Virtualization, cloud computing and social software are among the buzzier terms, but Gartner says storage, green technology, complex resource tracking and more will be top of mind in the coming months for high-tech leaders.
IT executives could be buried in data, struggling to track resources and looking for ways to go green in the coming years, according to research firm Gartner, which advises high-tech leaders to pay attention to these technologies today.
While virtualization, cloud computing and social software make it difficult for IT professionals to ignore them, other less hyped technologies could fall off the radar. Gartner recently hosted a Webinar, Technology Trends You Can’t Afford to Ignore, in which Managing Vice President Raymond Paquet detailed 10 technology trends that IT shouldn’t ignore.
To start, IT leaders can expect what Gartner dubbed a “data deluge.” Paquet said on the call that enterprise data growth is expected to growth 650% in the next five years, and that 80% of that data will be unstructured. That means what is budgeted for storage today is insufficient, according to Paquet.
Energy and green technologies should also be taking a higher priority for IT leaders. “We need to start developing metrics that force us to review the efficiency of IT,” he said. “And it causes us to work with facilities.”
Complex resource tracking would also become a bigger concern for IT leaders as they must learn to monitor energy consumption, visualize power consumption of resources, automate energy usage to optimal levels and dynamically move workloads. This discipline will also require IT to “get to know your facilities team,” according to Gartner.
Unified communications as well as mobile and wireless are already significantly on the rise, Paquet said, pointing out that the number of text messages sent in 24 hours is about 6.7 billion – exceeding the total population of the planet.
“Texting is a way of life; it is not just a convenience. There are thousands and thousands of text messages being delivered every month,” Paquet said on the Webinar.
And when it comes to mobile and wireless, the heterogeneity of the devices will challenge IT departments.
“IT will have to potentially deliver applications to cell phones. This is going to cause a lot of headaches because we don’t have the infrastructure or the app delivery method to support this,” Paquet said.
Here is Gartner’s full list of technology trends to watch – carefully:
- Virtualization
- Data Deluge
- Energy and Green IT
- Complex Resource Tracking
- Consumerization and Social Software
- Unified Communications
- Mobile and Wireless
- System Density
- Mashups and Portals
- Cloud Computing
What technology trends do you have your eye on? In what areas do you plan to invest? Please leave a comment here or let me know directly via e-mail at Denise.Dubie@ca.com.
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