Technology Trends in Hardware and Peripherals

Hardware & Peripherals Computing Devices In the last few years, the computing space has witnessed many changes with a one touch revolution gripping the computing world. There is a transformation taking place, where the core of the technology solution becomes increasingly complex and functionally superior, while the interface for users becomes simpler and more intuitive. "We see the next wave of PC users coming from emerging markets. In a market like India, with close to only 10% technology penetration, we see the potential not only to cater to our existing customers but also to extend technology access to new users," says P. Krishnakumar, Executive Director & General Manager, Consumer & Small Business Dell India. With the introduction of high-end games and movies there is growing demand for high-performance I/O devices that allows for greater gamer customization and lighting effects than was ever possible on previous products. "Though a lot of end users prefer getting the best experience possible, the peripheral market is still latent and users need to indulge into the wholesome experience of video games and movies to know better. Next year will see Corsair trying to further improve on the user experience with advanced mechanical keyboards, ultra-light and customizable mice and stunningly attractive and comfortable headsets," states M A Mannan, Country Manager, Corsair Memory India. Motherboards Mini ITX form factor devices are slowly but surely spreading their wings in the mainstream market. The popularity of Mini-ITX form factor-based motherboards is expected to improve further mainly because it is power-efficient. "Most users in India are cost-conscious. They use PCs for their fundamental requirements, and not for extreme or high graphics-based activities. We are giving renewed focus on offering more of Mini-ITX form factor-based motherboard models and provide a wider range of models for each user category," explains Sunil Grewal, Director – Sales and MarCom, GIGABYTE Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd. Additionally, users in India are increasingly going for motherboards with HDMI and USB 3.0 ports and SATA3 and those which support DDR3 and SSD drives. Storage Devices Today, the number of mobile-connected devices has exceeded the world’s population leading to more people creating, uploading, downloading and sharing information on-the-go. 2015 will see a continued surge in demand for both cloud-connected technology (software and hardware), and cloud operations and managed services. "Seagate in 2015 will then heavily focus on cloud storage systems and solutions that will deliver an Intelligent Information Infrastructure to help organizations manage the massive growth in digital data and deliver on evolving workloads," says Rex Dong, Managing Director, Asia Sales and Marketing, Seagate Technology. What’s spurring these trends? While discussing the key technology trends for 2015, it will not be unwise to say that demand for technology will be truly driven by Customers. Indian customers have today grown matured enough to harness and leverage the power of IT and software powered business models and vendors on their part continue to innovate and invest into these rapidly increasing customer & market demands. This applies not only on commercial entities but also on government organizations eager to extend their benefits to citizens, with the right tools. In the coming year, with the government’s push towards ‘Digital India’, it can be seen that special-purpose clouds and applications will emerge to focus specifically on connecting devices and machines. In the Telecom space, the recent announcement of the Government’s National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) initiative which is overseen by the Department of Telecommunications is a great example showcasing the efforts currently underway by the government with hopes of spurring economic growth. Some of the other key verticals that are poised to contribute towards the Indian economic growth this year include BFSI, Telecom, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Retail, Public sector along with IT/ITES. However as many point out there is still scope to build an understanding of how intelligent and innovative solutions can help these industries derive significant business benefit. However, to achieve competitive advantages, businesses must try bringing all the technology pieces of the enterprise together and embed them into global business operations. Because it is then that the full potential can be realized.