We discuss the following topics in this blog:
- Is Data Becoming More Precious as Time Passes?
- How Unique is the Role of CSPs in the Data-Driven Future?
- Dynamics of Digital Transformation
In addition to these topics, we shall also be answering the following FAQs:
- What is WiFi?
- What is an Optical Fibre Cable?
Contents
Overview
We are living in a networked society where there is an exponential growth of data and information. Data is fast becoming valuable resource that redefines the future of technology.
Data in different forms and sizes originate from billions of users, devices, businesses and industries. The proliferation of data and information is so high that the information available to us in the near future is going to be unpredictable.
Exploring and interpreting data opens up a whole new horizon of opportunities. Whether you are jogging, streaming videos or doing online shopping, all your activities create a digital trace providing more data resources for data interpreters.
By 2019, more than half of the world will access the Internet regularly and in 2021 more than four billion people will be online (Source: eMarketer). Smartphones and the internet play an important role in driving the volume and variety of data.
Is Data Becoming More Precious as Time Passes?
More and more devices — health band, watches, cars, electric and electronic equipment — are getting connected to the internet, leading to exponential increase in data volume and variety. New age technology applications such as smart home, smart cities, remote healthcare, connected cars and robotics are enabled by data. An autonomous test car produces 30 TB of data per day, which is 3,000 times the scope of Twitter’s daily data. McKinsey predicts that the value of connected car data could reach $1.5 trillion by 2030.
This data when properly interpreted can clearly predict the customer behaviour based on their usage pattern and preference. This abundance of data and the capability to generate meaningful insights from it will change the nature of competition. By increasing the data storage and by enhancing data processing capabilities, a firm has more opportunities to improve its products or services, which brings in more users, generating even more data that helps in driving exponential growth.
53% of companies were using big data analytics in 2017, up from 17% in 2015 with telecom and financial services industries fuelling the fastest adoption. Upgrading data warehouse allows the CSPs to get the benefit of big data, followed by customer/social analysis and predictive maintenance (Source: Dresner Advisory Services).
How Unique is the Role of CSPs in the Data-Driven Future?
Communication Service Providers (CSPs) are uniquely poised to shine in this data-driven future. The critical component of this digital transformation is facilitated by the CSPs. As the digital landscape drives the need for new business models, more and more CSPs are building capability and infrastructure to transform to Digital Service Providers (DSPs). In return, they are seeing gains in scale, efficiency, monetisation and enhanced user experience.
The growing demand for actionable insights from data is driving CSPs to expand their infrastructure beyond traditional data warehouses and look at data lake promisingly.
Dynamics of Digital Transformation
Globally, CSPs are at different stages of digital transformation and the data lake is gaining significance in their data-centric transformation. The data lake market is expected to grow from $3.18 bn in 2018 to $14.27 bn by 2023 with the current data lake market in telecom segment estimated at $565 mn (Source: MarketResearchFuture).
The data lake provides a single repository for CSPs’ data (structured, unstructured, internal and external) enabling seamless analysis of data scattered across operational systems, data warehouses, data marts and spreadmarts.
The data lake and its powerful data architecture leverage the economics of big data, where it is cheaper to store, manage and analyse data as compared to traditional data warehouse technologies.
For more details on Intelligent Data Lake, click: https://www.sterlitetech.com/intelligent-data-lake.html
FAQs
What is WiFi?
Put simply, WiFi is a technology that uses radio waves to create a wireless network through which devices like mobile phones, computers, printers, etc., connect to the internet. A wireless router is needed to establish a WiFi hotspot that people in its vicinity may use to access internet services. You’re sure to have encountered such a WiFi hotspot in houses, offices, restaurants, etc.
To get a little more technical, WiFi works by enabling a Wireless Local Area Network or WLAN that allows devices connected to it to exchange signals with the internet via a router. The frequencies of these signals are either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz bandwidths. These frequencies are much higher than those transmitted to or by radios, mobile phones, and televisions since WiFi signals need to carry significantly higher amounts of data. The networking standards are variants of 802.11, of which there are several (802.11a, 802.11b, 801.11g, etc.).
What is an Optical Fibre Cable?
An optical fibre cable is a cable type that has a few to hundreds of optical fibres bundled together within a protective plastic coating. They help carry digital data in the form of light pulses across large distances at faster speeds. For this, they need to be installed or deployed either underground or aerially. Standalone fibres cannot be buried or hanged so fibres are bunched together as cables for the transmission of data.
This is done to protect the fibre from stress, moisture, temperature changes and other externalities. There are three main components of a optical fibre cable, core (It carries the light and is made of pure silicon dioxide (SiO2) with dopants such as germania, phosphorous pentoxide, or alumina to raise the refractive index; Typical glass cores range from as small as 3.7um up to 200um), Cladding (Cladding surrounds the core and has a lower refractive index than the core, it is also made from the same material as the core; 1% refractive index difference is maintained between the core and cladding; Two commonly used diameters are 125µm and 140µm) and Coating (Protective layer that absorbs shocks, physical damage and moisture; The outside diameter of the coating is typically either 250µm or 500µm; Commonly used material for coatings are acrylate,Silicone, carbon, and polyimide).
An optical fibre cable is made up of the following components: Optical fibres – ranging from one to many. Buffer tubes (with different settings), for protection and cushioning of the fibre. Water protection in the tubes – wet or dry. A central strength member (CSM) is the backbone of all cables. Armoured tapes for stranding to bunch the buffer tubes and strength members together. Sheathing or final covering to provide further protection.
The five main reasons that make this technology innovation disruptive are fast communication speed, infinite bandwidth & capacity, low interference, high tensile strength and secure communication. The major usescases of optical fibre cables include intenet connectivity, computer networking, surgery & dentistry, automotive industry, telephony, lighting & decorations, mechanical inspections, cable television, military applications and space.
