2010 Sweeping Changes Coming for IT
With a modest recovery for IT spending predicted for 2010, IDC is also looking for a ‘fundamental’ industry transformation. Channel Insider takes a closer look at some of the changes the channel can look forward to next year.
2010: Tipping Points
"In last year’s predictions, we talked about how a slow global economy would act like a pressure cooker on the IT market, speeding the development and adoption of new technologies and business models. What’s different about 2010 is that the economic recovery will release some of the pressure on spending, enabling a number of transformational tipping points to be reached in a year of economic upswing."
Frank Gens, senior vice president and chief analyst at IDC
2010: Hardware Leads Growth
Worldwide IT spending will grow by 3.2% in 2010, returning the industry to 2008 spending levels of about $1.5 trillion.
Hardware, software and services spending will each grow in the 2-4% range, with hardware experiencing the most notable gains after a particularly difficult 2009
Telecommunications spending will experience respectable growth of 3%, driven by a rebound in the IP and data segments in mature markets and strong growth in the mobility sector in emerging economies.
2010: Cloudburst
The continuing build-out and maturing of the cloud services and consumption model will be the most important transformational force in the IT market.
The emergence of "enterprise-grade" cloud services will be a unifying theme in this area, with a battle unfolding in cloud application platforms – the most strategic real estate in the cloud for the next 20 years.
Significant opportunities will also unfold for public IT cloud services, private clouds, cloud appliances, and hybrid cloud management tools, while cloud APIs will emerge as the new determinant of the cloud partner/solution ecosystem.
2010: Mobile Apps Explosion
Mobile devices will also exert a powerful transformational force on the industry as they increasingly compete with PCs as the primary client platform for developers and users alike.
IDC expects more than 1 billion mobile devices will be accessing the Internet by year end.
This growth will ignite an explosion in mobile applications, with the number of iPhone apps tripling to 300,000 and Android apps surging by a factor of five or more.
This same phenomenon will also play out in the netbook market, where new software ecosystems will emerge to optimize the performance and usability of these popular devices.
2010: Pressure On Public Networks
The expansion of cloud services, the explosion of mobile devices and mobile applications, the growing popularity of video applications, and more, will all put greater demands on public networks in 2010.
Industry players will accelerate their migration toward converged IP platforms, expand their managed services footprints, and transform their service delivery platforms and business models to support the growing wholesale, connected devices, and machine-to-machine (M2M) opportunities.
2010: Socialytic Apps
New mashed-up business applications will leverage social and collaborative networks and derive insights from them.
These ‘socialytic’ apps will not only bring new capabilities to customers and new growth to suppliers, but also new competition and threats to traditional leaders.
2010: CO2 Focus
A renewed focus on reducing CO2 emissions, at both the national and international levels, will present opportunities for IT solutions to help reduce greenhouse gases while challenging the industry’s energy use and disposal costs.
2010: M&As
The transformation agenda will drive a fresh round of mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships as vendors pursue profitable IT and business solutions and power positions in the cloud.