NEWS

Gartner lays out its top 10 tech trends for 2015Theres no end to the strategic possibilities and connections

By Patrick Thibodeau Computerworld | Oct 7, 2014 12:45 PM PT

ORLANDO -- The Internet of Things, and everything that's part of itsuniverse, including smart machines, pervasive analytics and 3Dprinting, are on Gartner's annual list of strategic technologies for theyear ahead.

The list, presented today by Garner analyst David Cearley at thefirm's annual Symposium/ITxpo, is focused on merging the realworld with the virtual one, what that means for analytics and thetype of IT that has to emerge to deal with it.

Here's the Gartner list for 2015:

1: Computing Everywhere. To Gartner, this simply means ubiquitousaccess to computing capabilities. Intelligent screens and connecteddevices will proliferate, and will take many forms, sizes andinteraction styles.

Cearley warned that IT departments are not well suited for thedesign challenges involved in ubiquitous availability, and saidcompanies may need to acquire the expertise. (He may have beenpointing to Capital One, which recently acquired Web design firmAdapative Path.)

2: The Internet of Things (IoT). Clearley's advice to IT managers is toexperiment, get ideas going and empower individuals in ITorganizations to develop uses for connected devices and sensors.

Cearley believes IoT has enormous potential to deliver value tobusinesses, and said even small sensors that can detect problems inequipment before failure occurs, can save a business thousands ofdollars.

3: 3D printing. The technology has been around since 1984, but isnow maturing and shipments are on the rise. While consumer 3Dprinting gets a lot of attention, it's really the enterprise use that candeliver value.

FOLLOW

http://www.computerworld.com/author/Patrick-Thibodeau/http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/adaptive-path-where-were-going-next/http://www.computerworld.com/news

Copyright 1994 - 2014 Computerworld, Inc. All rights reserved.

+

4: Advanced, Pervasive and Invisible Analytics. Every application is ananalytical app today.

5: Context Rich Systems. Knowing the user, the location, what theyhave done in the past, their preferences, social connections andother attributes all become inputs into applications.

6: Smart Machines. As an example, Cearley pointed to global miningcompany Rio Tinto which operates autonomous trucks, to show therole smart machines will play.

7: Cloud and Client Computing. This highlights the central role ofthe cloud. An application will reside in a cloud, and it will be able tospan multiple clients.

8: Software Defined Applications and Infrastructure. IT can't work onhard coded, pre-defined elements; it needs to be able todynamically assemble infrastructure, said Cearley.

9: Web-Scale IT. This is akin to adopting some of the models used bylarge cloud providers, including their risk-embracing culture andcollaborative alignments.

10: Security. In particular, Gartner envisions more attention toapplication self-protection.

Patrick Thibodeau Reporter

From CIO: 8 Free Online Courses to Grow Your Tech Skills

https://plus.google.com/u/0/110661688079389534967/postshttp://www.computerworld.com/author/Patrick-Thibodeau/http://www.riotinto.com/ironore/mine-of-the-future-9603.aspxhttp://www.cio.com/article/2847396/it-skills/8-free-online-courses-to-grow-your-tech-skills.html#tk.cross_2cio_intrcptmailto:pthibodeau@computerworld.comhttp://www.computerworld.com/about/copyright.htmlhttps://twitter.com/dcgovhttp://www.computerworld.com/author/Patrick-Thibodeau/http://www.computerworld.com/author/Patrick-Thibodeau/index.rss