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Rethink Technology Research has established itself over its 21-year history as a thought leader in 5G, and all forms of wireless; the entertainment ecosystem and streaming media; and more recently in energy transition through its service Rethink Energy.

Unlike some analyst groups, we don’t sugar coat how tough the future will be – we pride ourselves on forecasting technology markets, whether they are growing or shrinking.

We are perhaps best known for our long-form articles produced for our weekly research services, Wireless Watch (5G and wireless networks), Faultline (entertainment ecosystem and streaming media), and Rethink Energy (technology disruption in renewables and energy transition).

Rethink offers three streams of market intelligence – firstly simple periodicals, weekly round-ups of events embedded with pearls of wisdom from our in-house experts; secondly formal revenue forecasts for sub-sectors of each market; and lastly live webinars run by experts, where we present our findings and answer numerous critical questions raised by the attendees. Separate from this we provide consulting, advice and white papers to anyone in these technology sub-sectors.

Rethink has been publishing, forecasting and consulting since 2002 and some of our team has been involved in technology since 1978.

We have a reputation for telling it like it is, and offering forecasts that can go up as well as down. Rethink is well-known for independent thought, and challenging the status quo.

Most major technology businesses have used Rethink for some form of consulting at some point in their history – and we have done everything from writing business plans, stimulating boardroom discussion and helping on business launch decisions, selecting suppliers, finding sources of capital, writing white papers, and challenging the thinking of strategy groups.

Why Video, Wireless and Energy?

To us these three areas are the most interesting and richest eco-systems in technology – cellular has massive challenges ahead, but remains one of the largest industries in the world. Video is the final frontier for many digital technologies, the toughest test of any network is to carry video reliably. Energy has always been a major industry, but it has gone from being predictable and stable, to being disrupted by both climate change, government regulation and the economy of underlying renewable energy devices.

Intelligence in a fast-changing world

Fresh waves of technology are arriving more frequently, leaving some industries to cope with sudden, radical change – change in what is expected of them; change in their investment requirements; change in how to sell their wares, their route to market if you like.

The CEOs we consult with tell us that planning a technology business today is tougher than at any other time in history. What makes it difficult are the number of rival technologies which are colliding in any one market space.

In cellular an operator has to think about changing the underlying bearer technology, the declining value of voice, the invasion of OTT video service rivals, the use smaller and smaller cells, and the widespread use of apps and the cloud. The price equations for this are terribly difficult to get right.

At the same time the RAN architecture is fragmenting – things that all used to be on one place – antennas, radios, packet conversion, video optimization – have moved to different points in the network, all because cellular simply to chase cloud economies in order to support operators and the low costs that customers expect of them.

There is not a single piece of equipment that went into 3rd generation cellular that remains unchanged in its 4th generation, it is organized chaos. The shift to 5G will travel even further.

Terms such as NFV, DAS, Open RAN, fronthaul and SuperMIMo did not exist one technology generation ago. Today they are essential.

It is like this in all areas of technology – and without companies like Rethink, which understands a broad range of technologies, it would be very easy to think inside the square and be unable to surprise your competition.

Rethink helps you do this in a number of ways

  • Strategy Consulting
  • Conducts surveys to see which technologies will win out
  • Produces detailed technology forecasts, predicting uptake
  • Interprets new technology benefits in our weekly research notes
  • Runs webinars to answer critical questions in order to aid business decision.

Everyone says they’re expert, but we actually are

Rethink has been consulting and publishing since 2002 and before that its principals have been involved in this business since the 1980s. We have witnessed the decline of the mainframe and proprietary server architectures – and the emergence of the PC, the Internet and smart phone, smart TV and now the smart home and smart city.

Our philosophy is simple. Assessing technology is not rocket science. It requires experience, perspective, and understanding where technology is right now and what it will do in its next generation. Our longevity gives us an understanding of how markets develop, age and die and we can spot which of these phases an industry is currently in.