SCADA Systems Market to continue to grow - report

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jun 4, 2001

The Worldwide SCADA Systems Market for Oil and Gas, and Water and Wastewater industries, which exceeded $650 million in 2000, will reach almost $780 million by the end of 2005, a study says

The Worldwide SCADA Systems Market for Oil and Gas, and Water and Wastewater industries, which exceeded $650 million in 2000, will reach almost $780 million by the end of 2005, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.5 percent, according to a newly revised study by ARC Advisory Group, "SCADA Systems Outlook for Oil and Gas and Water and Wastewater Industries Market Analysis and Forecast Through 2005." The majority of the top SCADA suppliers offer a full suite of products and services, including RTUs and associated controllers.

In addition to system hardware, a full service offering also includes software applications, a complete line of communications technologies and systems integration.

These suppliers are also moving toward increased use of intelligent field devices, smart RTUs, and increased use of third party network infrastructures.

There is also a noticeable shift to the additional importance of software and service offerings as the critical differentiator among suppliers.

"The services segment will lead the growth followed by the software segment, and are the areas where suppliers will need to focus their future efforts," according to Russ Novak, ARC Director of Consulting, author of SCADA Systems Outlook, a new study from ARC Advisory Group.

Novak continued, "The hardware portion of SCADA sales continue to be under commodity pricing pressure, and will essentially be flat.

This has led to market consolidation with mergers and acquisitions becoming increasingly common." There is growing interest among end users to evaluate the capabilities of a SCADA system in order for it to be fully integrated within a corporate IT system.

As energy companies emerge as fully integrated, and privatization of the water and wastewater companies continues, the concept of integrating the SCADA system to other business systems gains significance.

The issues of operational reliability, quality, regulatory and environmental compliance, customer satisfaction, capacities, planning, scheduling, and process optimization are intertwined in a comprehensive business process and no longer will be the domain of just the operations group.

Conversely, corporate business metrics and financial information would be available to the operations management.

For facilities that are located at dispersed geographical sites, the SCADA system will remain a key link in the fully integrated corporate knowledge management chain.

Suppliers must provide SCADA systems that allow for the required level of integration with corporate IT.

The SCADA marketplace is being transformed because of the far-reaching impact of technology and the quantum change in the way companies are restructuring and streamlining their business processes.

With change comes opportunities, and there are a number of strategies that ARC recommends to suppliers of SCADA systems and components in order to maximize their potential in the changing marketplace.