I would have to disagree that IX systems are becoming obsolete.
As other water treatment processes have been developed, IX systems have morphed into use as polishing processed rather than working proceses. At the present time, there are no substitutes for the IX polishing systems.
In the old days, the standard was a cation, anion, mixed bed demineralizer system. Now, users are requesting RO units followed by mixed bed demineralizers.
A good example is a utility condensate power application requiring crud removal, 1 ppb sodium effluent, 120 Deg F and 10,000 gpm. Almost every major power plant has a makeup RO/demineralizer system.
You have different standards in the pharmaceutical industry such that you also rely on distillation processes. Someone in the pharmaceutical industry might get by with a RO/CDI system. The CDI unit is an IX system in itself.
However, other industries such as the semi-conductor UPW market rarely use distillation processes. IX polishing is still used in the semi-conductor business.