PCCA Journal|1
st
Quarter 2015
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equipment last year, as carriers rolled out long-term evolution
networks. Meanwhile, specialized services that rely on, and
protect, data—including cloud services, machine-to-machine
communications, and cybersecurity—all saw large spending
gains in 2013. In fact, spending on cybersecurity grew faster
in 2013 than in any recent year and has shown significant
increases in each of the last three years.”
9
By 2020, we expect the development of a 5G technology
that will again create a construction spending spike focused
around helping customers achieve faster speed and greater
capacity. Currently, there is no clarity on what this new 5G
standard will look like, with many arguing that looking at
previous generational transitions for guidance is mistaken.
For one, Michael Peeters, CTO of Alcatel-Lucent, recently
argued that “the current talk about 5G development was
ridiculous because it was focused on the old issues of tech-
nologies to increase capacity and bandwidth, whereas the
real revolution would come from an architecture which was
open, federated and invisible. Yet with many physical net-
work technologies approaching their limits, the real challenge
is to enable a host of different platforms to work together as
a seamless whole, largely software-controlled and flexible
enough to support any usage pattern from low bandwidth
smart meters to future generations of super-HD video.”
10
This concept of an ever-growing number of devices—be
they consumer, industrial, commercial, government owned,
or mobile—operating on a network of networks means the
industry is about to get a lot more complicated. Imagine if
you will, a Google-branded, driverless vehicle, fueled by bat-
teries or compressed natural gas, traveling in selected cities,
utilizing high-speed wireless or fiber optic communication
to safely and efficiently navigate to your destination. In this
environment, only the nimble will wind their way through
these changes and transitions.
Overall Conclusions
The long-term prospects for the overhead and underground
utility market are very good. They are, however, unbalanced
in sector, geography, and timing. Firms that are ridged, short-
sighted, backward looking, and traditional will be cut the
way rock is cut by running water. Success in these markets
requires that organizations learn to adapt. As water flowing
over, under, around, or even through an obstacle, the firms
that will thrive in these markets must be nimble by nature.
Mark Bridgers, Nate Scott, and David Shipley are consultants
with Continuum Advisory Group, which provides management
consulting, training, and investment banking services to the
worldwide utility and infrastructure construction industry. They
can be reached at (919) 345-0403 or
mbridgers@continuumag.com and followed on twitter at @MarkBridgers. For more infor-
mation on Continuum, visit
www.continuumag.com.
Notes
1.
Power produced at the point of consumption. Examples include solar panels
installed on the roof of a home or business; diesel (red power generated at a
remote or rural setting; wind power generated at a commercial or industrial site;
natural gas (red power generated at a commercial or industrial site.
2.
Indiana General Assembly, Senate Bill 0560.
3.
“Modeling distributed generation in the buildings sectors,”U.S Energy Information
Administration. August 2013, pg. 7.
4.
Succar, Samir.“Distributed Generation’s Future Impact on the U.S. Capacity Markets .”
ICF International. 2014, pg. 1.
5.
International Energy Agency (IEA) Key Energy Statistics, 2014, pg. 56.
6.
1 Megawatt (mW) = 1,000 Kilowatts (kW); 1 Gigawatt (gW) = 1,000 Megawatts
(mW); 1 Terawatt (tW) = 1,000 Gigawatts (gW).
7.
Akerman, Elise,“Google Fiber Could Reach 8 Million Homes By 2022,”Forbes, June
14, 2013.
8.
Gustin, Sam.“Google Fiber Issues Public Challenge: Get Up To Speed.”Time.com.
September 14, 2012.
9.
“2014 ICT Market Review & Forecast,”Telecommunications Industry Association.
June 2014.
10. “Alcatel-Lucent techie: Race for ‘5G’technologies is ‘ridiculous,’”theregister.co.uk.
September 25, 2014.