Worldwide Quarterly Smart Meter Tracker

The global smart metering market has exploded since 2005 as utilities in North America and Europe have scrambled to modernize their aging grid infrastructure. While North America and Europe have led the way, the industry is poised to enter an era of global growth; utility pilots and deployments are well under way in both Latin America and the Asia/Pacific. What will the future hold for smart metering? How will the competitive landscape change with regulation and the introduction of new technologies? IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Smart Meter Tracker® provides clients with the detailed information necessary for navigating this evolving landscape by providing reliable, accurate, and independent market data that serves as a foundation for creating quantitative market analyses and studying historical trends.

Technology Coverage and Data Segmentation

This tracker provides total market size and vendor share for the following technology areas and segmentations. Measurement for this tracker is in unit shipments and value. Tracking of smart meter deployments is also possible.

Technologies and subtechnologies:

  • Smart electric meters defined as solid state meters with integrated two-way communications capabilities
  • Meter type: Single phase, polyphase
  • Communications type: Wireless (RF mesh, RF tower, etc.), wired (PLC, other)

Segmentations:

  • Customer/utility type (by ownership): Investor/private ownership, government/public ownership, cooperative
  • Customer/utility size (by revenue): Under $1 billion, $1 billion to $10 billion, over $10 billion

Geographic Scope

  • Asia/Pacific excluding Japan
  • Canada
  • Central and Eastern Europe
  • Japan
  • Latin America
  • Middle East and Africa
  • United States
  • Western Europe

Forecast Coverage

Forecasts for this tracker are updated quarterly by geography and include one year of historical data, up to two years of quarterly forecasts, and an additional three years of annual market projections. Forecasts and segmentations available include:

  • Communication standard
  • Customer/utility type
  • Customer/utility size

Delivery Schedule and Deliverables

The core tracker offering is delivered on a quarterly basis as a preformatted Excel pivot table. In addition, or as an alternative, to this quantitative deliverable, clients have the option of subscribing to a supplementary quarterly report. Each quarterly report will provide an overview of market activity, focusing on regional trends, the evolving communications landscape, utility deployment progress, meter and communications module vendor activity, and other key market drivers. Each report will also include a special section discussing new markets or new market opportunities.

The delivery schedule for this tracker is as follows:

  • Historical data: Week 10 after period closes
  • Forecast data: Week 11 after period closes
  • Quarterly report: Week 12 after period closes

IDC's Tracker Methodology

IDC's tracker data is developed using a rigorous methodology that includes well-planned and well-coordinated local, regional, and worldwide data cross-checks combined with a proprietary advanced data consolidation and analysis data platform managed by IDC's Worldwide Tracker organization. Data sources used in the process of determining IDC's tracker numbers include, but are not limited to:

  • In-country local vendor interviews
  • Distribution data feeds
  • Worldwide and regional vendor guidance
  • ODM data
  • In-country local channel partner discussions
  • Import records
  • Feedback from component suppliers
  • Vendor briefings and public financial reports

Enabling Better Business Decisions Across the Organization

IDC trackers provide the accurate and timely market size, vendor share, and forecast information you need to identify market and product expansion opportunities, increase revenues, and win market share. IDC's tracker research is a critical input to the planning and monitoring cycles of the business process. Common uses of the tracker data include:

Planning Process

  • Regional, state or city-level planning — setting regional, country, state or city-level sales targets based on market opportunity
  • Product marketing — creating a product strategy and road map based on currently available product features and expected growth
  • Production planning — using customer demand data as an input in the creation of production schedules
  • Product portfolio planning — accessing accurate and detailed data as an input into the product development process

Monitoring Process

  • Performance measurement — comparing vendor performance on prior fiscal periods
  • Competitive analysis — reviewing competitor performance across multiple dimensions: product, features, channel, segment, geography
  • Sales forecasting measurement — assessing internal sales forecast versus actual results
  • Price benchmarking — comparing vendor versus market pricing data by model
  • Marketing communications — using positive results for messaging in the press, at partner events, or in sales collateral

IDC's Global Tracker Process at Work