*I always pay attention to these Gartner guys. Because, even though they're commonly wrong, other people are much, much wronger.
The top 10 strategic technologies for 2011 include:
Cloud Computing.... (((Yeah, okay, fine, fine, never mind that one, let's move along)))
Mobile Applications and Media Tablets.... (((ditto)))
Social Communications and Collaboration.... (((doesn't take Nostradamus to figure that one out, thanks for the cogent analysis there, etc))
Video. (((Gets popcorn.)))) Video is not a new media form, but its use as a standard media type used in non-media companies is expanding rapidly. ((("Vernacular Video.")))
Technology trends in digital photography, consumer electronics, the web, social software, unified communications, digital and Internet-based television and mobile computing are all reaching critical tipping points that bring video into the mainstream. (((Yup.)))
Over the next three years Gartner believes that video will become a commonplace content type and interaction model for most users, and by 2013, more than 25 percent of the content that workers see in a day will be dominated by pictures, video or audio. (((So, are you listening, Vimeo? Yeah, I rather imagine you are.)))
Next Generation Analytics. (((Hmmm.))) Increasing compute capabilities of computers including mobile devices along with improving connectivity are enabling a shift in how businesses support operational decisions.
It is becoming possible to run simulations or models to predict the future outcome, rather than to simply provide backward looking data about past interactions, and to do these predictions in real-time to support each individual business action. While this may require significant changes to existing operational and business intelligence infrastructure, the potential exists to unlock significant improvements in business results and other success rates. (((So, uh, Joe IBM is supposed to walking around with a pocket prediction machine? This, I gotta see. In fact, I'd love to see a "business infrastructure" successfully predict anything that mattered. "Here at Goldman Sachs, we've successfully analyzed nine of the last five recessions," etc)))
Social Analytics. (((People didn't used to do this, so it's very interesting.))) Social analytics describes the process of measuring, analyzing and interpreting the results of interactions and associations among people, topics and ideas. (((Well, now you know.)))
These interactions may occur on social software applications used in the workplace, in internally or externally facing communities or on the social web. Social analytics is an umbrella term that includes a number of specialized analysis techniques such as (((draw a breath))) social filtering, social-network analysis, sentiment analysis and social-media analytics.
Social network analysis tools are useful for examining social structure and interdependencies as well as the work patterns of individuals, groups or organizations. Social network analysis involves collecting data from multiple sources, identifying relationships, and evaluating the impact, quality or effectiveness of a relationship.
(((That sure oughta put the cat among the pigeons. "My social network is much more emotionally cheerful than your social network." "Oh yeah? My software social analysis says that's because you're a bunch of vapid airheads," etc etc)))
Context-Aware Computing.... (((I don't believe in it, because anything "aware" is AI by another name))) Gartner predicts that by 2013, more than half of Fortune 500 companies will have context-aware computing initiatives and by 2016, one-third of worldwide mobile consumer marketing will be context-awareness-based. (((Well, maybe if you redefine "aware" as just "mapping.")))
Storage Class Memory. Gartner sees huge use of flash memory in consumer devices (((including latest Apple Air, great, right on bro, next topic please)))
Ubiquitous Computing. (((Uh-oh))) The work of Mark Weiser and other researchers at Xerox's PARC paints a picture of the coming third wave of computing where computers are invisibly embedded into the world. As computers proliferate and as everyday objects are given the ability to communicate with RFID tags and their successors, networks will approach and surpass the scale that can be managed in traditional centralized ways. This leads to the important trend of imbuing computing systems into operational technology, whether done as calming technology or explicitly managed and integrated with IT.
In addition, it gives us important guidance on what to expect with proliferating personal devices, the effect of consumerization on IT decisions, and the necessary capabilities that will be driven by the pressure of rapid inflation in the number of computers for each person. (((You can bet I'll be watching for the crazed 2011 exfoliation here)))
Fabric-Based Infrastructure and Computers. (((???))) A fabric-based computer is a modular form of computing where a system can be aggregated from separate building-block modules connected over a fabric or switched backplane. ((("Fabric" computers? No kidding?)))
In its basic form, a fabric-based computer comprises a separate processor, memory, I/O, and offload modules (GPU, NPU, etc.) that are connected to a switched interconnect and, importantly, the software required to configure and manage the resulting system(s).
The fabric-based infrastructure (FBI) model abstracts physical resources – processor cores, network bandwidth and links and storage – into pools of resources that are managed by the Fabric Resource Pool Manager (FRPM), software functionality. The FRPM in turn is driven by the Real Time Infrastructure (RTI) Service Governor software component. An FBI can be supplied by a single vendor or by a group of vendors working closely together, or by an integrator – internal or external. (((Good work on number ten here, because that sounds seriously weird. If I have my first encounter with a scattered bits and pieces "fabric" computer in 2011, at least now I'll know what to call it.)))
A video reply of the Top 10 Strategic Technologies presentation will be available via the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo Webinar Series. The webinar series will provide full video replays of the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo keynotes, as well as selected Gartner analyst presentation.
More information is available at
http://mediazone.brighttalk.com/event/Gartner/27d8d40b22-4312-intro.
