3-D Printing: What's The Opportunity For The Channel?

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One of the biggest buzzwords being tossed around this year is ’3-D printing,’ but what are the practical applications for this technology? More importantly, where is the opportunity for the channel?

’The ability to layer upon layer and build anything you want is going to disrupt the entire supply chain. It's going to disrupt the $10 trillion manufacturing industry,’ entrepreneur and X Prize foundation founder Peter Diamandis told Cisco partners at the recent Partner Summit.

Diamandis showed partners videos of printers downloading files and producing metal wrenches, and discussed how General Electric has used the technology to build engines. Diamandis touched on the uses in prosthetics and architecture, as well. ’Imagine being able to 3-D print the house you want,’ he said.

So what is the opportunity for partners? Diamandis urged the audience throughout his talk that disruptive technologies are the future, and the real opportunity will be where new technologies converge. With 3-D printing’s ability to touch multiple industries, from medicine to automobiles, it is one disruptive technology worth looking into.

PUBLISHED MAY 15, 2014