies have different specializations. Epic is a US-based digital reading platform that was acquired for $500 million. Tynker is a coding platform that was acquired by BYJU’s for $200 million. The company acquired Toppr for $150 million. It also acquired great learning, India’s leading higher education and professional learning platform for $ 600 million, to strengthen the professional and higher education segment. Recently, in December 2021 the company acquired Geogebra, a math learning platform based in Austria. The company also taped in AR Ed-techs by acquiring Whodat. This year in July, a renowned MOOC provider, EdX started by MIT and Harvard University was acquired by 2U. 2U, an online program management company, was acquired for $800 million.
Companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet Inc. have also shown some great interest in the Ed-Tech industry. Cuemath, Alphabet based online math-course provider, offered free math courses to won users in India. also, Google and Byju’s tied up offering learning solutions to schools. on the other hand, Apple launched Apple Teacher which is a platform program designed to support educators who are using Apple products for teaching and learning. other than this Microsoft acquired tutoring platform TakeLessons in September 2021. Rising investments, partnerships, and M&A have tremendous scope for growth in the Ed-Tech industry.
Where the Ed-Tech Industry is Progressing Towards?
With the increasing adoption of Ed-Tech, especially during the time of pandemic where in-class teaching has become difficult, such industry is proving advantageous for not just proving the good quality of education, but also to providing new scope of efficient teaching and learning experience. Although, for the underdeveloped countries, school closure and lack of good infrastructure, the dropout rates have increased tremendously. To an extent that, 24 million children and youth are at risk of dropping out, according to UNESCO. According to UNESCO research, 100 million children would fall below the minimal reading competency level as a result of school closures. However, hybrid learning systems with Ed-Tech can prove as a solution to this problem. The World Bank is assisting nations in determining how to solve challenges such as cheap connection, device procurement, cloud solutions, and multimodal education delivery.
Further, in developing and developed nations, where connectivity and infrastructure are not an issue, Ed-Tech has thrived tremendously. Countries like China, the USA, and India produce most of the Ed-Tech firms. This not only provides further opportunities of using AI, VR, AR, and MR for further development but also an opportunity to provide better aid to the students with special needs and disabilities.
An Australian Ed-Tech startup, Dystech is developing a dyslexia screening platform. For which the company has raised $290K. By using AI the company plans to perform dyslexia screening. This will help for early diagnostics and further work on managing it. Ed-Tech like this will help overcome various obstacles using various assistive tools and act as an equalizer.
The Oil Drilling Automation – A Futuristic Solution for the Fast-Growing World
Thought ArticlesThe oil drilling automation market is valued at US$350.683 million for the year 2020, growing at a CAGR of 10.14% reaching a market size of US$689.301 million by the year 2027. Oil drilling is a process by which a tube is bored through the surface of the Earth to pump out the oil reservoir. The process of oil drilling automation is centered on the entire process system which starts from well designing and planning to downhole activities. Oil is a major part of human life. A majority of human activities involve the use of oil in different forms, one such widely known use is fuel. To meet the rising oil demand, automation has become a necessity in the oil drilling industry. This has given rise to oil drilling automation techniques.
In simple words, oil drilling automation refers to a sub-process that involves operational as well as downhole activities that are needed for drilling oil from the Earth. The rising need for oil and the technological developments in the field of oil drilling has given a boost to the oil drilling automation market. The oil drilling process requires precision and efficiency, but most importantly it must ensure the safety of workers involved in the operation. Automation in the field of oil drilling can offer enhanced safety and efficiency along with an assurance of optimized surface activities. Hence, the combined system is required to understand the subsurface and its interactions with the drilling systems that operate under the surface.
Analysts anticipate that the market will rise due to rising excavation activities owing to rising oil demand.
The primary factor driving the oil drilling automation market is the rising need for oil which has resulted in increased exploration and excavation activities around the world. Rising demand is expected to drive automation and technological advancements in the oil drilling automation market. According to the EIA’s (Energy Information Administration) Short-term Energy Outlook released in September 2022, the global consumption of petroleum and liquid fuels is estimated to increase by 2.1 million b/d in 2023 to 101.5 million b/d. The high consumption has ultimately created higher oil demand which is playing a significant role in the development of new oil fields with enhanced safety and automation.
Furthermore, the abundant source of untapped oil resources in different parts of the world is also attracting these oil drilling automation giants to extract oil as well as profits. According to the estimates of the United States Geological Survey (USGC) report published in December 2021, the US Bakken and Three Forks Formation of the Williston Basin province, North Dakota, and Montana have 4.3 billion barrels of oil and 4.9 trillion cubic feet of gas. Also, in March 2022, the Energy Monitor reported that in the Russian Arctic more than ten million barrels of oil equivalent per day are expected to be extracted in 2022. These new oil discoveries and huge oil extractions by the oil drilling giants are boosting the oil drilling automation activities in the market.
The high upfront costs act as a challenge in the oil drilling automation market
The oil drilling automation process is complex and time-consuming. It requires a large number of investments to install both hardware and software solutions. The initial costs are very high as it involves building the whole infrastructure, installing hardware and software, etc. Furthermore, the maintenance and running costs add up to the total costs, which further increases the cost burden on the end users. Moreover, the software involved in oil drilling automation operations needs to be updated for smooth and proper functioning. The updating process brings up the costs of upgrading the software and training workers on how to use the upgraded version of the software, and it further affects the regular operations of the organization. For instance, due to the training, the regular work hours are diluted into training hours and work hours, the regular operations are slowed down and the learning curve effect on the new system further impacts the operational efficiency of the worker.
Additionally, these systems are complex, hence it requires qualified and well-trained workers and operators. It also requires sophisticated instrumentation to ensure adequate service which further increased the overall costs to the company. Thus, the overall high costs and complex processes involved in the automation lead to limited growth for the oil drilling automation market.
During the forecast period, the analyst anticipates that the software segment is expecting significant growth.
The oil drilling automation market is segmented into hardware and software based on the offerings. According to the analysts, the hardware segment is expected to account for a sizeable share. While, on the other hand, the software segment is expected to show vigorous growth owing to the growing investments and technological advancements in the market during the forecast period. For instance, eDrilling, a software company based in Norway secured funding from the Research Council of Norway for a good software study in October 2020. Furthermore, the company introduced a software solution for real-time drilling parameter optimization named as wellGuide, in June 2022. The software solution provided by drilling is designed for rigs where an automated drilling upgrade requires a heavy investment or rigs that need drilling advisory systems to optimize their operations. The wellGuide software solution helps in achieving automation, better performance, and avoidance of non-productive time in drilling and energy operations. Such technological advancement coupled with the development of software is expected to propel the oil drilling automation market.
COVID-19 Insights
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus had a significant impact on the oil drilling automation market. The overall market and industries were temporarily shut down due to pandemic restrictions. As a result, industrial capitalistic behavior was restricted. The focus of industries shifted to operational activities and capital expenditure was restricted during the pandemic. The primary factor involved in the downfall of the oil drilling automation market was the reduction in oil and gas demand. Owing to the industry-wide shutdowns coupled with operational discrepancies the overall oil and gas demand significantly decreased during the period. Furthermore, the pandemic led to a slowdown in production and mobility worldwide, producing a significant drop in global oil demand. As per the IEA Oil Market Report July 2020, the global oil supply fell by 2.4 mb/d and the global oil demand fell by 16.4mb/d owing to the lockdowns imposed due to COVID-19.
Global Geothermal Power Market – A Global Phenomena
BlogThe Global Geothermal Power Market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 2.81 % over the forecasted period to reach a market size of US$1.740 billion in 2027 from US$1.434 billion in 2020.
Geothermal power is a renewable power generation source that has proven to be stable and independent. It generates power by using the warmth and strength of the earth’s magma. Geothermal power plants are operated to rotate turbines by the utilization of steam, produced from hot water found below the surface of the earth. This ultimately helps in operating the generator which then works to produce electricity. As of now, there are three types of geothermal power plants that are operated, namely, flash steam, dry steam and binary cycles. This type of energy is less spread out when compared to other renewable sources owing to the fact that not all regions hold large pockets of heat trapped in their subsoil. However, even though this factor poses as a constraint, it does not hamper the development when it comes to the potential of geothermal energy. According to the statistics reported by the IRENA report (International Renewables Energy Agency)in 2020, the contribution of geothermal energy to the renewable capacity worldwide amounts to about 13 GW.
Factors like government regulations, increasing investments in related projected and the volatile prices and limited availability of fossil fuels have increased the demand for geothermal energy, which is expected to drive growth in the market. However the high investment associated with setup of geothermal power plants and the negative impact of that it has on the environment are expected to restrain the growth of the geothermal power market. The presence of other clean renewable energy alternates, like solar energy, is also expected to pose as an obstacle in the use of geothermal power to generate electricity.
Inclining Investments in Geothermal Energy to Drive Market Growth on a Global Scale
The increasing investments in geothermal energy projects across the globe is attributed to drive the growth of the market during the analysed period. In March 2020, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, an investment firm, made the announcement that it would invest $12.5 million in Baseload Capital, a company that deals in geothermal project development. It is a project investment firm that caters to the development of geothermal power plants by providing capital for the same, with the use of technology that is developed by Climeon, its Swedish parent company. The geothermal company EnergiMiinas, based out of Philippines has been planning to set up two geothermal power plants in Peru by the year 2026 or 2027 with an investment accounting for US$1 billion in each of the project. Further, Thrive Renewables has also lately announced its plans to invest an amount of about £6.5 million in the first geothermal power plant in the UK. With this, it aims to supply about 3 MW of electricity to the National Grid and approximately 12 MW of electricity for local use. Hence, are these factors point towards a brighter future for the geothermal market.
Constant Efforts by Government And Organisations to Promote Renewable Energy to Augment Market Growth
Constant efforts by governments of various countries and global organizations is expected to reduce the dependency on oil regarding domestic energy use. Several initiatives and plans are being implemented to promote the usage of as many renewable energy resources as possible as an alternative to other energy sources. Following the 2015 COP21 (Conference of Parties) conference held in Paris, the United Nations successfully established the Global Geothermal Alliance which aimed at fast tracking of this renewable resource in order to support the energy transition process. Additionally, the Indonesian government has formulated a National Energy Policy, which includes guidelines for the conservation, intensification and the diversification of energy. Thus, all these policies are collectively predicted to drive growth in the global geothermal power market by catalysing the demand for this energy.
North America to Hold a Substantial Share in This Market
North America is expected to hold a significant share in the global geothermal power market in the analysed period due to the rising inclination towards geothermal energy sources in countries like US and Mexico. The US emerged as a global leader in geothermal energy back in 2018, with an installed capacity exceeding 3,500 MW. The country is also home to one the world’s largest geothermal complex geysers, which encapsulate over 20 geothermal plants at its base in California. Mexico was also observed to have a significant geothermal power capacity which is majorly driven by the Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Station complex, packing a capacity of about 820 MW.
Asia Pacific Region to Witness Promising Growth in the Forecasted Period
The geothermal power market of the Asia Pacific region is expected to witness a substantial growth during the forecast period due to the large-scale production of geothermal energy in countries like the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. Government initiatives and policies supporting the use of renewable energy sources is predicted to increase the share of geothermal energy in the total renewable energy mix, which is attributed to drive the growth of the geothermal power market in the region. In the Philippines, the development and implementation of geothermal power has been constantly promoted to attain energy security while also boosting the share of renewable energies in the total power mix. Lately, the government of the country has also announced plans to advance a policy recasting, through the Department of Energy. This would allow 100% foreign ownership in renewable energy-associated projects with a focus on geothermal energy to attract foreign investments. In China, a lucrative opportunity for the geothermal energy sector is shown to be created owing to the imposition of even more strict emission rules on power plants that are coal-fired. This is in turn expected to augment the market growth of geothermal energy in the region.
Global Geothermal Power Market Scope:
Testing and Quality Assurance to Validate 5G Performance
White PapersExecutive Summary
Every 5G device in a cell is connected to the internet or phone network via an antenna built into the cell. With the deployment of standalone 5G networks accelerating in 2021, the cloud will need to reinvent itself. Technology providers want a way to easily and effectively test 5G devices across a set of parameters, including speed, application output, scale, and more, as the world embraces 5G technologies. Wireless service providers will spend and expand their footprint on 5G in the next months, making quality assurance and testing a critical component for competitive advantage, customer satisfaction, and market sustainability. The 5G network has opened up new opportunities for companies as new gadgets will be required to endure the same network capabilities. This will impact testing because all apps will be needed to test on a network-eligible device. Machine learning (ML) or artificial intelligence (AI) will be required in 5G network and service assurance solutions. To analyze the reams of data flowing in from the network in real time, AI or ML will be required, and it must be implemented at every stage of the assurance stack. As a result, the algorithms will be much more tailored to the individual application and will be able to deliver more reliable insights and forecasts about service quality. According to the Spirent 2021 5G Report, as operators accelerated their early 5G rollouts, service provider participation grew by more than 50% year over year (200 by the end of 2021). As market rivalry grew, over half of service provider activities were on service assurance and experience (including competitive benchmarking). Hence, 5G accelerated the deployment of new tests and assurance procedures in 2021.
Essential Types of Quality Assurance Testing
Quality assurance (QA) is a method of preventing errors and flaws in the production process, as well as problems in the delivery of products or services to clients.
In a multi-vendor network context, standards compliance is one of the most important parts of quality assurance and design validation of 5G products. QA testers would need to adjust their acceptance test strategy and confirm that the system was constructed following the 3GPP specification by the associated vendor. Furthermore, interoperability between 5G equipment from different vendors is only achievable if they are both compliant with the same specification and protocol. A 5G User Data Management product, for example, should be created to the 3GPP specification number 29.503, regardless of which manufacturer makes it.
When it comes to the 5G test life cycle, regression testing is very crucial, especially if a company practices DevOps and the Continuous Integration and Continuous Development (CI/CD) model. Each 5G software drop must be extensively regressed, and each iteration must be capable of capturing all types of software and related hardware problems, which must be rectified and confirmed with the highest level of quality in following DevOps software drops.
Customer happiness is heavily influenced by device interoperability. All Android and iOS-based user devices, such as smartphones and tablets, must be certified across the various 5G radio access and core network entities. Because Samsung Galaxy and iPhone smartphones have the largest market share, all generations of these devices must be properly researched for network vendor and original equipment manufacturer interoperability. 5G Wi-Fi calling, simulating a home Wi-Fi router as a cell site tower, must be tested on all iPhone versions.
Load and stress testing are required to ensure that the 5G system can handle the planned traffic load at a high volume. Busy Hour Calls (BHCA) that exceed the system's peak transaction per second (TPS) ensure that the system does not crash or the software does not dump a core. While trying to undertake load and stress testing to identify a 5G system's Key Performance Indicators, open-source tools like J-Meter and seagull, as well as free/trial versions of SOAP UI and Postman, could come in help (KPIs).
5G Testing: Framework, Parameters, and Phases
If the QA engineers create systems for the next generation of wireless networks, mobile app testing organizations will benefit. Due to the lack of cable access, devices must be evaluated via over-the-air (OTA) testing. For example, mobile app testing services firms confront a variety of test issues, including configuration, coverage, and repeatability. New techniques and methods must be used to evaluate 5G components and devices. Standard test architecture and measurement for multi-vendor wireless for 5G networks is critical for moving forward with design, configurations, characterization, production, and validation for hardware and software. Maintaining optimal performance with novel 5G testing methods can help stay ahead of the competition by reducing chamber testing while maintaining test coverage and accuracy.
The International Mobile Telecommunications Vision 2020 defines three scenarios for 5G telecommunications that differentiate it from 4G telecommunications:
Agencies are looking into how to use 5G to better mission delivery and business operations, as well as deliver new apps and services that are impossible with 4G technology.
Source: Seragon.com
The 5G testing architecture is separated into four main phases based on the timeframe for introducing 3GPP 5G standards and the availability of 5G equipment and devices from vendors. For example, the first step builds a 5G non-freestanding architecture that uses the current 4G core network infrastructure, while the second phase updates the network core to 5G in a standalone mode. The framework's modular components are divided into architecture, application traffic, spectrum, network, and 5G innovations. Each paragraph offers a description of the test element as well as associated test and measurement equipment, as well as considerations (e.g., protocol analyzer). Not all elements are necessary for all testing; for example, if a real Radio Access Network (RAN) is unavailable, a simulated RAN might be employed. The framework finishes with a description of its security considerations and security metrics that an agency could collect using it. After implementing the framework, an agency could build/lease a test-bed from a carrier-grade equipment manufacturer, perform testing using existing external labs/testbeds (e.g., government lab, university lab, coordination with the Department of Defense), or use a combination of the two.
What are the Parameters Used to Test 5G Networks?
Phases of Testing Capabilities
Source: VIAVI Solutions
How are Major Companies Coping With the 5G Revolution?
Trends to Keep an Eye on in 2022
Recent Innovations in the Industry
About the Author
Roshni Bajaj works for Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence LLP as a Market Research Analyst. Roshni specializes in data collecting, analysis, and translation into actionable insights that give businesses a competitive advantage. Visit www.knowledge-sourcing.com to read more articles by Roshni and to learn more about a variety of global and regional markets.
Digital Transformation & Improvements With 5G and SD-Wan Edge Computing
White PapersEXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Digital transformation is the need for today’s enterprises’ ecosystem across the globe. Organizations worldwide are switching towards video, cloud, and IoT technologies to stay competitive and stable with the increasing demands of their customers and partners. Many companies plan to implement multiple new services and solutions to their existing digital infrastructure. In this paper, we will mainly focus on the Edge computing requirements like SDN or SD-WAN. This paper will be a good introduction to the combined work of 5G with a software-defined wide area network and software-defined network. 5G is a new form of communication that provides high bandwidth to an organization. SD-WAN is responsible for managing the traffic across all the available links, such as MPLS, Broadband, and 5G, in an efficient way by keeping track of network conditions.
Implementing SD-WAN TECHNOLOGY TO 5G
Organizations and government agencies are increasingly adopting SD-WAN to replace legacy WAN running on MPLS. SD-WAN is typically used to add broadband, DSL, or mobile links to the existing connections of the enterprises market due to which organizations can increase their bandwidth of already existing MPLS connections while providing a failover backup, all at substantial cost savings compared to directly upgrading the MPLS line to the same standard of bandwidth and reliability. Some other features include WAN optimization, application-specific network rulesets, and Centralized control of branch networks via cloud.
Current Market Scenario and Future Expectations
Various research has predicted an optimistic future for the business network market, mainly for broadband access equipment and software-defined wide area network. It is predicted that the SD-WAN market is proliferating and will continue to grow in the coming years as well. SDN/SD-WAN market’s growth declined in 2020 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. During the pandemic, the organizations adopted the remote working model, due to which there was a lack of investments in their IT infrastructure. Many vertical markets were completely shut down, like- travel, hospitality, retail businesses, etc. However, 2021 has shed new light; industries started to make a good level of investments towards their network infrastructure to improve their remote access work model, which includes security, speed, storage, etc. During 2020 and 2021, some bold collaborations and acquisitions were made in the SDN or SD-WAN market. For instance,
Market Trends
SD-WAN has reduced the need for backhaul traffic; it helps establish secure, reliable, and high-performance connectivity for an application that runs on multi-cloud environments without any need for backhaul traffic. SD-WAN has the potential to improve the multi-cloud environment, because of which leaders in SD-WAN technology are collaborating with cloud providers to make access easier and accelerate cloud connectivity. Moro hub, a subsidiary of Digital DEWA, which is the digital arm of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), has signed an SD-WAN Managed Service Provider has signed an agreement with Omni clouds, a leading technology start-up in the cloud service provider space and migrator for the Middle East region. Omni cloud has agreed to offer a set of SD-WAN services to Moro Hub. In addition, the company will also provide a range of SD-WAN services and solutions like cloud migration, connectivity, and security-managed services to the motor hub. This partnership aims to deliver enhanced cloud connectivity for Moro Hub’s enterprise customers in the UAE and beyond.
The emerging trend of the SD-Branch, a software-defined Branch, is designed in such a way that it can replace a portion of the whole branch network architecture. It helps to simplify the deployment process by combining WAN connectivity with security and LAN/WLAN. Brasfield & Gorrie, one of the largest privately-held construction firms based in Birmingham, Alabama, is deploying an end-to-end Aruba SD-Branch network to connect its 12 offices and more than 180+ active job sites. Along with that, it will also connect six locations of B&G Equipment and Supply. ZPE Systems has introduced an open SD-Branch platform for distributed enterprises and managed service providers. It consists of a Node grid Hive Services Router (Hive SR) with integrated 5G/4G LTE, cloud-orchestrated SD-WAN application, and wireless access points.
SD-WAN is proven to be a secure remote access solution when integrated with a Secure access service edge or zero-trust network access. It is analyzed that SD-WAN vendors are working on their business models to expand their offerings to include SASE, ZTNA, and many others. The vendors are currently making efforts to understand this technology to improve the security of LAN, WLAN, and WAN security policies, at branch offices. LOGIX Fiber Networks has collaborated with Versa Networks to offer its SD-WAN and SASE solutions to its customers. With the help of this collaboration, Logix will deliver a combination of full-featured SD-WAN capabilities such as integrated security, scalable advanced routing, remote worker access, and analytics to meet the evolving WAN Edge requirements.
Selecting the Right Trusted Vendor
SDN or SD-WAN is not a simple technology, and the key to its success is to understand what the vendors are offering. What type of features are present in their solution, and their constant modifications and pricing should be clear? Here we are going to mention some of the top SD-WAN vendors operating in the industry today.
HPE (Aruba and Silver peak)
The company is heavily investing in SD-WAN technologies; Aruba and Silver Peak have a common goal to provide simplicity, scalability, and application awareness at the edge. Aruba’s all-in-one SD-Branch portfolio is combined with Silver Peak’s self-driving SD-WAN and WAN optimization solutions. It helps Aruba better address comprehensive customer requirements to gain an advantage in a promising market opportunity. Aruba Edge Connect SD-WAN edge platform powers a self-driving wide area network for the cloud-first enterprise.
Aruba Edge Connect SD-WAN:
Riverbed
Riverbed’s secure enterprise SD-WAN provides connectivity across the branch, data center, and multi-cloud infrastructure. It increases WAN capacity and cost-effective Internet Broadband and LTE to replace MPLS. Riverbed SteelConnect EX SD-WAN increases the speed of the application by 100 and optimizes workflows throughout the network and, in turn, production. It can remove any redundancies in traffic from the WAN and free up the pipes for more pertinent data. IT managers can connect servers and storage across branches and data centers without losing network performance, saving a ton on OPEX. Consolidation also increases the security of the networks, which makes the company less vulnerable to hackers. SteelHead is very much efficient in case of visibility. Real-time tracking allows IT companies to fix and enhance app performance quickly and provides support to end-user to make sure consumers are connecting with their apps smoothly without any hindrance. The riverbed SD-WAN solution is best suited for companies with a high latency environment looking to increase their workflow and productivity.
Benefits of Riverbed SD-WAN:
Cisco Systems
Cisco is the world leader in IT and has innovative networking solutions. The company has constantly been trying to overcome networking problems head-on by launching solutions that help improve communication, connection, and collaboration for various clients. Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN image supports the hardware platforms such as Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers, Cisco 1000 and 4000 Series ISRs, and Cisco 5400 ENCS. Cisco offers customizable solutions so that your company can find the perfect choice for optimization. Cisco provides solutions to different sizes of companies; it offers customizable solutions to companies with cloud applications and those finding the eager solutions to block hacks with increased security. Cisco SD-WAN has a transport-independent design that helps simplify the WAN infrastructure with a cohesive design over all transports. Another feature is intelligent path control, a cost-effective feature that helps you save a lot of money if you use a hybrid solution by ensuring unnecessary traffic isn’t running on your MPLS. The cisco SD-WAN helps apps to run quickly by using encryption techniques and VPN overlay to secure the networks from attacks. Cisco makes large deployments in all major sectors like retail, financial services, healthcare, and energy. It is expected to be the most widely deployed SD-WAN across the fortune 2000, with deployments in 70% of fortune 100 enterprises.
Benefits of Cisco SD-WAN
Source: Cisco
VMware
VMware velocloud’s cloud-delivered SD-WAN is one of the first SD-WAN offerings; it connects company locations with broadband internet access or MPLS into a virtual overlay. Its collection of services gateways delivers network services from the cloud from the underlying transport system to data centers, branches, and web applications. One of its fundamental advantages is that it spots and corrects performance problems quickly with troubleshooting tools and reduces the operational costs of hardware delivery. It is best suited for companies that are dispersed globally and for enterprises that rely heavily on cloud-based applications.
Vendors
Features
Best suited for:
Riverbed Steelhead
Cisco IWAN
VMware SD-WAN
Cisco Viptela solution
Oracle Talari’s SD-WAN
About the Author
Akansha Malik is a Market Research Analyst at Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence LLC. Akansha works with various qualitative analysis tools to understand and analyze the current and future market dynamics of the target market. Her expertise lies in mining large data sets, primary or secondary research, and market assessment to supply current market information to administrative personnel regarding decision-making and implementation. She is passionate about supporting the IT and Telecom sector to flourish and be useful in making a more digital, better working world. Through her qualitative research, she helps her clients to achieve excellent performance. To read more informative articles and white papers from her and for more information regarding the global market scenario, visit www.knowledge-sourcing.com.
Market Ecosystem of 5G Network Slicing
White PapersExecutive Summary
Network slicing is a new network architecture that offers multiple logical networks on a shared network infrastructure. Each network slice can flexibly define its SLA requirements, logical topology, reliability, and security level to fulfill the differentiated requirements of different industries, services, or users. Network slicing reduces the cost of constructing multiple private networks and provides highly flexible network services that can be distributed based on demand generated by service requirements. This has improved the network value and monetization capability of carriers and facilitates the digital transformation of various industries. Network slicing helps to support diverse and extreme requirements for latency, capacity, and availability. It created end-to-end logical networks that offered isolated properties and operated independently. Network slicing is believed to be the key feature of 5G systems. Network slicing creates virtual private 5G networks that have flexibility, scalability, and security, which provide opportunities to a wide range of industries. Now, it is possible for service providers to look beyond the consumer market and manage the 5G networks for new enterprise customers. The network slicing market growth is estimated to be around USD 200 billion by 2030 with a strong CAGR (Source: total global digitalization revenues).
Benefits of 5G Network Slicing
Network Slicing vs a Private Dedicated 5G Network
Recently there has been much discussion about network slicing vs. a private network. However, it has been analyzed that network slicing is highly potential for cost and wide area network. Network slicing doesn’t require any high investments for equipment on-premises, and through slicing, it is possible to extend the usage outside the campus. For example- tracking goods or automotive use cases.
In today’s era, every company or enterprise has some type of private network on the premise, mainly Ethernet LAN and Wi-Fi. More than 60 percent of enterprises are planning to use a 5G private network of some sort. However, one does not exclude the other, and some 50 percent of enterprises will use 5G on-premises and as a private network slice.
Top Industries for Network Slicing
The addressable opportunity for CSPs with network slicing is USD 200 billion. The top 6 industries account for more than 80 percent of the revenue potential. Healthcare is the largest industry, followed by transportation and government. According to Ericsson, the compound annual growth rate for the top industries ranges from 23-46 percent during 2025 – 2030, which is substantial.
Moreover, the healthcare sector is expected to dominate the overall market growth. In a report published by Ericsson, it was estimated that around USD 76 billion in revenue will be generated by healthcare transformation by the end of 2026. Network slicing will generate many new approaches in the healthcare industry in terms of imaging & diagnostic technology, medical data management, and data analytics. For example- experts are making efforts to arrange remote robotic surgeries using virtual reality through customized 5G network slicing. According to the European telecommunications network operator’s association in the healthcare sector, the number of IoT connections will reach 10.34 billion by 2025.
Recent Developments
Top Vendors in the Network Slicing Market
Ericsson is a multinational networking and telecommunications company. It is a leader in 4G and 5G mobile technologies and provides network support. The company provides network slicing products. Its portfolio comprises mobile and fixed network infrastructure; telecom services; broadband & multimedia solutions for operators, enterprises, & the media industry. The company is located in various geographical locations such as North America, Europe, MEA, Southeast Asia, etc.
It is a multinational company engaged in the manufacturing of mobile devices, network infrastructure, and advanced technology businesses globally. It provides Automated Network Slicing. The company’s automation capabilities offer organizations an unmatched solution to deploy network slices in less time. The company introduces new network management, controller, and orchestration capabilities to its solution. For instance, Nokia, in collaboration with Orange, deploy the first Industry 4.0 4G/5G private network with network slicing in the Schneider Electric factory in France. The company has a presence in North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and MEA.
Cisco provides a network slice orchestration solution that is built using slicing-enabled components which can span the whole service chain. Cisco’s network slicing solution is built on a cross-work network automation suite in combination with Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (NSO) product. Cisco Crosswork and NSO, in alignment with the 3GPP structure, can manage the 5G environment domains such as transport network slicing, core network slicing, and unifying slice control with NSO. The company has its geographical presence in America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific.
The company provides a 5G E2E network slicing solution to support industries undergoing digital transformation. It allows the resource of a physical network to be flexibly allocated into multiple virtualized network slices to fulfill the requirements of different industrial services, such as industrial control, automatic driving, intelligent power grid, and remote medical treatment. The advantages offered by its network slicing solution are- distributed and automatic deployment, multi-level isolation, agile design, slice mall for NaaS, and smart assurance. The company has its presence across Europe, the Americas, Oceania, and Africa.
Huawei Technologies offers a 5G network slicing solution; the company, with other industry partners, jointly established the first 5G Network Slicing Innovation Open Lab. The main aim of the lab is to unite all aspects of the network slicing industry and perform long-term verification of technical innovation for various industry partners. Huawei is planning to collaborate with 5GSA to invite industry partners to join the alliance. The company has its geographical presence across EMEA, China, APAC, and America.
The company offers Affirmed Virtual Slice Selection Function (vSSF) that provides fine-grained network slicing across virtualized and multi-vendor environments. Affirmed’s network slicing has a centralized function to steer traffic to specific gateways without making any configuration changes to other network elements. It reduces time-to-market and operational costs by 90%. By using Affirmed Virtual Probe, operators receive real-time analytics on individual slices and services, which helps them to improve their service quality and reduce network support costs. The company was acquired by Microsoft in 2020 for USD 1.35 billion. Since then, it has been operating under the intelligent cloud segment of Microsoft.
Mavenir is a telecommunication software company focusing on accelerating the software network transformation and redefining network economies for 250+ communication service providers in more than 100+ countries. It provides a cloud range network slice suite that provides end-to-end network slicing for radio, core, and application in 4G and 5G networks. The company has successfully innovated the dynamic network slicing through TM Forum Catalyst Ecosoft eHealth Program.
Amdocs provides 5G Slice Manager, AMDOCS Network Orchestration, AMDOCS Network Exposure Function, and AMDOCS Network Data Analytics Function. The 5G Slice Manager helps service providers tackle operation challenges through business and customer-centric segmentation. It helps the operators to achieve operational efficiencies and optimized ROI. Amdocs Network Orchestration provides various benefits such as-
Opportunity
Industry 4.0, automation, and digital transformation have changed the adoption of mission-critical business applications in every type of business. To cope with the growing demand of customers and organizations for operational agility, most sectors are making efforts to transform their digital platforms. Advancements in technology and the evolving ecosystem have paved the way for the emergence of new business applications across different industries.
Challenges
Despite the various benefits of network slicing, there are still some challenges that are faced by operators and developers. E2E network slicing is implemented in the radio access network (RAN), and these RAN must go through redesigning the process to accommodate network slicing. Although progress towards standardization continues, full industry consensus on network slicing deployment on 5G networks with other architectural elements remains ambiguous. Adding multiple networks over the same physical infrastructure creates much stress for operators. There is a difficulty in maintaining SLA, QoS, and security assurance for each slice, and managing the spectrum slicing and allocation for highly dynamic scenarios is one of the common challenges in the market.
The market growth for network slicing is estimated to be around USD 200 billion by 2030 with a strong CAGR (Source: total global digitalization revenues).
Steps in the Lifecycle of Network Slice
Four steps are involved in the lifecycle of a network slice- preparation, commissioning, operation, and decommissioning.
How to Slice the Network? While Evaluating Certain Policies and Criteria
About the Author
Akansha Malik is a Market Research Analyst at Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence LLC. Akansha works with various qualitative analysis tools to understand and analyze the current and future market dynamics of the target market. Her expertise lies in Mining large data sets, Primary or Secondary Research, and Market assessment to supply current market information to administrative personnel regarding decision-making and implementation. She is passionate about supporting the IT and Telecom sector to flourish and be useful in making a more digital, better working world. Through her qualitative research, she helps her clients to achieve excellent performance. To read more informative articles and white papers from her and for more information regarding the global market scenario, visit www.knowledge-sourcing.com.
Future of 5G – In the Development of Cloud Technology
White PapersWith the deployment of standalone 5G networks accelerating in 2021, the cloud will need to reinvent itself. Mobile devices will be able to easily transfer large amounts of data due to 5G and to manage this data cloud and its various architectures will play a major role. This is particularly true at the enterprise level, forcing cloud providers to increase storage capacity and adjust prices accordingly. For instance, in February 2021, IBM announced a 1u all-flash storage system for on-premises IT environments that can scale to hold 1.7 petabytes (PB) of data as part of an effort to make data management easier across a hybrid cloud computing environment. Additionally, the surging adoption advanced technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML), among others is expected to accelerate the need for 5G cloud services. These technologies are reshaping the market by assisting users in monitoring, analyzing, and visualizing unprocessed data. Adopting these emerging technologies in conjunction with cloud solutions would assist enterprises in improving their visualization capabilities as well as making complex data accessible and usable. Google Cloud launched Vertex Al, a machine learning platform that assists enterprises in maintaining and deploying artificial intelligence (AI) models, in May 2021. This factor would also aid in the efficient management and development of machine learning projects throughout the development lifecycle.
Furthermore, in the coming years, service providers and private companies will continue to assess the most cost-effective ways to expand capacity and capability in 5G deployment plans. In terms of the data center, 5G promises faster access to information, which will drive more edge data center construction. As more data becomes latency-sensitive and requires faster access, there is a shift away from large-core, small-edge data center architecture and toward the smaller-core, larger-edge architecture. A data center might be as simple as a single server or as complicated as a rack containing a high proportion of servers. Companies that provide public cloud computing services such as Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Google, and more have data centers that they make available to other businesses. In the coming years, more and more end-user traffic will pass through a data center. According to the Cisco VNI Forecast, 86 percent of total end-user/device traffic touched a data center in 2015, and this traffic share increased to 94 percent by 2020.
However, data security and privacy concerns about data loss, data breaches, unanticipated emergencies, application vulnerabilities, and online cyber-attacks allied with cloud-based solutions are expected to act as restraints for the growth of cloud-based solutions. Revenues in healthcare, government, IT and telecom, BFSI, and other sectors may suffer as a result of this. According to the arXiv.org e-Print database, in 2019, almost 60% of corporate-related data and information on storage drives was held insecurely.
Impact of 5G on Cloud and Data Centers
5G technology will be extremely beneficial to the cloud computing industry. This is due to the fact that cloud-based technology innovations are more efficient. The technology enxhances the integration by having low to nil latency, leading to better communications. Furthermore, the goal of service providers using Cloud Native ideas and technology is to reach web size and economies of scale. Large enterprises such as Intel and IBM, are investing in network cloudification. This involves extending cloud platforms, technologies, and virtualization capabilities across a network to make it more agile and scalable. Networks are leveraging 5G to quickly migrate toward this software-defined architecture to fulfill operational and application demands as consumer and enterprise bandwidth demands grow. Furthermore, the cloud is a beneficial area for non-device storage in everything from healthcare applications to autonomous vehicles, and even down to wearables and mobile apps. These technologies will perform better if they leverage the cloud and have 5G connections. The dependability, performance, and efficiency of cloud-based products and services should all increase. As a result of these advancements, cloud business spending will accelerate. For instance, in June 2021, FloLive, which developed a cloud-based solution for stitching together private, local cellular networks to create private global IoT 5G networks for its customers, raised $15.5 million in funding. The money will be used to expand the company’s service, including investing in and building out its tech stack, upgrading its network to 5G where it’s being used, and developing a global SIM2Cloud. According to the data by Flexera 2021 State of the Cloud Report, respondents anticipate a 39 percent growth in cloud spending in the following 12 months.
Organizational Spend On Public Cloud, Average % Across All Respondents
Next 12 Months Current Cloud Spend
Source –Flexera 2021 State of the Cloud Report
The 5G New Radio (NR) air interface is one of the most important aspects of 5G. It improves performance by utilizing new mobile spectrums with high-speed latency capabilities. URLLC (Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication) capabilities will be enabled by 5G, enabling use cases such as V2X and Telesurgery, as well as Cobots, where end-to-end latency is predicted to be in milliseconds. eMBB (Enhanced Mobile Broadband) capability will be accessible in 5G for use cases that require a high data rate, such as augmented reality and virtual reality.
In addition, the impact of 5G on cloud and data centers has led to a series of developments by major companies in the market, which is further expected to expand the demand for these services in the future. For instance –
AWS, MICROSOFT, GOOGLE
In terms of 5G cloud service providers, the top three companies dominating the market are AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
Services Provided by Cloud Providers
Amazon Web Services provides on-demand cloud services to enterprises all around the world on a pay-as-you-go basis. AWS is used by platforms like Slack and Netflix to provide continuous uptime 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Even when COVID-19 has a negative influence on enterprises and the workforce, AWS is assisting its clients in handling the surge in demand while working from home. AWS’ services comprise networking, storage, remote computing, mobile development, email, analytics, and security, to name a few. It provides a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) that does not interact with other networks, enhancing virtual privacy. In addition, Identity and Access Management (IAM) is an AWS introductory feature. This feature makes it easier to create groups of users.
Google Cloud is a collection of cloud computing services that run on Google’s infrastructure for its user-centric products. Computing, storage, analytics, and machine learning (ML) are among the cloud services it offers. Networking, Big Data, the internet of things (IoT), management tools, security, and Cloud AI are among the platform’s other features. Google cloud services are built on the same infrastructure as Google’s other end-user products, such as YouTube, Gmail, and Google Search. Furthermore, it permits cloud resource pooling – this is a service that allows the provider to give interim services to a large number of clients. It also has a multi-layered security mechanism in place to keep critical information safe.
Microsoft has the largest enterprise customer base of the three main companies, owing to widespread adoption of Microsoft Windows, Microsoft 365 (previously Office 365), and Microsoft Dynamics. It’s proven simple for many customers to layer new Microsoft Azure cloud services on top of current technologies. Microsoft Azure’s integration with business intelligence tools (especially Power BI), industry-specific solutions (for example, Microsoft Cloud for Retail or Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing), and a significant focus on enterprise support are all key differentiators. On its website, Microsoft advertises nine separate IoT cloud services. Its key solution for data intake into the cloud via IoT devices is Azure IoT Hub. The service offers secure connectivity with IoT devices as well as device management features including device provisioning.
Impact Of Covid-19 On 5g Cloud And Data Centers
The global health crisis served as a driver for demonstrating the benefits and flexibility of cloud computing, resulting in increased adoption. The pandemic has brought into sharp focus factors such as flexible computing power, high availability, disaster recovery, lower back up and disaster recovery costs, resilient core for business process and business continuity, legacy skill risk, remote workforce management, safe return to work, and business agility, allowing for resilient business functions. According to a recent Flexera survey, Covid-19 has resulted in a considerable rise in cloud spending for 29% of leaders.
The importance of the cloud for organizational continuity with remote workforces and smooth online collaboration has been highlighted by pandemic and remote working scenarios. In all companies, the use of public clouds is rapidly increasing. For instance, in May 2021, PayPal increased its multi-year Google Cloud cooperation as Covid-19 promoted a surge in online payments. This expansion has resulted in a huge increase in public cloud spending, which may have been boosted even further by the COVID-19 outbreak. As per the Flexera survey report, 36 percent of businesses spent more than $12 million per year on IT, and 83 percent reported that they spend more than $1.2 million per year on cloud computing. These percentages are up from last year when 20% of businesses reported annual spending of more than $12 million and 74% reported annual spending of more than $1.2 million.
Furthermore, because of greater access to internet-related services, as well as nationwide lockdowns imposed by governments around the world, demand for data centers surged.
Annual Public Cloud Spend By Enterprises
Source: Flexera 2021 State of the Cloud Report
About the author
Anamika Khanduri is a Market Research Analyst at Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence LLP. She is well-skilled in qualitative research. Her field of expertise is obtaining and analyzing data on worldwide market consumers and competitors. To read more articles by her and for more information regarding multiple global markets, visit www.knowledge-sourcing.com.
Solar Simulator – The Getaway of Future Energy
Thought ArticlesThe solar simulator market was valued at US$6.597 billion in 2020 and will increase to US$10.887 billion by 2027. Over the forecast period, this market is estimated to increase at a compound yearly growth rate of 7.42%.
Solar simulators are devices that simulate natural sunshine to characterize photonic properties and solve the problem of providing a controllable indoor test facility for solar cell testing under laboratory settings. The solar simulator is made up of light sources, power supplies, and filters that adjust the beam's output to satisfy classification standards. Due to a growing need for green energy, solar simulators are increasingly being used in applications such as home hot water, production space, heating, and cooling, among others.
The numerous advantages of the Solar simulator in both household and industrial applications will be the driving force behind the market's robust growth over the forecasted timeframe.
During the anticipated period, the market would experience strong growth due to the evolving solar industry and demand for green energy in various applications. The growing need for renewable energy sources is one of the primary factors for the worldwide solar simulator industry. Solar simulators are used in the research and development of PV, cosmetics, paints and coatings, UV protection fabrics and textiles, and other products. While solar simulators have been used in testing and measurement environments for many years, OEMs are looking for next-generation solar simulators with advanced light sources and control systems that will provide versatility, high performance, and cost savings to improve product yields and lower operating costs. Solar simulators are used widely in high-volume applications like PV for research and innovation, testing, and manufacturing. Furthermore, rising government activities such as providing subsidies for using green energy, growing solar industry, falling costs of solar systems and energy storage devices, and the development of smart cities powered by green energy in various regions would exacerbate market value.
Solar Simulator's market expansion could be hindered by the high initial cost associated with the solar selector and the conditions required for its testing.
The high cost of raw materials required for Solar Simulator is preventing developing countries from adopting solar simulators, which is projected to slow expansion and pose a challenge to the market. Furthermore, Solar simulators are useful in the development, testing, and grading of solar collectors, but outdoor testing in natural conditions is required. However, the intensity of incident solar radiation, angle of incidence, albedo, direct-to-diffuse ratio, spectral distributions, ambient temperatures, and wind speeds and directions vary so widely and so quickly about the collectors' time constants that the scientific requirement of repeatability is rarely met. As a result, conducting outdoor tests to satisfy precisely defined test circumstances is impossible. Even in specially chosen areas, such as open desert locations, these challenges are significant. In many places where there is intermittent cloud, low solar intensities in the winter, changeable albedo due to uneven snow cover, or nighttime, they become almost prohibitive.
During the projected period, the Xenon Arc Lamps segment is expected to grow rapidly in the Solar Simulator market.
By Light Source, the Solar Simulator market can be segmented into Quartz Tungsten Halogen Lamps (QHT), Metal Halide Arc Lamps (HMI), Light Emitting Diodes (LED), Xenon Arc Lamps, and Others. Among the various light sources, the Xenon Arc Lamps segment is likely to occupy a substantial share. This segment's strong growth can be due to the proven technology, consistent output, and improved spectrum required for illuminating the material under test. In the solar business, xenon arc lights are mostly used to test PV cells and modules. During the forecast period, the market for xenon arc lights is likely to be driven by the rising PV market. Furthermore, it has the closest spectrum match of any artificial source and a wide range of applications in the solar sector, all of which contribute to its market growth.
The emission curve of Xenon arc lamps is reasonably smooth in the UV to visible spectrums, with typical wavelengths emitted between 750 and 1000 nm. They're a popular choice for solar simulation, absorption and fluorescence, and source spectral scanning because of their sun-like emission spectrum and 5800 K color temperature. Because of the arc's tiny size, the light from the lamp may be focused with moderate precision. Smaller xenon arc lights, down to 10 watts, are utilized in optics and precise illumination for microscopes and other devices as a result.
During the predicted period, the Pulse Simulator segment is anticipated to expand rapidly in the Solar Simulator market.
Unlike steady-state solar simulators, pulsed and flashed solar simulators do not have a constant light source across time. The pulsed simulator uses flash tubes and is qualitatively similar to flash photography. Very high intensities of up to several thousand suns are attainable with average durations of a few milliseconds. Pulse simulators have a significant market share as a result of these factors. This equipment is frequently used to prevent excessive heat build-up in the item being tested. The intensity and light spectrum are intrinsically transient due to the lamp's fast heating and cooling, making repeating reliable testing more technically demanding. In flash solar simulators, solid-state light technology such as LEDs alleviates some of these heating and cooling difficulties.
During the forecast period, the research segment is expected to grow fast in the Solar Simulator market. In addition, the testing segment will dominate the market.
Solar simulators are used extensively in high-volume applications like PV for Research and innovation, testing, and manufacturing. Rising PV demand from the utility, residential, and non-residential sectors is expected to propel the solar simulator industry forward. Furthermore, Solar thermal power generation frequently necessitates concentrating solar energy for use as a heat source. Testing the optical design and overall performance is vital to increase the efficiency of these solar thermal systems as one of the primary up-and-coming providers. To imitate natural sunlight in indoor laboratories, solar simulators are frequently utilized. solar simulators for testing the performance of various components of solar thermal power production equipment. Depending on the sort of testing done on solar thermal power systems, the requirements for a solar simulator will alter.
During the forecast period, the Solar Simulator market in the Asia Pacific is predicted to have a dominating share, followed by Europe, North America, and Latin America.
The Solar Simulator market is classified into five regions based on geography: North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The Asia Pacific is expected to lead the market in most significant terms of demand for solar simulators, owing to rising demand for solar power in nations like India, China, and Indonesia, as well as government laws on green energy across the region. Just after Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America had also enacted stringent legislation to control emissions and are concentrating mostly on renewable energy projects and energy-efficient industries; the advancement of commercial and industrial development has resulted in an increase in power demand and government supporting the development and commercialization of solar applications across the major countries, positively impacting the solar simulator market landscape. Due to favorable conditions for energy production using solar applications,
Due to favorable conditions for energy production using solar applications, Latin America has also emerged as a solar powerhouse. The solar simulator and solar power business in the area are reaching new heights owing to the increasing demand, technological developments, and government legislation. Solar projects and investments in renewable energy infrastructure, as well as the replacement of power infrastructure, are expected to drive the solar simulator market in the region.
Covid-19 Insights
The impact of COVID-19 on the solar simulator business has been unfavorable due to industry shutdowns caused by temporary lockdowns imposed by numerous governments to break the virus's cycle. Furthermore, there have been supply chain disruptions and delays in business operations. The stock has been restricted by trade obstacles. However, the solar simulator market is likely to grow in the forecast term due to increased demand from various industry sectors.
Nano Cellulose is Biodegradable and Lightweight
Thought ArticlesThe nano cellulose market size was valued at $304.617 million in 2020 and is anticipated to increase at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 24.72% over the predictive period to reach $1,429.903 million by 2027. Nanocellulose is a substance with an aspect of 100nm fewer, a pretty high specific area, pore volume with excellent pore inter-connectivity, is lightweight, and has a high biodegradability. The outstanding characteristics of nanocellulose and the increasing adoption of flexible packaging aids are expected to propel the nanocellulose market forward.
Types of Nanocellulose
CNC:- CNCs, known as cellulose nanocrystals, are bio-based nanocrystals made from the acid hydrolysis process, the most prevalent natural polymer. These nanomaterials have piqued the homogeneous rod-like structure, large surface area, good strength, liquid crystalline behaviour, customized surface chemistry, biocompatibility, biodegradability, sustainability, and non-toxic carbohydrate-based origin curiosity.
CNF:- nanofibrillar cellulose (NFC), also known as cellulose nanofibrils (CNF), is a sophisticated biomaterial made mostly from renewable agricultural and forest materials that have shown amazing performance in composites. They've also been used in barrier coatings, food, translucent flexible films, and various other purposes.
BNC:- Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is a homopolymer of β-1,4 linked glycose produced on a micro and macro level by Acetobacter utilizing simple culturing procedures. Ultra-pure cellulose with various physio-chemical properties can be achieved depending on the growth environment and fermentation processes used. After production, bacterial cellulose is organized into a nanostructured network of semitransparent glucan polymers, which have mechanical stability but are soft and elastic and have a large capacity to store water and exchange gases.
Uses of Nanocellulose
Packaging
In the expanding commercialization of nanotechnologies, nanocellulose is extremely important. As a result, researchers and industry professionals are examining and testing new manufacturing procedures and applications for NC. Exceptional body armour, super-flexible displays, futuristic filters, bending batteries, ultra-absorbent aerogels, fuel-efficient cars, and biofuel are among the seven great uses of nano cellulose. Nanocellulose serves numerous uses as a food packaging material in the developing food and beverage industry, including Preventing the rotting of food, preventing the passage of oxygen into the food, Polystyrene-based foams are being phased out, Food preservation and Improving food quality because they can transport active ingredients like antioxidants and antimicrobials.
Active Packaging
To control bacterial surface contamination of food products, a new packaging technology called 'active packaging' inserts nanoparticles into polymer sheets. Due to rising customer demand for minimally processed, preservative-free foods, the food industry is paying close attention to the availability of this breakthrough technology. Furthermore, the use of nanoparticles in food packaging reduces food waste by preserving the freshness of packaged foods.
Paper And Paperboard
Because of the higher surface area of Nanocellulose, it functions as a filler and a hardening agent in the paper and paperboard manufacturing business, generating denser and harder paper. It also gives printing papers flat surfaces, which improves the quality of the output. Transparent Nanocellulose paper has drawn a lot of interest in electronics because of its optical, cost-effective, lightweight, recyclable, and biodegradable qualities.
Electronics And Sensor
Because of its intrinsic qualities and recyclability, nanocellulose has emerged as one of the most promising sustainable resources. Nanocellulose is mixed with conducting polymers, carbon materials, metal nanoparticles and oxides, and other types of the nanocomposite, including films, sheets, and aerogels. The underlying process allows nanocellulose composites to be used in electronics device fabrication. This provides functions and printed electronics, power storage and converting devices, and dielectric and microwave absorbing systems. Nanocellulose's ability to offer mechanical support for autonomously flexible and thermally stable electronic devices has been extensively studied. . Nanocellulose has a wide range of uses, including composite reinforcement and rheological enhancers. Nanocellulose has recently been found to offer a lot of potential in flexible printed electronics. Nanocellulose's ability to make self-standing high thermal stability films has been used to create translucent and smooth printed electronics substrates. Inks, diverse processing processes, and the manufacture of flexible electrical devices are all part of the printed electronics sector and substrates. This paper attempts to overview nanocellulose's application and promise in printed electronics.
North America is expected to dominate the market over the forecasted period. The massive projected size is largely attributed to technological advancements in this region.
Enhanced infrastructure investments and commercial construction renovations in North America is anticipated to drive the regional nanocellulose product demand for composite applications. This is primarily due to massive government spending on infrastructure upgrades. Rising industries in the region, such as food and beverage, oil and gas, paints and coatings, and so on, will supplement nanocellulose business growth by 2027. According to the IEA, by 2024, the United States is expected to account for an 85% rise in the global oil export, exporting more oil than Russia and will account for 85 per cent of the rise in global oil production. There is a massive market for nanocellulose in the United States for manufacturing high-strength concretes and building composite materials. Furthermore, as people's health concerns grow in the United States, there is a huge demand for CNF and MFC to develop functional food products.
Soaring pharmaceutical and aerospace demand is bolstering market demand. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the total commercial aircraft fleet is projected to increase to 9,421 in 2040 from 7,628 in 2019 due to increased air cargo. Furthermore, as the existing fleet ages, the US mainliner carrier fleet will grow significantly to 44 aircraft.
Covid-19 Insight
COVID-19 harmed the market. Manufacturing operations were paused due to supply chain disruptions and workforce shortages or as a precautionary measure to prevent the virus from spreading, badly impacting the market. The End-user market was impacted, which altogether led to the decline in the nanocellulose market growth during the forecasted period. According to OEC, Printed Circuit Boards had a total trade value of US$42.3 billion in 2020, which was US$42.5 billion in 2019. Printed Circuit Board shipments fell by -0.53 per cent from $42.5 billion to $42.3 billion during 2019 and 2020. Printed circuit board trade accounts for 0.25 per cent of global trade. The Electronic and Electrical being one of the end-user industries is impacted due to the Covid-19 restriction and shutdown affected the manufacturing and supply chain of the industries hence impacting the market growth for the nanocellulose market.
Postal Automation Market to Grow With Significant Rate
BlogThe global postal automation market was valued at US$3.238 billion in the year 2019 and is estimated to reach up to US$4.900 billion in 2026 to grow at the compound annual growth rate of 6.10%. The postal system is sending and receiving a message in a document form. And automation is rising in many industrial sectors as it reduces time consumption and operational cost. Whereas a postal automation system is an advanced intelligent system that provides a solution in terms to eradicate the limitations of the traditional postal system. These limitations occur due to human errors, insufficient labor, and time consumption. Due to the increase in the use of electronics to carry several tasks, the mailing is carried out electronically in almost all sectors. The automation postal system allows the mails to send and receive in a safe, reliable, and fast manner. This system also provides efficiency for sorting the parcels. The postal automation system includes automatic reading, encoding, decoding, and postal software system.
Growing E-commerce and Digitalization Driving the Growth of the Postal Automation Market
Due to many advantages and satisfactory results of the e-commerce system, in the last few years, the adoption of e-commerce has increased worldwide. Many industries rely on e-commerce for transactions. The rising number of online outlets also considers e-commerce as its growth factor. According to a report by the U.S. Department of Commerce, there is a 15% growth in the e-commerce industry in 2016 which has reached up to the US$395 billion total sales. As the manual logistic procedure require a lot of time, labor, and money, e-commerce is considered a reliable alternative to this traditional logistic industry. As per the report by Wall Street Journal, out of all the products sold by the online sales, one-third of products are returned by consumers; this generates the need for reverse logistics. Similarly, the packaging industry also is projected to drive the postal automation market owing to the rising demand for efficient voluminous parcel packaging and transfer systems.
Increasing the adoption of digitalization is another factor in the market growth of the postal automation market. Due to the positive results of digitalization, many industrial sectors rely more on digitalizing their mailing system. Additionally, to encode the messages and decode the received messages or data, automatic software is used. This software is provided by the postal automation system. The postal automation system increases profitability, improves quality, by reducing fixed costs, and processing time. From the IT industries to even the small-scale industries the rising adoption of digitalization is attributed to boosting the postal automation market during the forecast period.
Reduction in Labor Cost- A Reason to Adopt Postal Automation System in Industries
As the postal automation system is entirely automatic and uses software and hardware, it reduces labor dependence and labor costs. This is the primary advantage of the postal automation system which leads many industries to implement it. The increase in the labor cost is due to some government regulations, rise in attrition rates, downfall in productivity, and lack of employable skills. Due to these factors, the traditional postal system has to suffer which affects the productivity and overall performance of the industry sector. As per the report by Eurostat, in 2018, the Annual growth in labor cost was 2% and 2.7% in the Euro area and European Union respectively. The labor costs were increased in many sectors including, power, energy, logistic, automotive, and manufacturing. With saving from the labor costs, the automated postal system also helps the companies to make the postal process economical, with high productivity, and most importantly, accurate. Owing to these factors the postal automation market is estimated to grow n the upcoming years.
The Extravagant Price Restricts the Growth of the Postal Automation System
Although the automated postal system saves labor costs, the costs of installation of a postal automated system are comparatively high. It requires quite a huge fund to invest initially as it is entirely digitalized with various software and hardware. Moreover, after the installation, the postal automated system requires regular servicing, up-gradation of its software, hardware, and regular maintenance which of course requires a skilled employee. This will also add to the further costs. Therefore, an unaffordable rate of the overall procedure right from the installation to the maintenance can hinder the growth of automated postal systems as small-scaled industries and new market players tend to avoid extra expenditure. This can restrict the market growth of the postal automation market during the forecast period.
North America and Europe to Boost the Market
Due to advancements in technology in the countries like United States, Canada, Germany, etc., the early adoption of the postal automation system was done in North America and European countries. Many of the industries in these countries have now upgraded their postal automated system as these industries have experienced the positive results of the automated postal system in terms of accuracy, and productivity. The demand is expected to grow in upcoming years thereby boosting the market growth during the forecast period. Whereas Asia-Pacific countries like China, India, Japan, South Korea have also adopted the e-commerce trend in past few years. This trend is expected in the implementation of postal automation systems in the industries sector of these countries. Moreover, the presence of key market players also is projected to augment the demand for the postal automated system. Therefore, Asia-Pacific is also propelled to grow rapidly in the postal automation market during the forecast period.
COVID-19 Analysis
Due to the infection of the coronavirus all over the world, many restrictions were imposed on social life such as social distancing, travel, shut down of the businesses, and industries. This surely has affected the productivity and finances of many sectors. However, to overcome the loss and to maintain productivity with fewer laborers, many industries adopted digitalized working alternatives. Additionally, there was a rise in e-commerce industries as the number of online outlets and online shopping was increased. Due to this, the postal automation market was moderately affected during this period.
Advent of Ed-Tech Post COVID-19
White PapersIntroduction
The process of learning is evolving with advancements in technology. The education technology industry, or for short Ed-Tech, specifically deals with hardware and software to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Ed-tech. industry includes not just virtual learning platforms but also online learning apps, curriculum management software, e-textbooks, and communications and administrative platforms. The industry is not just restricted to online learning or distant learning or for that matter remote learning but also includes in-class learning. However, online learning has become a major part of the Industry due to the pandemic. key drivers for the industry include increasing connectivity and accessibility of the internet, advancing technology, rising investment in the Ed-Tech, government support and new education policies, growing literacy rate, and sustainable development goal for quality education. Further, the introduction of AI has widened the competitive landscape. The spiraling up of artificial intelligence (AI), software, and hardware industry is expected to advance research and development to make learning more efficient and effective.
Evolution of Ed. Tech
Ed. Tech companies have been existed for over more than two decades. However, they have gained prevalence only in the past three years. The plummeting cost of the internet and smart device has significantly contributed to the industry.
Over centuries the leading process has been evolving by using various techniques. People use to learn poems, plays, and songs. Back then the focus on memorization was considered important due to the lack of manuscripts and availability of paper. It was only in the 15th century that the printing press made the written material made available more easily. From then on, the availability of literature and textbooks started publishing and the number of books printed increased. The literacy rate increased in Europe as the region had a high number of printing presses. Apart from this easy access to raw material was also an advantage for the region as most countries imported paper and other raw materials from their respective colonies. In the 18th century tools like blackboard and chalk became extremely popular and are used to this date. Moreover, the use of tools like Hieroglyphics, Quill pen and pencil, and abacus amongst others were used to improve the learning process. However, during World war II, the United States Army adopted film projectors. this marked as an entry of technology for study and training. Further, with the development of high-tech projectors, PowerPoint presentations were delivered for training purposes as well as for schools. With this came the era of the Ed-Tech. The use of audio-visual modules for better learning was a turning point. Further, smart evaluating tests made it easier for the teacher and interactive learning for the students. Apart from in-class technology, with the increasing use of computers, laptops, and the internet; the scope of Ed-Tech widened to online platforms as well. Massive online courses (MOOC), online degree courses with collaboration with top universities became popular phenomena. Companies like EdX, Khan Academy, Coursera, Udemy amongst others became extremely popular. Moreover, with the onset of a pandemic, when most of the countries had to impose shutdowns on schools and offices to prevent the further spread of the virus, the Ed-Tech companies played an important role to provide quality education during such time.
What is Causing the Growth in the Ed-Tech Industry?
In 2000, only 6.73% of the world population had internet. This was only 49.91% in 2018 which has increased to reach 56.73% in 2019, as per the World Bank data. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimates a 17% increase in the usage of the internet since 2019. According to ITU’s estimates, approximately 63% of the world population is expected to be using the internet in 2021. Which is around 4.9 billion people. The organization also stated, 65.7% of the households have internet access at home. For developed natation the numbers are high, it accounted to 87.8% of the households having internet access. On the other hand, only 22% of the households have access to the internet in the least developed countries. In developing countries, however, the stats are good, with 57.8% of the households having access.
source: ITU
source: ITU
Further, the availability of 5G has also contributed to the industry. 5G is more capable of air interface, giving the user ultra-low latency. Making it 500% faster than 4G LTE. The 5G mobile data network is available in over more than 60 countries. Further, it is expected to launch in India in the coming year in 2022. 5G is designed to link a vast number of embedded sensors in nearly anything by allowing data speeds, power, and mobility to be scaled down, resulting in incredibly lean and low-cost connection solutions. With the availability of faster and cost-effective internet, the demand for online courses and other Ed-Tech platforms is expected to spiral up.
source: ITU
Further, with easy accessibility of the internet and newer technology coming up the cost of the internet has drastically reduced. Especially, for low-income countries in 2008, the fixed broadband median cost was USD 149.6 and in 2020 it cost USD 21.6. The same downward trend is observed in lower-middle-income countries and upper-middle-income countries, due to the rising completion and cutting-edge technology. On the other hand, the higher-income countries' median fixed broadband cast has increased slightly. Moreover, with the rising Internet of Things (IoT) and clouding services, Real-time, remote data monitoring has become easier.
The pandemic has thrown traditional education into disarray. According to UNICEF, more than 1.5 billion children globally have been affected due to covid-19. According to UN Sustainable Development Goals, Covid-19 has wiped out 20 years of education gains. due to lack of devices, internet, and other infrastructure. While this disruption has increased inequities in access to education, it has also expedited gains in innovation that might help narrow those gaps. Immersive technologies, which digitally replicate the actual environment, have a lot of potential in Ed-Tech, according to experts.
Augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) technologies make learning more enjoyable and engaging. Employability skills, often known as soft skills, such as communication, leadership, and teamwork, are at the top of the program's priority list. according to PwC, individuals who are taught using virtual reality technology are 3.75 times more emotionally linked to the content, four times more attentive, and 275 percent more confident about using the skills they acquire the following training. Virtual reality may also be used to teach individuals more rapidly and cost-effectively.
Companies like zSpace, Neo Bear, Strivr, Osso VR, Mursion, Interplay Learning are some of the key players of VR/AR Ed-Tech. Recently, SAP and JFFLabs have established a new initiative called the Skill Immersion Lab to help students prepare for their future careers using immersive learning technologies. JFFLabs and SAP have also coupled up to test how immersive learning may be implemented in classrooms across the country.
Further, with the advent of Artificial intelligence and Machine learning the industry is expected to flourish. It is used to provide analysis of the performance of the learner also the data collected can be used for predictive analysis. Companies like Duolingo, Coursera, Brainly are using such technology get to offer their courses. Further, this technology helps the educators to reach process efficiency, by focusing more on teaching.
Several Chinese firms are actively working on AI technologies for use in schools and colleges. 17 Zuoye is an online learning platform that employs AI algorithms to provide assignments and grades to students. Liulishuo is an English language learning platform that uses algorithms to give students feedback via a software bot. VIPKid is another English learning platform in China that matches students and teachers based on their desired learning style, using AI algorithms.
Education is the backbone of any nation’s development. Governments of different countries are adapting to more and more e-learning platforms to improve the level of education. Especially, after the outbreak of covid-19. Were children and teenagers extremely susceptible to coronavirus. Governments are promoting schools to collaborate with Ed-Tech to not compromise on education, even if the student is learning from home. Developed and developing nations saw higher adoption of Ed-Tech as they have infrastructural facilities and government support. However, underdevelopment saw a severe drawback. Developing countries like India have progressively shifted their education policy to include digitalization in the education sector. India is also home to many high valued Ed-Tech companies namely Byju’s, Unacademy, and Upgrade amongst others.
United Kingdom’s Department of Education (DfE) has brought some stringent changes in the education system. DfE also announced an education recovery support package, to ensure the education of children from different backgrounds including children with special education needs and disabilities are not affected by the pandemic. For this, DfE has come up with a digital ans technology strategy. The national cabinet established a set of national principles for school education on April 16, 2020, to guarantee that all children get a high-quality education from kindergarten to grade nine, that students progress through their year levels, and that a successful transition to 2021 is realized. Further, in Brazil, IDB Lab, Lemann Foundation, and Imaginable Futures invested $2.36 million in the Ed-Tech program called impulsion. The program aims to connect public schools, non-profit and Ed-Tech startups to develop digital solutions.
Also, in Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Higher and Secondary-Specialized Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan (MHSSE) has entered into a Public-private partnership (PPP) with Alpha DX by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU). It is a joint venture (JV) for the US$50 million, where the primary goal is to be developing and operating the Asnaro University of Uzbekistan (AUU), this will be fully integrated with the Alpha DX subsidiaries' a learning platform
In the past three years, the investment in the Ed Tech industry has significantly increased. Especially with the outbreak of the pandemic. According to World Economic Forum (WEF), over 1.2 billion children are out of classrooms. Further, more than 90% of the world’s schools and most colleges are closed, and teaching is undertaken online. Ed Tech industry apprehended the market growth. Where investors saw a loss in the aviation, hospitality, and manufacturing sectors. With the rising Ed Tech industry, investors grabbed the opportunity to invest in the Ed. Tech. industry.
2021 saw multiple Ed-Tech companies becoming public by offering IPO. For instance, Coursera offered IPO by becoming listed on New York Stock Exchange in March 2021, valuing the company over $7 billion. Zhangmen, a Chinese Ed-Tech firm also became public by offering IPO in June 2021. This valued the company for over $1.8 billion. Duolingo a US-based language learning Ed-Tech, and PowerSchool, a K-12 Ed-Tech, also became public by offering IPO in July 2021. Most recently in October 2021, Udemy raised $400 million by offering IPO.
A special purpose acquisition company helped Nerdy, a platform for live online learning, become a public corporation (SPAC). In September 2021, it completed its business combination with TPG Pace Tech Opportunities, a publicly-traded SPAC. Further, BYJU’s is expected to launch IPO in Mid-2022.
The year 2021 saw some major acquisitions as well.
For instance, BYJU’s acquired 10 companies including Tynker, epic, Aakash Educational Services, Great Learning, Hashlearn, Scholr, Whodat, Gradeup, Toppr, and Geogebra. All the companies have different specializations. Epic is a US-based digital reading platform that was acquired for $500 million. Tynker is a coding platform that was acquired by BYJU’s for $200 million. The company acquired Toppr for $150 million. It also acquired great learning, India’s leading higher education and professional learning platform for $ 600 million, to strengthen the professional and higher education segment. Recently, in December 2021 the company acquired Geogebra, a math learning platform based in Austria. The company also taped in AR Ed-techs by acquiring Whodat. This year in July, a renowned MOOC provider, EdX started by MIT and Harvard University was acquired by 2U. 2U, an online program management company, was acquired for $800 million.
Companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet Inc. have also shown some great interest in the Ed-Tech industry. Cuemath, Alphabet based online math-course provider, offered free math courses to won users in India. also, Google and Byju’s tied up offering learning solutions to schools. on the other hand, Apple launched Apple Teacher which is a platform program designed to support educators who are using Apple products for teaching and learning. other than this Microsoft acquired tutoring platform TakeLessons in September 2021. Rising investments, partnerships, and M&A have tremendous scope for growth in the Ed-Tech industry.
Where the Ed-Tech Industry is Progressing Towards?
With the increasing adoption of Ed-Tech, especially during the time of pandemic where in-class teaching has become difficult, such industry is proving advantageous for not just proving the good quality of education, but also to providing new scope of efficient teaching and learning experience. Although, for the underdeveloped countries, school closure and lack of good infrastructure, the dropout rates have increased tremendously. To an extent that, 24 million children and youth are at risk of dropping out, according to UNESCO. According to UNESCO research, 100 million children would fall below the minimal reading competency level as a result of school closures. However, hybrid learning systems with Ed-Tech can prove as a solution to this problem. The World Bank is assisting nations in determining how to solve challenges such as cheap connection, device procurement, cloud solutions, and multimodal education delivery.
Further, in developing and developed nations, where connectivity and infrastructure are not an issue, Ed-Tech has thrived tremendously. Countries like China, the USA, and India produce most of the Ed-Tech firms. This not only provides further opportunities of using AI, VR, AR, and MR for further development but also an opportunity to provide better aid to the students with special needs and disabilities.
An Australian Ed-Tech startup, Dystech is developing a dyslexia screening platform. For which the company has raised $290K. By using AI the company plans to perform dyslexia screening. This will help for early diagnostics and further work on managing it. Ed-Tech like this will help overcome various obstacles using various assistive tools and act as an equalizer.