While we keep our eye on all kinds of emerging technologies, here are five in particular we’ll be paying attention to in 2015:
1. The Containerization of the Data Center
We don’t typically get involved in the server management side of things, but of course it makes a difference in how we deploy our applications. Gone are the days of delivering a WAR file and a detailed server configuration procedure. Now we can just push an updated container with everything already set up inside.
2. Big Data
Machine learning, parallel query engines, graph processing… It never seems like a slow day in the Big Data space. Half the challenge is keeping on top of all these developments so we know what tools to recommend to our customers. Even outside of the traditional Big Data space, we’re seeing a rise in cluster-centric products from data stores to messaging.
3. JavaScript
If there’s one space that makes Big Data look slow, it could be JavaScript. On the front end, AngularJS is moving toward a major release while React has arrived and the supporting tools and libraries continue to multiply. On the back end, we’ve seen customers move to slim down the number of technologies by adopting Node.js (or possibly soon io.js). Whether and when this becomes the norm, we’ll have to see.
4. Mobile
Some days, it seems like things move more slowly in the mobile space. Other days, Visual Studio rolls in full support for Cordova, or Apple drops an entirely new development language. While at this moment it doesn’t seem like either Windows Phone or Swift are quite ready to take over, it will be interesting to see how things develop over the next year.
5. The Internet of Things
It’s half hype and half here — my refrigerator still isn’t online, but my lights and thermostat are. In terms of enabling technologies, lower-energy Bluetooth has arrived with another big speedup coming soon, while WiFi chips get cheaper every day. On the flip side, hopefully I haven’t made the list of 73,000 insecure IP cameras browsable online.
If these are the kind of technologies that pique your interest, let us know, and maybe stop by the Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise conference in April!