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Gartner lays out its top 10 tech trends for 2015

Theres no end to the strategic possibilities and connections
By Patrick Thibodeau

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Computerworld | Oct 7, 2014 12:45 PM PT

ORLANDO -- The Internet of Things, and everything that's part of its

universe, including smart machines, pervasive analytics and 3D
printing, are on Gartner's annual list of strategic technologies for the
year ahead.
The list, presented today by Garner analyst David Cearley at the
firm's annual Symposium/ITxpo, is focused on merging the real
world with the virtual one, what that means for analytics and the
type 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 ubiquitous
access to computing capabilities. Intelligent screens and connected
devices will proliferate, and will take many forms, sizes and
interaction styles.
Cearley warned that IT departments are not well suited for the
design challenges involved in ubiquitous availability, and said
companies may need to acquire the expertise. (He may have been
pointing to Capital One, which recently acquired Web design firm
Adapative Path.)
2: The Internet of Things (IoT). Clearley's advice to IT managers is to
experiment, get ideas going and empower individuals in IT
organizations to develop uses for connected devices and sensors.
Cearley believes IoT has enormous potential to deliver value to
businesses, and said even small sensors that can detect problems in
equipment before failure occurs, can save a business thousands of
dollars.
3: 3D printing. The technology has been around since 1984, but is
now maturing and shipments are on the rise. While consumer 3D
printing gets a lot of attention, it's really the enterprise use that can
deliver value.

4: Advanced, Pervasive and Invisible Analytics. Every application is an

analytical app today.
5: Context Rich Systems. Knowing the user, the location, what they
have done in the past, their preferences, social connections and
other attributes all become inputs into applications.
6: Smart Machines. As an example, Cearley pointed to global mining
company Rio Tinto which operates autonomous trucks, to show the
role smart machines will play.
7: Cloud and Client Computing. This highlights the central role of
the cloud. An application will reside in a cloud, and it will be able to
span multiple clients.
8: Software Defined Applications and Infrastructure. IT can't work on
hard coded, pre-defined elements; it needs to be able to
dynamically assemble infrastructure, said Cearley.
9: Web-Scale IT. This is akin to adopting some of the models used by
large cloud providers, including their risk-embracing culture and
collaborative alignments.
10: Security. In particular, Gartner envisions more attention to
application self-protection.

Patrick Thibodeau Reporter

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