Frost: Demand for Oscilloscopes Driven by Growth of Auto, Electronics, Aerospace End-User Markets

October 30, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

While the military, defense and aerospace end-user segments have always contributed greatly to the revenues of digital oscilloscope vendors, the automotive and industrial sectors also play an important role in pioneering the technology and driving growth in the oscilloscopes market.

Recent analysis from Frost & Sullivan of the world oscilloscopes markets found earned revenues of $1.16 billion in 2005, with estimates to reach $1.69 billion in 2012.

"Most countries in Asia-Pacific continue to witness growth in terms of construction and infrastructure expansion as a result of economic growth driven by consumer markets," said Frost & Sullivan senior research analyst Prathima Bommakanti.

"Given that China and India represent the two most populated countries in the world, they offer immense growth opportunities in the automotive, telecommunication and electronic industries."

Analysts said some oscilloscopes customers in the low-end research and educational end-user segments preferred using analog oscilloscopes, due to their lower costs.

However, technological advancements and the materials used in digital oscilloscopes have made them comparable in terms of cost to their analog counterparts.

Since additional features and capabilities can be added to digital oscilloscopes at the same price, analysts said the demand for this type of test equipment has grown tremendously.

There exists a trend among market participants to invest heavily in R&D in an effort to enhance their technological expertise. Analysts said successful R&D programs have leveraged the technology and product lines in the market.

As a result of these active programs, the availability of innovative products and upgrades represents a significant challenge for customers to choose the product or technology that best suits their needs.

"In the high-resolution digitizer market, which forms the largest segment in the total oscilloscopes market, the need for a higher number of channels (in addition to the conventional four) has led to several vendors competing to offer a greater number of channels in their oscilloscope offerings," said Bommakanti.

"As technology improves and the functionality of test equipment increases, end-users become accustomed to purchasing test sets with greater capabilities across a range of technologies."

Both the communications and IT industries experience high rates of technological change. At present, innovations and new products exceed incoming data rates and as a result, speed of operation represents the mainstay in these industries.

Analysts said effective testing of these new technologies and related equipment, in the design, manufacturing, installation and maintenance stages becomes crucial to their commercial success. As a result, customers from these industries no longer rely on analog oscilloscopes, thus boosting digital oscilloscopes' revenues.

Source: Frost & Sullivan.