The evolution and future trend of global Internet communication cloud

"Communication cloud services integrate CDN, SIP, TTS, PSTN, RTMP and other functional accessories on the basis of IM and RTC, enriching the form and content of information transmission, improving transmission efficiency, and becoming one of the mainstream trends."

IResearch's recent major release of the "2021 Global Internet Communication Cloud Industry Research Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") pointed out that the communication cloud industry is showing a new development trend. Scenario-based solutions based on "IM+RTC+X" full communication capabilities have appeared on the market, integrating industry attributes with scenarios as the center, and providing customers with products with better information transmission functions and more complete application scenarios. Better connect the client and server.

At the same time, the report also made new observations and new interpretations on the new trends of the Internet communication cloud industry. (Official account [Rongyun Global Internet Communication Cloud] backstage reply [Iresearch Report] to get the full version of the report PDF)

Internet communication market continues to maintain rapid growth

The "Report" pointed out: Due to the continuing impact of the epidemic, demand for online live broadcasts, short videos, interactive live broadcasts, and video conferences has exploded. In 2021, the global Internet communication cloud growth rate will continue to increase by 59.2%.

It is estimated that by 2024, the global Internet communication cloud scale will reach 18.2 billion U.S. dollars, and the market will still maintain a rapid growth of more than 40%.

(2015-2024 Global Internet Communication Cloud Market Scale and Forecast)

The driving force for growth first comes from the in-depth application of the C-side, and the penetration of the B-side application scenarios from the inside to the outside, from OA to ERP.

(The penetration of Internet communication cloud in B/C scenarios)

The C-side application of the Internet communication cloud is mainly in the form of SDK packages embedded in APPs, providing communication services for games, live broadcasts, e-commerce and other APPs, with the most in-depth applications.

On the enterprise side, the closer to the front-end sales, after-sales and other links, the deeper the penetration of the Internet communication cloud, and gradually penetrates into the back-end manufacturing, warehousing and procurement, financial management and other links.

At present, companies generally integrate communication capabilities with their internal systems to realize real-time communication and message reminders for employees, and the overall state of progress from OA to ERP is shown. Compared with the internal communication of the enterprise, the demand for the Internet communication cloud capability of the external communication of the enterprise has not yet been fully mobilized, and the product penetration needs to be deepened.

Secondly, smart hardware application scenarios are still to be explored, and the closer to the personal scenario, the higher the penetration rate.

Intelligent hardware has great potential for communication, but the application of Internet communication cloud products in intelligent hardware is relatively blank. Some Internet communication cloud vendors have begun to deploy smart hardware. Among them, the application threshold for personal scenarios is low, and control signaling and data transmission are the main functions. At the macro-IoT level of enterprise applications and social scenarios, applications also need to match high-end devices with audio and video functions. The current applications are still shallow, and communication technology is still required to be improved, as well as in-depth cooperation with related solution providers.

The "Report" reminds: Recently, the non-cellular 5G technology standard launched by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETIS) has also further promoted the application of 5G Internet of Things, and the development of Internet communication cloud in the smart device scene can be expected in the future.

In short, the application potential of Internet communication in video and games will continue to grow, and the traffic of videos and games will account for more than 85% of global IP traffic; the application platforms and services and potential service scenarios after the Internet of Things connection will nurture more Internet communications Demand, whether through the more mature forms of IM and RTC at this stage, or the new communication forms that may emerge in the future, will be the expandable service areas and growth points of Internet communication.

Infrastructure has become the main factor driving the development of the industry

In terms of driving the development of the industry, the "Report" believes that: further increase in network speed, wider coverage of users, strengthening of 5G construction, and the entry of Internet of Things devices are the main factors.

First, from the perspective of global mobile cellular networks, both download speed and latency have been improved to a large extent. Compared with the same period last year, the download speed has increased by 62.9%, and the latency has been reduced by 11.9%, which is a huge increase. And it has stimulated the expansion of Internet communication gameplay and the upgrade of experience.

Second, compared to the situation where the Internet penetration in developed countries is close to saturation, the increase in Internet and mobile Internet coverage users in developing countries is an incremental space for the Internet communication cloud market. From the perspective of the global Internet, the number of users in developing countries will reach 3.46 billion in 2020, an increase of 19.6% compared to 2015; from the perspective of mobile Internet, the global 4G and above mobile cellular network coverage population will reach 53.4 in 2020 100 million people, with a penetration rate of 82.4%.

Third, countries are making efforts to build 5G base stations. By 2025, the world's 5G connected equipment is expected to reach 1.8 billion, and the utilization rate of 5G connected equipment will reach 21%. At this stage, China has the largest number of 5G base stations. In 2020, China will add more than 600,000 5G base stations, and more than 718,000 5G base stations have been opened, which is still the main driving force for market growth.

(5G development status and future forecast)

Fourth, the number of connected IoT devices has increased year by year. According to IoT Analytics data, the number of connected IoT devices (connected cars, smart home devices, connected industrial devices, etc.) is expected to exceed 30 billion in 2025. This means With nearly 4 IoT devices per person. The purpose of device connection is to realize information exchange and collaboration between people and devices, and between devices and devices, which is expected to bring about a new market for Internet communications.

The improvement of infrastructure will inevitably inspire Internet communication cloud vendors to gain more market space, and the main growth logic of vendors is product + channel. Among them, the product is the cornerstone, the channel enlarges the service capacity, the two cooperate to expand the customer, can seize the new market opportunity.

Manufacturers need to rebuild their own barriers to competition

In terms of the competitive landscape, the development of the Internet communication cloud industry has become clear, and the market structure of the head communication cloud vendors is relatively stable, and the PaaS vendors of the third-party Internet communication cloud are showing a strong situation.

According to iResearch’s Usertracker multi-platform netizen behavior monitoring database, the monthly number of independent devices ranks among TOP1000 head apps, and the total number of daily active devices (non-deduplication) covered by Rongyun IM exceeds 90 million, which still ranks domestically. First place among third-party vendors.

(Rongyun IM still ranks first among third-party communication cloud vendors)

But at the same time, there are still variables in the real-time audio and video market. They come from two levels: First, the demand for the real-time audio and video PaaS layer has shown explosive growth under the stimulus of the epidemic and the digital transformation of enterprises. The leading cloud vendors and IM vendors have joined the battle, resulting in more intense market competition; Second, in the future, with the sinking of application scenarios such as interactive live broadcasts, e-commerce live broadcasts, and game live broadcasts, as well as the application of 5G and other technologies, the real-time audio and video market will usher in a broad incremental space.

Faced with many variables, manufacturers must step up to build their own barriers to competition, which is mainly reflected in the following two aspects:

First, from the perspective of the underlying basic resources and algorithms, having a sufficient number of CDN nodes to meet the global coverage of communication nodes is the lower limit of communication cloud vendors’ capabilities, and the optimization of algorithms on the infrastructure can further increase the speed of distribution and reduce Network latency.

Second, from the perspective of business integration, the abundant number of interfaces and the adaptability of multiple terminals enable communication cloud vendors to integrate communication capabilities with the original business of the enterprise, helping enterprises complete business expansion and multi-scenario coverage.

In addition, whether Internet communication cloud vendors can fully package into a product-level scenario-based SDK based on as many specific scenarios as possible to meet customer requirements for rapid integration capabilities and online services will become a new competitive point.

(Evolution of Internet Communication Cloud Products)

For example, in order to empower developers and reduce the investment in secondary development, Rongyun organically integrates various basic services and directly encapsulates them into specific scenario-based SDKs, providing developers with business-friendly APIs and callbacks, allowing developers to focus on Technical language turns to business logic, and product construction is simple and convenient.

The emergence of the scene-oriented SDK of Rongyun marks the beginning of a new era of the third generation of the industry service model, which puts forward higher requirements on the technical strength of Internet communication cloud vendors, and therefore builds new barriers to competition.

In addition, from the perspective of the industrial chain structure of the Internet communication cloud, absorbing the technical assistance of AI manufacturers and combining IM and RTC to provide scene support for downstream will make the Internet communication cloud scene more intelligent and make product applications more precise and deeper.

Network AI vendors provide technical support for Internet communication cloud vendors such as NLP, image processing, and content review. IT infrastructure vendors provide basic communication transmission equipment such as optical fibers, chips, sensors, network cables, switches, and routers. IaaS vendors provide distributed storage, CDN, virtual machines, etc. are important basic resources for network communication, and the three together constitute the upstream of the network communication cloud.

(Global Internet Communication Cloud Industry Chain and Industry Map)

Internet communication cloud vendors in the midstream will focus on IM or RTC in their business, but they are all developing in the direction of combining IM and RTC business, with specific scenario-based components. In the future, communication cloud vendors can combine VR and AR technologies to provide diverse application scenarios for downstream, such as building the underlying AI learning model and knowledge graph, forming a user tag system, and improving the accuracy of push and user reach.

Click to read the original text or scan the QR code below 👇 to experience Rongyun IM