Monday Morning Impact – July 18

Gartner: Worldwide PC Shipments Trending Downward in 2022

Gartner is projecting a decline of 9.5% in worldwide PC shipments. The category includes desk-based, notebooks, ultramobile premium and Chromebooks.

“A perfect storm of geopolitics upheaval, high inflation, currency fluctuations and supply chain disruptions have lowered business and consumer demand for devices across the world and is set to impact the PC market the hardest in 2022,” said Ranjit Atwal, senior director analyst at Gartner. “Consumer PC demand is on pace to decline 13.1% in 2022 and will plummet much faster than business PC demand, which is expected to decline 7.2% year over year.”

From a regional perspective, the EMEA PC market is forecast to record a 14% decline in 2022, driven by lack of consumer PC demand. The Russian Invasion of Ukraine, price increases and unavailability of products due to of lockdowns in China are significantly impacting consumer demand in the region.

Overall, global shipments of total devices (PCs, tablets and mobile phones) are on pace to decline 7.6% in 2022, with Greater China and Eastern Europe including Eurasia recording double-digit declines.

While global mobile phone shipments are expected to decline 7.1% in 2022, smartphone shipments are estimated to decrease 5.8% year over year. Regionally, Greater China will be hit the hardest with smartphone shipments on pace to decline 18.3% in 2022.

Regionally, China has been leading the adoption of 5G phones over the last two years. However, the collapse of the smartphone market in the region will mean a 2% decline in 5G phone shipments in 2022, after growing 65% in 2021.

“At the beginning of the year, the China 5G phone market was expected to show double-digit growth,” said Atwal. “The impact of China’s zero tolerance COVID-19 policy and resulting lockdowns have dramatically reversed this trend. Large numbers of consumers stopped buying non-essential items including 5G smartphones.”

In 2022, Gartner expects worldwide 5G phone shipments will total 710 million units. While this is an increase of 29% from 2021, it is down from previous expectations. “The growth rate is significantly down from an expected increase of 47% at the start of the year, with a resulting loss of 95 million 5G phone shipments,” said Atwal.

The demand for 5G phones is expected to pick up at a faster pace in 2023. “Much of the migration to 5G will occur by default as users will replace older 4G smartphones at the end of their life cycle with 5G-compatible smartphones,” added Atwal.

Channel Impact^®
The data underscore a growing reluctance to spend, experienced in the tech industry as well as in other segments of the economy.

Nitel to Acquire Hypercore Networks

Nitel, a leading next-generation Chicago-based technology service provider, has announced intent to purchase Hypercore Networks, a global connectivity and telecom solutions provider based in Garland, Texas.

The move represents a first step in Nitel’s inorganic growth strategy that was put in place late last year after international private equity firm Cinven made a significant investment in the company.

With a mutual emphasis on channels and wholesale go-to-market strategies, both organizations are established Network as a Service (NaaS) providers with synergistic offerings in network, SD-WAN, and security.

“As we indicated late last year when Cinven invested in Nitel, we would be actively pursuing inorganic growth opportunities,” said Margi Shaw, CEO of Nitel. “Hypercore is the perfect match for us. While our businesses are similar, we complement each other in a few key areas that create additional value for customers and partners. We are extremely excited about the opportunities this acquisition will bring.”

“We are thrilled to bring Hypercore’s significant strengths and culture to the Nitel family,” said Hypercore co-founder Josh Dickinson. “This sends a strong message to the marketplace as we stake our claim to a leadership position in the NaaS arena.”

The transaction is pending regulatory approval and is expected to finalize in the coming weeks. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The combined entity will operate under the Nitel brand.

Channel Impact^®
The acquisition is expected to strengthen Nitel’s footprint in the United States and accelerate international growth. In addition, the move represents an opportunity to add complementary capabilities to Nitel, including Hypercore’s voice solutions and additional SD-WAN platforms.

N-able Acquires Spinpanel to Accelerate Cloud Strategy

N-able, Inc., a global software company specializing in remote monitoring and management, data protection as-a-service, and security solutions, has acquired Spinpanel, a multi-tenant Microsoft 365 management and automation platform built for Microsoft Cloud Solution Providers (CSPs) to automate the provisioning, security, and management of all Microsoft tenants, users, and licenses.

A significant majority of N-able partners manage and/or resell Microsoft Cloud services for their small and medium enterprise customers. The acquisition is expected to help N-able partners alleviate two challenges—labor scarcity and efficient movement to the cloud. Spinpanel customers will have more direct access to the N-able solutions portfolio, as well as free educational and marketing resources.

“The ‘cloud’ is no longer a talk track in presentations; it’s an adoption speedway for IT professionals,” said John Pagliuca, President and CEO of N-able. “However, while the cloud presents an enormous opportunity, it also adds to the increasing complexity of IT environments, and that coupled with labor shortages can undermine its full potential. We believe the addition of Spinpanel to our team will help our partners optimize the value of their Microsoft Cloud products and, in turn, give Spinpanel customers access to a wider array of IT management and security solutions.”

“There is no reason why the cloud should be out of reach, including Microsoft Cloud which dominates most of the IT world,” stated Spinpanel CEO Bendert Post. “It’s really a matter of having the ability to harness its full capabilities while centralizing the ability to manage it.”

Based in Burlington, Massachusetts, N-able provides IT services providers with software solutions to monitor, manage, and secure their customers’ systems, data, and networks.

The addition of the Spinpanel technology into the N-able product portfolio is anticipated to occur during the third quarter. Further details regarding the transaction were not disclosed.

Channel Impact^®
The move is intended to help CSPs reduce complexity, bring efficiency, and profitably scale their Microsoft business.