Whilst some ‘predictions’ are quite obvious and others are speculative/wishful thinking the following summary does provide some consolidated insight into how the IT industry is moving over the next 12-18 months:
Green, Clean and Virtual – The principle business drivers of lower cost and higher productivity are now closely matched to technologies delivering increased functionality but using fewer raw materials, lower power consumption, less space and reduced management. Virtualisation is the principle technology but throughout the technology stack, not just confined to servers and PC’s. A terminal uses 4w of electricity compared to a PC using 100w – no contest!
Cloud – From ASP, SaaS and Grid the hype and buzzwords change but acknowledging the lack of a firm definition the concept remains the same; mainframe with modern functionality and site resilience. Virtualisation again is a key enabler to achieving local, private and public clouds for low-capital, subscription-based, utility computing. Research shows that 20% of organisations will have moved, or have plans to move, to a cloud model by 2012.
Choices – The development of smart-phones and Apps along with a range of tablet devices is blurring the edges between consumer and business products. Pre-recession the discussion on generation-Y requiring different IT tools prompted forward-thinking organisations to review IT purchasing and policy. Many organisations already consider flexible arrangements for IT and mobile provision as the make/model of devices matter less. For others who require tighter control enterprise deployment is now much more refined.
Borderless – There is much work in progress on borderless collaboration environments – a tricky area for most people very familiar with establishing a firm security boundary around an organisation but borderless security allows organisations to better share information and resources with customers, suppliers and third parties; a good example of this is Cisco’s IME (Inter Company Media Engine), which allows organisations to share media resources.
Snippets for 2010 – During 2010 most experts forecast that Microsoft revenue growth will fail to match that of rivals despite Windows 7. Internet Explorer will lose further market share to other browsers as security concerns continue.
Growth towards Solid state (Flash) hard drives will accelerate, which means prices should reduce and fuel further demand and adoption.
Many experts are signposting 2010 for the growth of 3D TV with the World Cup being a showcase for the technology – we can’t really see this, after all do you really want to wear glasses to watch TV? And for those already wearing glasses do you want clip-on’s? Add that to all those who have recently purchased LCD/LED TV’s and 3D TV in 2010 may be a damp squib. Let’s wait for holographic TV.
As for a prediction on who’ll win the World Cup – Spain , it may seem disloyal and we wholeheartedly support England but the bookies are not often wrong.
Sources:
Cisco Systems Ltd
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Forrester
Gartner