Market Challenges: High initial investment costs

One of the major factors holding back the growth of the industrial networking solution market is the high initial investment costs associated with deployment and setup. Establishing an industrial networking infrastructure requires investing heavily in networking hardware such as switches, routers, firewalls, and other networking devices. There are also significant costs involved in cabling and installation. For large industrial facilities spread over wide areas, the networking setup can run into millions of dollars. This high upfront expenditure acts as a deterrent for many small and medium enterprises that have limited capital budgets.

Additionally, manufacturing plants and production facilities require specialized industrial grade networking components that are built to withstand harsh environmental conditions. These industrial-hardened devices come at a premium compared to commercial-grade networking equipment. The additional costs push the overall networking budgets even higher. As a result, many companies tend to postpone or stagger their networking upgrades over several years. This impacts the immediate demand and long term growth potential of the market.

Market Opportunities: Development of 5G technology

Development of 5G technology promises to be a great opportunity in the global industrial networking solution market. 5G aims to deliver faster data speeds and greater network capacity compared to existing 4G networks. It will provide lower latency connectivity which can enable a breadth of new applications that demand real-time connectivity and high responsiveness. With 5G, more industrial devices can be wirelessly connected providing an opportunity for industries to reform their manufacturing and logistics processes.

5G networks are well-suited for industrial IoT applications as they support a very large number of connected devices and allow interaction between critical infrastructures like industrial robots, autonomous machines and smart sensors in real time. This level of connectivity at the edge provided by 5G will facilitate disruptive technologies like augmented/virtual reality, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles at industrial sites. For example, 5G-powered augmented reality solutions can guide plant technicians remotely for fast troubleshooting. Wireless industrial cameras integrated with AI and 5G can automate visual product quality inspections.