PCB007 Magazine

PCB-Dec2014

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8 The PCB Magazine • December 2014 by Ray Rasmussen i-connect007 In October, the research firm Gartner is- sued a press release that made predictions for IT organizations. I wouldn't say I was surprised or shocked by the statements, but the implica- tions of the forecasts intrigued me. When I first saw the release, I almost wanted to run it in the place of this column. Instead, I've pulled out a few of the more significant pieces and added my comments to each. The link to the press re- lease appears below. Before I go into the parts of their release I found most intriguing, I want to explain my role in all of this. I'm captivated by new, up- coming technologies and what's happening in emerging markets. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that we are on the cusp of amazing change in technology, markets and even society. I see it as my job to share with you all the things I'm discovering. I certainly am no expert, but I see hundreds of news items and articles each week, which help me form a broad understanding of some of the changes coming our way. It's exciting to watch them evolve. In our industry, the biggest problem I see is that most of the companies will likely be blind- sided by what's coming. There's a lot to keep track of. You have to stay on top of all the latest technology, markets, regulations, etc., and still run your business successfully. Now, toss into that mix emerging technology, which could be game-changers for us all, and the continu- al emergence of competitors from around the globe and it's an almost impossible task to stay on top of everything. As I was explaining recently to a top EMS exec, it's not the conventional technologies that are emerging in the traditional sense, provid- ing incremental change (smaller, lighter, faster) that we have to pay attention to; it's the new technologies that have the capability to com- pletely change everything that we must keep an eye on. And those game-changing technologies won't arrive in a politely linear fashion, allow- ing us to pick and choose which way we want to go. Instead, they will be disruptive and ap- pear almost overnight, out of nowhere. Most of us will not see them coming. One day, the busi- ness model will change. If you're prepared, you can reap the benefits. And if not… A couple of game-changers moving into our sectors are printed electronics and 3D printing. I have written about them extensively in this the way i see it c o l u m n Predictions

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