Bittium in 2016

Market Outlook

Bittiumīs customers operate in various industries, each of them having their own industry specific factors driving the demand. A common factor creating demand among the whole customer base is the growing need for higher quality and secure data transfer. Due to the technology and measuring competences accrued over time and long history in developing mobile communication solutions, Bittium is in a good position to offer customized solutions for its customers.

The following factors are expected to create demand for Bittiumīs products and services in 2017 and beyond:

  • In the mobile telecommunications, the 4G technology development work has decreased significantly affecting declining to the mobile network markets in the near future. The development of 5G technology has started very well creating demand for Bittiumīs R&D services increasingly. However, the development of 5G technology has just begun, and it will not replace the amount of the 4G development work within the next few years. Therefore in the future the demand for R&D service for the network equipment manufacturers is expected to be significantly lower than in the previous years.
  • As the digitalization evolves, the secure IoT (Internet of Things) has become a significant development area in many industries. The increasing need of companies to digitalize their operations, collect data wirelessly and transfer it to the internet and cloud services generate need for Bittiumīs services and customized solutions. For this there is a need for connected devices for consumers and demanding industrial usage that collect information through their sensors and connect the devices securely to the internet and cloud services. Also the integration of different systems and technologies play an important role in enabling the complete digitalization service. To ease and speed up the processing of large data amounts there are different kinds of learning systems and devices under development that use different kinds of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
  • The use of LTE technology, smartphones and applications is expected to continue increasing in special verticals such as public safety creating demand for Bittium Tough Mobile secure LTE smartphone and other customized special terminals based on Bittiumīs own product platform. The awareness of mobile security risks is growing and the interest towards secure mobile devices is increasing. Also the interest towards LTE-SAT-hybrid devices with terrestrial and satellite connections has grown to further improve the functionality of authoritiesī critical connections. The sale of the secure terminal products is expected to develop moderately according to the nature of public safety markets.
  • Using public network connections in portable devices is increasing also in demanding professional use, such as in the public sector. This creates requirements for network connections to be easy to use and secure. The products in the Bittium SafeMove product family enable the ease of use of the devices and security in demanding use.
  • In the defense sectorīs tactical communication market the governmentsī defense forces and other authorities need networks that troops, who are increasingly constantly on the move, can use for transferring growing amounts of data securely. This creates demand for Bittium Tactical Wireless IP Network (TAC WIN) broadband network and for other Bittiumīs IP-based (Internet Protocol) tactical communications solutions. Bittium continues its efforts to bring its defense market targeted products and services also to the international defense markets and aims to get new international customers for its tactical communication system in 2017. Due to the long sales cycles driven by purchasing programs of national governments, it takes years to receive significant purchase orders.
  • Heart problems and brain strokes are among the most frequent causes of death. Recognizing the symptoms early on, based on information gathered by measuring, enables the start of the effective treatment fast. Also the prevention of diseases and health problems are being increasingly invested in. The healthcare technology market is ongoing a significant change in the patient care both inside the hospitals as well as in homecare. The repatriation of patients is being pursued earlier than before which may enable significant cost savings in the healthcare. One of the growing application areas in the IoT segment is healthcare technology that enables implementing these changes for its part. A prerequisite for early repatriation is the enabling of accurate and precise follow-up and measurement in home conditions through remote monitoring. For this purpose Bittium offers its Faros product family for remote heart monitoring and NeurOne product family for measuring the electrical activity of brain.