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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.
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.
Intraprise Networks? BLI?
6. Intraprise Networks
This is my term for getting your energy system and heating and AC systems part of the IT network. Lots of cost savings there.
7. Anti-social Nets
Social networks are all the rage, but where is the ROI? Watch for companies to lock down their networks to prevent Web surfing, Facebook updating, etc., during work hours.
8. Com Control
Sure, unified communications is a great idea. Until you are spending your days answering messages from 10 different systems. Someone is going to say to the work force, “Stop communicating and start working.”
9. BLI
Business intelligence? Nice term, but where was the business intelligence at Lehman Brothers, or Wachovia, or Bear Stearns? Lots of money spent but not much intelligence to be found. I use to the term “BLI (business leader intelligence)” for systems that will alert the boss (and maybe the SEC) that the business practices in the company are putting not only the company in jeopardy, but maybe the entire economy. Think of it as Sarbanes-Oxley with a big stick.
10. New Green
The biggest cost savings is the system that is turned off, or the employee working from home instead of commuting to the office cubicle, or the software service that uses someone else’s electricity instead of your own. Too many companies are using green IT as a marketing ploy to sell you some new stuff. You may be able to accomplish your green goals by having folks work at home, throwing out instead of replacing the company printers, killing off unused corporate apps and rewarding employees for turning off their own systems.