Our Perspective
Explore our extensive operational and industrial technology business and market insights, authored exclusively by VDC’s seasoned teams of consultants.
Yesterday [10/7/2026], TD SYNNEX announced its entry into a definitive agreement to acquire BlueStar, a specialty B2B electronics distributor with
Yesterday [10/7/2026], TD SYNNEX announced its entry into a definitive agreement to acquire BlueStar, a specialty B2B electronics distributor with global reach. The company positioned the acquisition as an opportunity to "combine BlueStar’s expertise in AIDC, operational technology, mobility, RFID, point-of-sale and related technologies with the global...
AI Was Everywhere at GSX 2026 Artificial intelligence was a big part of the story at GSX 2026. Nearly every
AI Was Everywhere at GSX 2026 Artificial intelligence was a big part of the story at GSX 2026. Nearly every one of the show's countless security tech exhibitors seemed to be promising AI-powered analytics, autonomous patrols, or an intelligent perimeter. AI occupied much of the conversation from...
The Robotics Market Is Poised for A Major Change – And It Has Nothing to Do With Humanoids Having just
The Robotics Market Is Poised for A Major Change - And It Has Nothing to Do With Humanoids Having just spent two days with all of the major robotics companies at the huge IMTS show in Chicago, it’s clear that AI is about to unleash a major...
Cognex, the largest core machine vision systems vendor in VDC Strategy’s forthcoming 2026 Machine Vision Report and a top player
Cognex, the largest core machine vision systems vendor in VDC Strategy’s forthcoming 2026 Machine Vision Report and a top player in 3D systems, announced a $500M acquisition of RealSense, a robotics perception and physical AI vendor which is expected to raise Cognex’s 3D value proposition for its...
Industrial and operational technology companies often have highly technical sales teams. But product expertise alone does not guarantee that Sales
Industrial and operational technology companies often have highly technical sales teams. But product expertise alone does not guarantee that Sales can understand the customer problem, prove business value, or defend price. New VDC Strategy research among 141 senior executives reveals a significant gap between what sales teams...
The 2026 outbreak wave shows why digital traceability is now a strategic capability, not a compliance checkbox The United States
The 2026 outbreak wave shows why digital traceability is now a strategic capability, not a compliance checkbox The United States is currently experiencing its largest cyclosporiasis season on record, with a nine-state outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce from a single farm in central Mexico, processed by Taylor...
Historically, reliability testing in many cases was the quiet final step in building a semiconductor, something that happened after design
Historically, reliability testing in many cases was the quiet final step in building a semiconductor, something that happened after design work was finished. That is changing fast. As chips move into more places where failure is expensive or dangerous, from AI data centers to electric vehicles, making...
In recent years, the Edge AI industry has shifted from the experimentation phase to full scale production and deployment. With this shift now well under way, we can see where Edge AI is being deployed and what engineering teams value in its current form within the embedded
In recent years, the Edge AI industry has shifted from the experimentation phase to full scale production and deployment. With this shift now well under way, we can see where Edge AI is being deployed and what engineering teams value in its current form within the embedded...
Recently we’ve been involved with a company that has completed over a dozen add-on acquisitions and retained all the brands it inherited. The logic behind the decision made sense, but was arrived at through a lot of heavy and inefficient debate that occurred without a structure. After
Recently we’ve been involved with a company that has completed over a dozen add-on acquisitions and retained all the brands it inherited. The logic behind the decision made sense, but was arrived at through a lot of heavy and inefficient debate that occurred without a structure. After...
The pace of change in engineering has never been faster. Products are becoming more complex, more connected, and under more regulatory pressure than ever before. At the same time, AI use in lifecycle management has expanded from chatbots and copilots into a large set of assisted work
The pace of change in engineering has never been faster. Products are becoming more complex, more connected, and under more regulatory pressure than ever before. At the same time, AI use in lifecycle management has expanded from chatbots and copilots into a large set of assisted work...
Last week, Noetra, a Japanese AI company, announced the launch of their national research effort with the goal of having “Real-World Native AI” by 2030. Noetra will be building out
Last week, Noetra, a Japanese AI company, announced the launch of their national research effort with the goal of having "Real-World Native AI" by 2030. Noetra will be building out a hyperscale-level AI factory with NVIDIA and using it to train their multimodal foundation model on proprietary Japanese manufacturing/logistics data. This multi-billion-dollar project funded by players such as Sony Group Corporation, SoftBank Corp., NEC Corporation, Honda Motor Co., Ltd,...
Middle Market Guidance from the Forefront of Physical AI – Autonomous 2026 Conference, San Francisco
What a day spent among VCs, founders and robots in San Francisco tells middle-market investors about where this industry is headed, and when it becomes an opportunity for middle market PE.
What a day spent among VCs, founders and robots in San Francisco tells middle-market investors about where this industry is headed, and when it becomes an opportunity for middle market PE.
In industries where communications are critical, deploying devices with specialized capabilities has traditionally required lengthy timelines and significant costs. One such capability is sidelink, which enables devices to communicate directly with one another without relying on cellular network infrastructure. As technologies such as sidelink move toward operational
In industries where communications are critical, deploying devices with specialized capabilities has traditionally required lengthy timelines and significant costs. One such capability is sidelink, which enables devices to communicate directly with one another without relying on cellular network infrastructure. As technologies such as sidelink move toward operational...
California’s Assembly Bill 660 (AB 660), which took effect on July 1, 2026, may appear to be a simple labeling
California's Assembly Bill 660 (AB 660), which took effect on July 1, 2026, may appear to be a simple labeling change. By replacing confusing consumer-facing date labels such as "Sell By" with standardized terms like "BEST if Used By" and "USE By," the legislation aims to reduce...
If your fund holds industrial technology or operational technology companies, you have probably already had the conversation. Maybe you even started it. The board meeting where someone asks the CEO how the company is integrating AI into its products. The value creation conversation that focuses on the
If your fund holds industrial technology or operational technology companies, you have probably already had the conversation. Maybe you even started it. The board meeting where someone asks the CEO how the company is integrating AI into its products. The value creation conversation that focuses on the...
In most industrial and operational tech businesses with recurring revenue, leadership's attention flows to the top of the customer base. The largest accounts get named owners, quarterly business reviews, custom roadmaps, and executive air cover. That focus is rational, but it leaves a structural blind spot. Beneath
In most industrial and operational tech businesses with recurring revenue, leadership's attention flows to the top of the customer base. The largest accounts get named owners, quarterly business reviews, custom roadmaps, and executive air cover. That focus is rational, but it leaves a structural blind spot. Beneath...
Exploring the integration of AI at the edge, this research note documents the deployment of OpenClaw on the new Qualcomm Arduino UNO Q. By leveraging agentic workflows for local system monitoring, the experiment highlights how accessible hardware and flexible tooling enable developers to move from simple prototyping
Exploring the integration of AI at the edge, this research note documents the deployment of OpenClaw on the new Qualcomm Arduino UNO Q. By leveraging agentic workflows for local system monitoring, the experiment highlights how accessible hardware and flexible tooling enable developers to move from simple prototyping...
From patient records to workforce efficiency and resource allocation, healthcare organizations are responsible for managing countless moving parts, all while
From patient records to workforce efficiency and resource allocation, healthcare organizations are responsible for managing countless moving parts, all while delivering high-quality patient care. As information management becomes increasingly complex, healthcare organizations are looking for technology solutions that can help reduce the burden. VDC Strategy’s 2025 Buyer...
Your company has a competitive weapon it already owns but likely almost never fires. It's your value proposition, and it’s likely just sitting in its holster. Most industrial and operational technology companies know exactly what they sell and exactly who they sell it to. Nearly every sales
Your company has a competitive weapon it already owns but likely almost never fires. It's your value proposition, and it’s likely just sitting in its holster. Most industrial and operational technology companies know exactly what they sell and exactly who they sell it to. Nearly every sales...
Recurring revenue is among the most trusted signals of business health, and among the most easily misread. A book of contracted ARR with a high renewal rate is often seen as a powerful indicator of a business that is performing well. Yet these metrics often reveal something
Recurring revenue is among the most trusted signals of business health, and among the most easily misread. A book of contracted ARR with a high renewal rate is often seen as a powerful indicator of a business that is performing well. Yet these metrics often reveal something...
In February of this year, VDC Strategy published a piece on the impact of the memory supply shortage on pricing.
In February of this year, VDC Strategy published a piece on the impact of the memory supply shortage on pricing. Since then, memory costs have remained elevated and the pricing and availability impact is now also expanding to SSDs and processors. RAM pricing (which had spiked dramatically,...
When people talk about why language models worked, they usually point to scale: bigger models, more compute, better optimizers. The truth is that the internet did most of the work in creating that scale. By the time GPT-3 arrived, decades of human writing had already been digitized,
When people talk about why language models worked, they usually point to scale: bigger models, more compute, better optimizers. The truth is that the internet did most of the work in creating that scale. By the time GPT-3 arrived, decades of human writing had already been digitized,...
Industrial and operational technology companies face a uniquely difficult challenge in managing many aspects of their business, and culture is no exception. On the one hand, they must satisfy the rigorous expectations...
Industrial and operational technology companies face a uniquely difficult challenge in managing many aspects of their business, and culture is no exception. On the one hand, they must satisfy the rigorous expectations...
Honeywell has formally exited the AIDC/Track & Trace and Enterprise Mobility markets, announcing the sale of its Productivity Solutions &
Honeywell has formally exited the AIDC/Track & Trace and Enterprise Mobility markets, announcing the sale of its Productivity Solutions & Services business unit to Brady Corporation for $1.4 billion on April 20th, 2026. Noteworthy is the significant discount this represents relative to the investments Honeywell made to...
