As one of the few industries to ride high on the killer wave of COVID-19 and the ensuing Tsunami of WFM and digital transformation, the global market for Datacenter Infrastructure Management (DCIM) is expected to spike by 16.1% in the year 2020. The market will continue to grow to reach US$3.1 billion by the year 2020, trailing a post COVID-19 CAGR of 11.9%, over the analysis period 2020 through 2027. The year 2020 is the tipping point with the internet along with its entire ecosystem witnessing a revolutionizing impact as the COVID-19 pandemic changes human relationship with technology. Internet and its allied technologies are witnessing growth and newfound importance as they become critical vehicles to not just fight the pandemic but also survive its impact. Businesses are migrating online to ensure business continuity amid unprecedented times that have separated employees from their workplaces. Governments are utilizing mobile apps and GPS technologies to track, monitor citizens health and identify and quarantine infected people. Hospitals have shifted to telemedicine to safely deliver healthcare services as physical outpatient (OP) centers close down. The over 4 billion people shut up at homes as a result of the shelter-in-place orders have increased their use of internet video, chat and messaging platforms and services to remain in touch in friends and family. The internet in short has become the umbilical cord to the outside world for society and businesses alike amidst the pandemic. Global online traffic in a single week ending April-20 spiked by 28%, while online transactions rose by 48% & average page views by 30%. Video chat services like Google Duo, Nextdoor, and Houseparty have all witnessed large increases in traffic since January 2020. Similar popular work from home (WFH) remote collaboration apps like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Classroom, have skyrocket to popularity.

Market cap of Zoom Communications in just a few months has exploded to US$48.7 billion, bigger than the combined market cap of the world's top 7 airline companies. While consumers cut spending on other non-essential products like clothing and furnishings, spending on digital offerings is increasing as media consumption increases. Overall internet usage has increased by over 75%, while streaming content spiked by over 15%. In-home media consumption is rising to unprecedented levels. Worldwide online watching of news has risen by 67%, while time spent on messaging services has risen by over 50%. Engagement with different digital devices is also rising. There is over a 35% increase in desktop PC usage as evidenced by the increase in desktop browser use and a 70% and 40% increase in smartphone and laptop uses. As offices and schools worldwide move into the basements and living rooms of homes, cable modem, an important piece of network hardware that allows computers to connect to the internet, is witnessing uninterrupted gains. Panic buying of computer, internet and IT hardware has additionally pushed up sales of cable modems over the last few months. With home IT suddenly assuming critical importance, consumers are focusing on acquiring new internet connections and upgrading existing connections and broadband speeds to enable multiple home devices to hook-up to the internet without speed degradation. As a result, new residential internet connections are creating a parallel demand for modems and routers. Classified as an essential service, ISPs are upgrading internet infrastructure with no interruptions in new installations and maintenance.

Companies worldwide are turning to the cloud to stay online and afloat, especially desktop-as-a service (DaaS). The COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the significance of data centers as critical enablers of business continuity. Businesses are today relying more on data center service providers for supporting online presence. The global data center industry is playing a prominent role in facilitating massive shift of businesses, organizations and schools to online services for continued operations during the pandemic. Despite witnessing increasing workload, data centers are expected to continue providing digital infrastructure services seamlessly. The growing demand for data centers is reflected by revenue gains and expansion strategies voiced by public cloud computing giants such as Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft. These players are expected to bolster the industry growth with self-operated and co-location facilities, leading to gains for third-party data centers. Cloud services are experiencing robust demand. Participants in the data center industry are expected to witness extensive adoption of network services for supporting transition towards digital platforms. With increased migration to the cloud, datacenter traffic is increasing keeping local and regional data centers operating on full capacity. Increase in reported service outages during this period has tightened reliability regulations. Resilience of cloud datacenters amid the pandemic is gaining importance. Cloud service providers are stepping up their investments in datacenter hardware to support workloads as they increasingly shift to the cloud. Top U.S based IT vendors who lost the hyperscale hardware market to Asian competitors can now leverage pandemic induced supply chain reorganization to their advantage. In conclusion, the global datacenter market is playing a prominent role in facilitating massive shift of businesses, organizations and schools to online services and work from home models for continued operations during the pandemic. Despite witnessing increasing workload, datacenters are expected to continue providing digital infrastructure services seamlessly. Leading datacenter operators including Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft are pursuing expansion strategies. These players are expected to bolster market growth. While the outbreak is expected to delay construction and expansion projects, it is unlikely to impact these plans. The COVID-19 crisis is also expediting digital transformation as companies across different sectors are realizing the significance of digital infrastructure.