SiliconANGLE’s Smart World Round-up

This week’s Smart City roundup features the latest predictions for the smart and connected office, expectations for Asia to heavily invest in smart infrastructure, and a deal that will improve China’s IT infrastructure.

Smart office market to be worth $43.31B in 2020

MarketsandMarkets Inc. published a new report looking at global trends for smart and connected offices, forecasting the market through 2020. Expected to reach $43.31 billion by 2020, the smart office market will likely grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.7 percent, with the building automation industry playing a huge role in its growth.

The report also named the major players on the smart office market such as Siemens AG, Johnson Controls Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Honeywell International, Inc., ABB Ltd., Crestron Electronics, Schneider Electric SA, and Koninklijke Philips N.V., to name a few. A detailed view of the growth per region was also featured in the report, revealing that the Americas dominate the market in terms of market size value, but the Asia Pacific region is expected to grow the highest CAGR in the smart offices market.

Asia to drive smart city growth with investment

Between 2014 and 2024, Southeast Asian countries are expected invest $13.6 billion in smart grid infrastructures, which includes smart metering and the modernization of electricity transmission and distribution networks with sensors, communications and software. According to a study published by Northeast Group LLC, it is expected that by the year 2024, the largest markets will be Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam.

“Smart grid investment over the next decade will shift from North America and Europe to emerging market regions,” said Ben Gardner, president of Northeast Group. “Southeast Asian countries are just beginning on the path of modernizing their electric infrastructure. Strong GDP growth of nearly 6 percent through 2018 and corresponding growth in electricity demand will help lay the foundation for investment. Electrification programs and growth in renewable resources will also drive investment.”

The study revealed that Southeast Asian countries will deploy 37.3 million smart meters over the next 10 years, accounting for $8.8 billion in investment. Distribution automation in the region will account for $2.5 billion worth of investments, while other smart grid segments will account for an additional $2.2 billion.

Philips and Alibaba enter an IT infrastructure agreement

Royal Philips and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has entered an agreement looking to greatly improve IT-infrastructure services in China. The partnership will leverage Alibaba’s AliCloud division, which includes cloud servers, cloud databases, cloud storage, cloud security and data processing, to support Philips’ connected offerings such as the recently launched Smart Air Purifier. Data gathered by the Smart Air Purifier will be processed and stored in Philips’ HealthSuite Digital Platform and can be accessed remotely because of AliCloud. AliCloud will also support the use of an app to accompany the Smart Air Purifier so the user can remotely control its functions even when out of the house.

photo credit: DeeAshley via photopin cc