Top 10 Strategic Technologies of 2009--That Gartner Missed

This is the week for the annual Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando. For the first time in many years, I’m not at the event. Who will make the last call at the Dueling Pianos bar without me? I don’t know. But I do know that not being at the event is giving me an opportunity to watch the coverage (and of course eWEEK’s own Scott Ferguson is doing the best job).

In terms of the economy, it would be tough to pick a worse time to be talking about spending of any kind and spending of the IT kind for next year, but the Gartner analysts seem to have moved forward with enough caveats (they are predicting a 2.9 percent spending increase) to keep the show on track this year.

Jim Rapoza lists the important technologies that should receive attention in 2009 but will likely be ignored. See his choices here. 

I was particularly interested in Gartner's choices for the top 10 strategic technologies of 2009: virtualization, cloud computing, servers, Web-oriented architectures, enterprise mashups, specialized systems, social software and social networks, unified communications, business intelligence, and green IT. A strong list and one that includes a lot of topics I have reported on and I support. But I got to thinking: What are the top 10 technologies that the Gartner analysts missed? Here’s my top 10—tell me what you think.

1. Mobile Computing

There is way, way too much going on in this area—from devices to services—not to think this will not be the business darling of 2009. Big miss for Gartner here.

2. Thin Clients

They live! Thin clients make huge sense but have been the forgotten stepchild of enterprise computing. Cheap, energy efficient and secure, this is the year.

3. Tune-ups

Look, 2009 is going to be tough on the budget. Companies are going to want to extend systems through overhauls and tune-ups rather than new purchases.

4. Data Center Design

Once companies finally figure out how much that data center is actually costing them, they are going to get on the new design bandwagon. Some will just shut the old center down and opt for the shipping container data center. Mark my words.

5. Enterprise Sandbox

Everyone, including me, talks about enterprise mashups. But it is in those borderlines between applications where hackers have the most fun. Some apps are just not meant to be mashed.

Next: Intraprise Networks? BLI? >>