Mobile, applications, the ever expanding realm of cloud, super networks such as 10 GbE and the 40GbE – technology is getting more and more exciting as the years go by. The year 2011 has seen its share of developments. What’s coming up in the year 2012? Is there a possibility of a technological phenomenon or a let down? Here’s what is likely to happen in the year 2012:
Virtual Desktops Will Be Picked On
A recent Gartner release reports that globally, over 40% of servers have gone virtual. By the year 2015, this expected to touch an incredible 75%. Virtual desktops aren’t just about the reduction in costs, it’s more strategic, or so it seems. Pooling resources, pay-as-you-go concept, the ability to scale up or down as per business needs, decreased costs, and improved efficiency are all reasons why it makes sense to take to Virtual desktops.
Cloud hosting providers will increase
There’s just no stopping the cloud. More services, more vendors, more ideas, and more of the cloud for us to benefit from. In the year 2012, there is going to be a dramatic increase in the number of cloud hosting or cloud computing providers just as there’s going to be a stellar variety of new products and services for businesses to choose from. As more and more businesses freeze, shrink, or guard their budgets, the more cloud services will tend to make sense.
Big data gets bigger
We recently wrote about “big data” and about how business sustainability depends on how you “mine, manage, and analyze large data sets”. We also acknowledged that it’s a challenge to absorb, maintain and manage all that data. Adding to that, you have external data now pouring in – a humongous, hitherto unseen levels of activity on social media, mobile usage, and all such extraneous sources are going to pile up data. Analytics, patterns, data management are going to be big. Garner predicts that unstructured data will blow up to be over 80% in the next 5 years.
Social Networking
As time goes by, social networking is making inroads into every business. Virtual communities are going to be big. Networking, hiring, sharing information, gathering insights about customers, market research, customer relationship management, and even social commerce – each of these is going to be huge. Businesses can no longer shy away from social media. How a business delivers content, communicates, engages, and converses with virtual communities will define its sustainability. Be there or lose out.
Networks will scale up
Small or big, budget availability or the lack of it – networks will just scale up in most cases. The way technology is marching towards the cloud, maybe the businesses don’t have to scale up but at least the cloud vendors will. Data centers that most cloud-hosting vendors erect and manage will have to grow to meet the demand in cloud services, Infrastructure-as-a-service, Software-as-a-service, and other hosted solutions. Systems, storage, and a need for efficient data center management will all necessitate migration to better, swifter, and more efficient networks.
What do you think other important trends for 2012 would be?