Thursday, February 18, 2016

Top 10 Technology Trends That will Matter - 2016 vol 5, rel 4

Yes, yes, we know… Everyone is painting their portrait of prognostications for this year. Unfortunately, they are mixing the pigment with the figment, i.e., reality with fantasy.  So as your public servant, while not throwing too much shade, Wasabi Roll thought it would be nice to delaminate this mixed media with an organic semblance of pictorial space that would actually be useful.  Art majors, see what we did there?  Never mind, our prose is just but a vanishing point of tertiary colours only to be remarqued.  No really, Art majors… are you even paying attention?

In short, we are going to sift through mountain of futurism and present a pallet of just 10 technology trends that will actually matter to you, uh this year.

So, submitted for your approval, we present the TOP 10 Technology Trends, circa 2016

1        Microservices Architecture



The mesh, is the computer. In microservices architecture, applications are comprised of many small pieces that communicate with each other via APIs, Bluetooth, WiFi, etc. With this approach, it becomes much easier to roll out frequent updates, which helps enable continuous delivery and agile development methodologies.
As Forrester analyst Randy Heffner wrote in a report, "With increasing frequency, microservices are appearing in enterprises' efforts to achieve better software architectures, especially among those operating at scale, such as eBay, Google, Netflix, and Wal-Mart."  For example, device location tags are taking advantage of crowd networking, i.e., they begin by selling tiny keyfob or sticker devices that Bluetooth/WiFi to the nearest phone that has the api and report their location.  Hence, the heavy lifting is done by the million upon millions of already existing smart devices.

2      Adaptive Security

As cyberattacks against large companies continue to succeed with alarming regularity, it is becoming apparent that the existing security measures at most enterprises are inadequate to keep up with the rapidly evolving nature of attacks. Gartner recommends that organizations move to an "adaptive security" model that uses predictive analytics to anticipate where attackers will strike next.
According to Gartner, "Relying on perimeter defense and rule-based security is inadequate, especially as organizations exploit more cloud-based services and open APIs for customers and partners to integrate with their systems." The research firm said that adaptive security will be one of the top 10 strategic technology trends for 2016 and added, "Application self-protection, as well as user and entity behavior analytics, will help fulfill the adaptive security architecture."

 In fact, Continuity Focus[1]  already sells a "adaptive security" model that uses predictive analytics to thwart malware that doesn’t rely on virus signatures. Here are some independent testimonials on this type of technology 
Director IT, Charles Kalil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTSC8xYoFzQ; 
Manager IT, Anand Rao: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlw4KkrGXw0; 

3      Blockchain

Of all the technologies on our list, Blockchain may be the least well known, but it is definitely
poised to impact data centers in the coming year. Blockchain is the technology underlying Bitcoin, and some analysts suggest its potential enterprise uses could far exceed its helpfulness in tracking digital currency.
Blockchain is a distributed database that is used to record an ever-growing list of transactions. It doesn't require any permission to access it, but it's nearly impossible to tamper with the data it holds. In other words, everyone can see what is written there, but no one can erase or change it.
In the future, Blockchain could be used to track many different kinds of data, to speed and secure financial transactions, or even to prevent voter fraud.

4     MobilePay

Samsung and Google threw their hats into the mobile payment space in 2015 with Samsung Pay and Android Pay, respectively. Both compete with the iPhone's Apple Pay. All three services have done a commendable job winning over the support of financial institutions, but now have to focus on retailers. Apple Pay and Android Pay are each available at a bit more than 1 million retail locations nationwide at the close of 2015. That's not nearly enough. Samsung Pay is more widely available thanks to its use of NFC and MST (magnetic stripe) technology for making purchases.  However, against Ali-pay, the main service in China for the past 3 years which this year alone has more subscribers than the entire population of the US, they are both playing catch up.
To make competition even more fierce, others are primed to compete. Walmart recently launched its own app-based mobile purchasing tool and other retailers, such as Target, are weighing similar approaches. As availability proliferates, consumer adoption of mobile payment solutions will rise.

5      Virtual is a Reality

The importance of visual information will continue to grow − especially outside of traditional screens. The way we use visual information will evolve and become more immersed in the physical world around us. Virtual reality is a popular idea for representing visual information among smartphone users in the future.   

 VR smartphone maps, movies that play virtually around the viewer, virtual tech support, and VR headsets for sports were some of the services that sparked the most interest. But one in two would also like to have participants surrounding them in video conferences and a third are interested in dating services that include VR.


 Several firms, notably Facebook's Oculus Rift and Microsoft, will release virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) headsets this year. Some analysts suggest sales of these devices could top 12 million units this year.

 VR and AR offer unique opportunities for consumer entertainment, particularly in regards to gaming, but some industry watchers think that VR and AR will have an even bigger impact on enterprises. Companies could use the headsets for design work, engineering, construction, training and communications. Microsoft, in particular, seems to be targeting its HoloLens augmented reality device at this market.

6     Clouds in my Coffee

Cloud computing, ready or not, it’s here to stay.  At this point, cloud computing is hardly new, but this is one trend that isn't going away any time soon. IDC predicts that by 2018, half of IT spending will be cloud-based. Many organizations are overcoming their security and compliance concerns and embracing the cloud wholeheartedly.
This year, analysts and vendors suggest that hybrid cloud computing models will come to the fore. Look for software makers to release a new crop of tools designed to improve cloud interoperability and automate management of the hybrid cloud.

7      JARVIS Anyone?

Smart personal assistants.  Consumers have grown accustomed to using voice-activated
assistants like Siri or Google Now on their mobile devices, but personal assistants are moving into the enterprise. With the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft put its Cortana assistant onto desktops and laptops, and other companies are likely to follow suit.
All four will have to contend with Facebook M, the forthcoming AI that the social networking giant has been testing the last few months. The company hopes to differentiate M from other assistants by allowing it to compete tasks. For example, M will be able to buy gifts online, or book travel arrangements. M is built into Facebook's Messenger app. The company hasn't said when trials will expand, but expect 2016 to be a big year in the voice-activated, AI-assisted digital helper space.

8     Containerization

Containerization first burst onto the scene with the launch of the Docker open source project in 2013. Since then, it has become one of the most frequently discussed new data center technologies, and several other organizations have launched containerization initiatives.
In simple terms, containerization offers an alternative to traditional virtualization. The technology packages together everything an application needs to run in a container. These containers are completely separate from each other, which provides security and portability. In addition, because they don't require a hypervisor, containers are more lightweight and efficient than traditional virtualization, and they eliminate problems caused by having different test and production environments.

9     Biometrics

Fingerprint readers and other biometric security tools are nothing new. Apple added a fingerprint sensor to the iPhone 5s in 2013, but HP was putting them on PDAs and laptops back in the early aughts. The old-style swiping readers were slow and buggy. The latest generation of fingerprint tech finally gets performance where it needs to be.
Handsets such as the iPhone 6s, Galaxy S6, Nexus 6P, and One A9 have incredibly quick fingerprint readers that are faster -- and much more secure -- than traditional PINs and passwords. Now that the technology delivers the ease-of-use required by mobile device owners, they'll begin to adopt biometrics in greater numbers. Expect to see biometrics appear in more mobile gear as we move through 2016.

10 Stream

The internet is changing and new generations are changing with it.  One of the more significant changes is the huge amount of video content online. It is said that in 2011, around 30 hours of video was uploaded to YouTube every minute. 

Today, estimates indicate that it is more than 300 hours every minute.  Correspondingly, new generations have a very different online video experience.  20 percent of 16−19 year olds say they watch more than 3 hours of YouTube daily, compared to only 7 percent in 2011.

The original internet generation does not follow this behavior and only 9 percent of today’s 30−34 year olds watch 3 hours or more of YouTube daily. Today’s teens are now streaming natives. In fact, 46 percent of them spend an hour or more on YouTube every day.

Streaming natives also watch video on different platforms, spending around 59 percent of their total viewing time on mobile screens, which is considerably more than other age groups. In fact, 28 percent of the total viewing time among streaming natives is on smartphones. They are also the only age group who spend a larger amount of time on smartphones than on any other device. 16 percent of streaming natives also stream music for more than 3 hours per day, which is more than the other age groups.


Source(s):


So “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;”
____________________________________________________________

About Rick Ricker

An IT professional with over 23 years experience in Information Security, wireless broadband, network and Infrastructure design, development, and support.

For more information, contact Rick at (800) 399-6085 x502

[1] Continuity Focus, Inc. (800) 399-6085 x502
at

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