The ICT industry is buzzing with opportunities. Government and enterprise digitalisation initiatives are driving growth in both active as well as passive networking segment. If we talk specifically about the structured cabling domain, the rise in the adoption of intelligent technologies to implement scalable and modular IT infrastructure in several business operations is driving the growth of this market.
Furthermore, increased emphasis on cost and time management, growing IoT data, need for automation of businesses, and increasing competition have significantly boosted demand for structured cabling systems. Besides, the growing adoption of digital services and increasing number of internet users will augment the data centre demand, which will further lead to a spurt in the demand of structured cabling solutions.
The Union Budget for 2019 laid special emphasis on infrastructure development in the country and with a continued focus on setting up new data centres, office spaces, hotels, healthcare facilities and other commercial establishments in India, hence the market for structured cabling solutions is expected to reap the benefits.
All these present tremendous opportunities for ICT vendors and partners to grow in this domain. Moreover, it is also crucial to note that technology is constantly evolving with new innovations coming-in at regular interval. Vendor organisations are thriving on innovation and are constantly working towards bringing out products that are future ready.
In terms of technology, while copper cable is currently more popular and much more predominant in structured cabling systems and networks, fibre is quickly gaining momentum. Fibre optic cable is favoured for applications that need high bandwidth, long distances, and complete immunity to electrical interference. Cat7 is the only cabling standard in copper that supports high-speed data transfers. But due to its limitation in connecting two end points, fibre is being preferred over Cat7.
Channel partners believe that as floodgates of data are expected to open on various fronts, a new set of challenges and opportunities are bound to emerge. And 2019 may be the year for structured cabling players to strategise for the growth ahead.
Nivedan Prakash
Senior Associate Editor, CRN India
[email protected]
