Technology Reseller - v13 2018

technolog y reseller.co.uk NEWS : TRENDS 05 Mixed outlook for 3D printing Shipments of Personal/Desktop 3D printers costing less than $2,500 saw their first ever year-on-year drop in Q1 2018, with 3% fewer printers shipping globally than in Q1 2017, according to new figures from CONTEXT. Conversely, the Industrial/Professional segment saw its third consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth, with printer shipments up +14%. CONTEXT points out that while sales volumes of low priced Personal/Desktop 3D printers catch the interest of casual observers, the market is very much driven by Industrial class devices costing more than $100,000, which accounted for 69% of global 3D printer revenues in Q1 2018. When grouped by class and segmented by selling price, the biggest weakness can be seen in the Professional 3D printer class, with shipments of devices in the $2,500 to $20,000 price range down -21% year- on-year. However, CONTEXT views this as an anomaly rather than a trend, pointing out that it follows growth of +112% in 2017, when start-ups that had previously focused on Personal 3D printing for consumers, hobbyists and education providers turned their attention to this more price-inelastic segment. The Personal class of 3D printers, in which shipments were mostly flat year–on- year, is more of a concern for the industry. Sub-$2,500 printers have seen great growth in recent years and sell well in education, hobbyist and even professional markets. However, crowdsourcing platforms (e.g. Kickstarter, Indiegogo etc.) that have been a barometer for demand in recent years have offered few innovations in Personal 3D printer products in the last few quarters, resulting in fewer successful campaigns. Industrial class polymer/plastics and metal 3D printers, which CONTEXT believes has the greatest capacity for market disruption by moving from prototyping to serial production, experienced a +20% increase in shipments year-on-year, driven by impressive growth from HP, Carbon and 3D Systems. www.contextworld.com Who’s investing in cyber security? In the last financial year, firms in finance and insurance spent most on cyber security, with an average investment of £17,900, according to analysis of Government data by SavoyStewart .co.uk . This is 85% more than in the previous year, when finance and insurance firms spent an average of £9,650. The next largest investors in cyber security were firms in the transport and storage sectors, which invested an average of £6,570. At the other end of the spectrum, entertainment, service and membership firms each invested an average of £770 in cyber security. www.savoystewart.co.uk Too much data, not enough analysis Businesses are collecting more data than they can handle, putting themselves at risk of breaching data protection laws, such as GDPR, and damaging their competitiveness, warns Gemalto. Its fifth-annual Data Security Confidence Index , based on a survey of 1,050 IT decision-makers and 10,500 consumers, shows that 65% of global organisations aren’t able to analyse or categorise all the consumer data they have and only 54% know where all their sensitive data is stored. The problem is particularly bad in the UK, where only 19% of organisations say they are able to analyse data effectively, compared to 55% of organisations in India and 47% in Australia. Jason Hart, CTO of Data Protection at Gemalto, said : “British organisations could soon find themselves being outmanoeuvred by more agile competitors offering better solutions and services thanks to their ability to protect and analyse data. Organisations must step up to be able to thrive on a global stage.” More than two thirds of organisations (68%) admit they don’t carry out all procedures in line with data protection laws, such as GDPR. www.gemalto.com 3D printing takes to the stage Italian print provider Colorzenith recently 3D printed a life-size replica of a Lancia B24 car for a month-long run of Don Pasquale at La Scala in Milan. Set designers Davide Livermore and GIKFORMA required it for a scene in which soprano Rosa Feola descends from the ceiling while sitting behind the wheel. Given that the car had to be lightweight but strong and delivered in a very short timeframe, 3D printing was the only option. Colorzenith produced the car on a Massivit 1800 3D Printer in four parts in under four days. Once printed, it was sanded, strengthened with an internal metal frame and decorated with glued-on headlights, mudguards and door handles. ECM key to business growth Enterprise content management (ECM) supports improved decision-making and better business outcomes, with ECM-enabled organisations achieving greater business growth than companies that lack ECM, reveals new research from enterprise software provider Epicor Software Corporation. Its survey of businesses in 14 countries shows that 58% of those experiencing strong growth had an ECM solution in place and that 79% of stakeholders in strong growth companies attributed better decision-making to greater operational visibility. In contrast, 63% of businesses experiencing weak growth did not have an ECM solution in place. www.epicor.com