A Technical Manager's Perspective

Predictions for 2008

With the New Year approaching it's a time for predictions. Here are my thoughts on Technology in 2008:

1) I see the continued adoption of Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 applications in Business. This adoption will not be across all applications but instead will key on the applications where communication and social involvement will help internal processes. Enterprise 2.0 will become another tool for Business and Applications Analysts to use when considering application upgrades and new deployments.

2) Web Services will continue to grow along with Java adoption and Service Oriented Architecture. A lot of companies have invested in Java, Web Services and SOA. SOA will help to provide a platform to scale larger applications and the adoption of Web Services will help to justify the need for true SOA deployments, which will give developers more options when accessing data and building applications.

3) Identity and Authentication Management will grow and gain greater acceptance. OpenId is just the start of this trend. Once OpenId starts to gain acceptance, stronger authentication tools will be used along with OpenId to maintain a secure Identity. Here is a list of the many Identity Working Groups

4) Cloud based computing will continue to grow with new opportunities in the Cloud Based High Performance Computing market. We will see more Software As A Service applications and as the Cloud Based HPC market grows, more vendors are going to want to move to a SAAS model.

5) We will see more Social Media Projects and new Social Networks hitting the marketplace. New vendors will give Business better choices when deploying internal social networking tools and new features will help the big players like Facebook and LinkedIn. However, I predict that this market will start to slow down in late 2008 with many smaller social networks merging or going away.

6) Mobile Web will gain greater acceptance as Vendors reduce the cost of accessing the Web via your phone and start to offer more services via the mobile network.

7) Open Source solutions will continue to grow and gain acceptance within larger organizations. More vendors will start to offer support for Open Source solutions as this will provide Business with an additional revenue model.

8) The Gaming industry will continue to surge with new adoption in both the Online and Game Console segment. New titles come out every day and there is an increase in softer non-combative titles which are becoming very popular.

9) Google will continue to expand into other markets. We will learn more about Open Social in 2008 but will have to wait until 2009 to see the impact of open social, however Google will continue to diversify and introduce other Business Models.

10) Microsoft will be around for a long time, and their Windows Server 2008 release will be stable and quicker than Windows Server 2003. Adoption will be slow throughout 2008 until the first service pack comes out, however my prediction is that this will be a stable OS that gains adoption in 2009.

11) Acceptance of Microsoft Vista will be very slow and will require multiple Service Pack updates before it becomes a favorable choice. I predict that it will be 2009 before we start looking at Vista as a recommended desktop solution.

12) Prepare for a slowdown. Gartner, Global Insight, and the Wall Street Journal predict a 30-36% chance of a recession in 2008.

Happy New Year

Technorati : Technology Predictions 2008

More MET news - Ross Levinsohm Interview

Here is another post on the topic of Media and Technology. Kara Swisher from the All Things Digital Web site had a conversation with Ross Levinsohn around Media and Technology. Ross started a VC firm called the Velocity Interactive Group which is funding Media and Technology startups. He talks about the involvement of independent artists and the monetization of video and other Media Companies.

Technorati : MET Digital Media Technology

Media Entertainment and Technology

Ken Rutkowski and Andy Abramson from the KenRadio.com podcast are always talking about MET (Media, Entertainment and Technology) News, sharing insight into the three industries. One aspect of MET that I see is the convergence of video on the INTERNET. From user generated videos on YouTube and Blip.TV to the major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) all moving their content to the INTERNET. This move gives the consumer many more options in terms of what to watch, when to what and what to record. This is great of us.

Ken has been talking about the MET news and a while and thinks that there is a slowdown in adoption. Here is a clip from Ken talking about the slowdown and the need for a disruption in the MET Space.

Click To Play

You can check out Ken's daily podcast at KenRadio.com

Technorati : Media Entertainment Technology MET kenradio

Listening to Audio Books

I apologize for the lack of posts here, I recently changed positions which has kept me fairly busy. I have been coming up for air on the weekends and plan on resuming my posting. I am in a new environment with a new set of challenges and technologies to learn. What a difference in work environments. I left a very structured and rigid Healthcare organization for an open collaborative academic institution. It's a real breath of fresh air.

Most of you that know me, know that I am a big fan of Podcasts. I am still listening daily but have expanded my scope to include audio books. This new trend started after listening the "MIT Sloan School of Management Podcast" called "Tough Choices" by Carly Fiorina. Carly spoke to MIT Sloan students in October 2006 and spoke of her experiences at Lucent and HP. Listening to Carly talk about real examples surrounding Ethics, Leadership, and Managing through change was compelling enough to make me search out the full edition of Carly's book "Tough Choices". I looked at both audible.com and Itunes and Itunes had a better price. I downloaded the full edition of Tough Choices last week and spent the weekend listening to it. This week I pulled down "The Google Story" and have identified a dozen other books that look compelling enough to pull down and listen to.

I do not have the time to sit down and read a book like this over a weekend, however I was able to listen to Tough Choices over the span of two days because I could listen while doing errands and working around the house.

If you are interested in learning more about this, check it out, AudioBooks at Itunes or Audible.com.

Technorati : Technology Management