Tablets

No single platform, form factor or technology will dominate, and companies should expect to manage a diverse environment with two to four intelligent clients through 2015.

Mobile consumer application platform tools and mobile enterprise platform tools are emerging to make it easier to develop in a cross-platform environment.

Social information is becoming a key source of contextual information that enhances the delivery of search results or how applications operate.

“The Internet of Things” is a concept that describes how the Internet will expand as sensors and intelligence are added to physical items, which will be connected to the Internet.

Through app stores, like those by Apple and Android, mobile-device users gain access to hundreds of thousands of applications for their smartphones and tablets.

Analytics capabilities are shifting to the cloud and exploiting cloud resources for high-performance and grid computing, Gartner said. In 2011 and 2012, analytics, which are being pushed by the likes of IBM and Oracle, will increasingly focus on decisions and collaboration.

Analytics has become a major driving application for data warehousing, with the use of MapReduce outside and inside the database management systems, and the use of self-service data marts.Photo Credit: Viegas

In-memory applications platforms include in-memory analytics, event-processing platforms, in-memory application servers, in-memory data management and in-memory messaging.

Systems OEMs and chip makers like Intel and AMD are working on ways to deliver low-energy servers to businesses that are looking for high performance without expanding their IT footprint or growing their operating expenses.

Oracle, IBM and SAP all have major initiatives to deliver a broader range of cloud services over the next two years, according to Gartner.