Network Emulator Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The network emulator market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8% over the forecast period (2021-2026). As the pressure to move to cloud services increases, the network becomes a significant factor when transitioning to the cloud, especially when moving large volumes of data to multiple regions. In such a case, network emulator testing helps evaluate how network constraints, such as bandwidth limitations and latency, will impact a massive data transfer without losing data. Thus, rising cloud migration is expected to have a positive outlook on the market.

Key Highlights

• With the increasing usage of smartphones and consoles and cloud penetration, the gaming industry is booming. Thus, to mitigate the impact of variable network conditions on game performance, companies are employing a range of techniques to replicate various user experiences reported in the production environment.
• As users increasingly request faster response and more complex data from their applications, the networks carrying this data are under higher pressure to meet such expectations Network emulators are necessary to test out applications before rolling it out to the users.
• Due to the proliferation of 5G, most of the network vendors are releasing network emulators in this domain. For instance, in July 2019 Polaris Networks, a provider of wireless test and measurement products conducted a roadshow cum training workshop with i2i Systems, the Turkey-based system integrator The training program aimed at testing the Polaris NetTest 5G Network Emulator solution’s interoperability with the software solution of the Turkish System Integrator.
• Anritsu Corporation and dSPACE, two companies, dealing with testing and measurement, simulation, and validation, were planning to demonstrate an integration of a 5G network emulator in a hardware in the loop (HIL) system introduce next-generation automotive applications for connected vehicles. The event was supposed to take place at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2020, which has been canceled for the year due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
• However, the shortage of skilled professionals and high costs associated with its installation are few factors that might hamper the market growth during the forecasted period.

Key Market Trends

Telecommunication Vertical is Expected to Show a Significant Growth Over the Forecast period

• With the rise in the 4G and 5G age, developing advanced technologies for the LTE systems are driving the growth of the telecommunication vertical in the studied period. A significant turning point in the commercialization of LTE technology was GCF certification. The GCF certified the test cases to be tested by conformance test systems. One condition for the commercialization certification of LTE terminals was that 80% of all the test cases must receive GCF certification.
• Players present in the market landscape are offering innovative test emulator solutions, which is further boosting the growth of the telecommunication segment. For instance, in August 2019, Keysight Technologies, a leading technology provider, announced that TCL Communication Technology Holdings Limited had selected the company’s 5G network emulation solutions to validate its 5G new radio (NR) designs.
• In October 2019, PRISMA Telecom Testing, which is a significant supplier of innovative performance testing solutions, had showcased the newest developments of its 5G NR emulation systems at Mobile World Congress 2019.

Asia-Pacific to Witness Fastest Growth

• Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth for this market owing to the increasing development and deployment of mobile 5G networks and applications that are fuelling new investments in telecom, infrastructure, and innovative applications, such as autonomous vehicles and augmented reality.
• Thus, new test systems would be required for the development and management of 5G devices, networks, and applications. This would create massive demand for the network emulators.
• For instance, Chinese based communications satellite producer Galaxy Space plans to launch 144 satellites for the constellation across the next three years by 2023. The firm wants to provide high-speed, low-latency communications services globally, including remote areas.
• Further, Asia-Pacific is soon becoming the hub for many projects for gaming companies. Recently in February 2020, MX Player launched its in-app gaming feature that hosts nine hyper-casual games that can be played without data or internet access in India. These factors are boosting the growth of this region in the coming years.

Competitive Landscape

The network emulator market is moderately concentrated in nature. Companies such as Spirent Communications, Apposite Technologies, and Polaris Networks are the major vendors. Product launches, high expense on research and development, partnerships and acquisitions, etc. are the prime growth strategies adopted by these companies to sustain the intense competition. Few recent developments are:

• In January 2020, Keysight Technologies, Inc. introduced a 5G channel emulation PROPSIM FS16 which enables chipset and device makers to verify the implementation of MIMO and massive MIMO in any 5G new radio (NR) frequency band. PROPSIM FS16 also allowed users to check the performance of 5G new radio (NR) devices with support for ultra-wide bandwidths in mmWave frequency spectrum, beamforming technology, and multiple-antenna configurations.
• In October 2019, GL Communications Inc. released its eir 5G Core Network Emulator Suite, which is enhanced to support the N4 interface simulation. The Emulator Suite comprises a MAPS application, which is a multi-protocol and multi-interface simulation test tool.

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