Channel Manager's Playbook - Volume 5: International Agent Opportunities

such systems. At a national level, smart technology policies will need governmental oversight teamed with private sector efforts to stimulate broadband development to do this. Nonnecke takes healthcare as an- other example driving connectivity if not massive data flow. “Healthcare is going to be a huge driver for network deployments nationally and interna- tionally,” she predicts, arguing the al- ternative is unsustainable demand on the system with “catastrophic” consequences. She ticks off the upcoming fac- tors: “By 2050, 25 percent of the world’s population are going to be over 60 years old. Around 80 percent of these populations are going to live in low and middle income countries … increased chronic disease will mean greater healthcare demand.” She continues: “[This] is going to tax hospitals at a level we have never seen before,” she predicts. Avoiding and mitigating the pressures means, she says, early remote monitor- ing and then continuous monitoring where chronic disease is concerned. It will require a formidable, but justifi- able, investment. “There is certainly a [financial] incentive to monitor early and frequently through remote sys- tems,” she argues. Balancing the video equation Meanwhile, the industry in its current burgeoning growth must still wrestle with another equation: video. For GCX’s Barney, “video [now] dwarfs everything else [in terms of traffic usage].” Here, Bar- ney argues, what happens depends on how ubiquitous this current video trajectory becomes; the equation is then between demand, investment and return. “It is very expensive to transport video all over the world, and players may not be able to cover the investment costs.” In an era where many consumers already enjoy real-time, full-motion video capability on their devices, pressures are building, he indicates, particularly for wireless operators because of the spectrum consumed. He argues more industry disruption is inevitable, but the disruption will in turn enable more innovation. Even on present trends without standout new demand, major secu- lar changes are occurring in various parts of the ICT value chain, and the future ecosystem may look very different. APTelecom’s Handa says, “Beyond 2020, the current buyers of capacity (carriers), will have less requirement to purchase capacity for traditional purposes such as IP tran- sit, as the largest content providers continue to proliferate caches within region and, in most cases, within International Agents Dr Brandie Nonnecke Connect, Collaborate, Communicate netcarrier ™ telecom To learn more www.netcarrier.com or contac t sales@corp.netcarrier.com nCloud 18 THE CHANNEL MANAGER’S PLAYBOOK