Siemens, GE bank futures on energy
With 2011 now well under way, many big technology and IT companies are assessing their financial performances of the past year and using that intelligence to map the road forward.
A transitional year, 2010 saw companies like IBM, GE, Siemens and Cisco rebound from the post-crash challenges of 2008 and 2009. It also saw them finding growth opportunities — often with the help of new partners — in future-critical areas: energy, virtualisation, transport and data management.
GE, having just wrapped up its 4th quarter financial results, saw positive growth for the first time in nine quarters. Where is it seeing the strongest revenues? Energy infrastructure orders saw an increase in 4 per cent, with countries from Russia and China to India and Saudi Arabia turning to the company for power generation technologies, gas-oil processing services and assistance with high-speed rail projects.
In its recently released Q4 2010 financials, IBM also reported quarter-on-quarter growth over 2009. Demand from emerging markets like China, India and Brazil helped drive that growth, particularly in terms of customers for business and technology services, and software. Looking ahead, Big Blue, which is celebrating 100 years in business, sees its future in continuing to serve emerging markets as well as promoting sustainable cities and virtualisation offerings.
“As IBM enters its second century, we will continue to focus on our long-term strategic initiatives — growth markets, Smarter Planet Solutions, cloud and business analytics,” says Samuel J. Palmisano, the company’s chairman, president and CEO.
Siemens, meanwhile, expects to see short-cycle business revenues slow in the year ahead, while long-cycle businesses such as transport and energy gain momentum. It predicts a solid future for eco-friendly water technology, and continued growth in the energy sector — though that will fluctuate according to the seasons on the renewable side. And Siemens’ new global strategic partnership with IT services firm Atos Origin, announced at the end of 2010, is aimed at giving it a new edge in IT and software expertise for “energy-saving technologies for smart grids and smart buildings, the management of cities and conurbations, mobility management and industrial integration.”
Cisco, on the other hand, appears as something of an outlier in its recent financial and partnership developments. It announced not long ago that it will be teaming with the Holmes Group to “explore opportunities in the residential construction sector” — hardly an area where most would expect to look for growth these days. However, the man behind the Holmes Group — Mike Holmes — is a Canadian contractor/entrepreneur/TV show host who’s built his reputation on green and sustainable construction. His organisation and Cisco are working together on two pilot projects aimed at showcasing technologies for the “community of the future.” We’re betting on seeing an emphasis on low-energy lighting, good insulation and other smart building strategies, which — if not as headline-grabbing as giant wind turbines or all-electric cars — have the potential for a big impact on our energy habits.
It’s clear from these developments that industry leaders see opportunity in a variety sectors and technologies, though they’re ultimately all energy-focused. For some, the emphasis is on harnessing new energy sources. For others, the goal is better managing the energy we have. And for still others, the aim is to reduce our energy appetite as much as possible.
All three will be vitally important for keeping the lights on and society moving in the years ahead.
