Cloud, e-Books among hyped technologies

Technologies like cloud computing, e-books and Internet TV will be at the peak of ‘inflated expectations’ in 2009 while social software and microblogging sites like Twitter will soon find acceptance among enterprise users, according to Gartner Hype Cycle Report for 2009.

The report went on to add that as enterprises seek to consume their IT services in the most cost-effective manner, interest is growing in drawing a broad range of services from the cloud, rather than from on-premises equipment. The level of hype surrounding cloud computing has forced vendors to expound their strategy and introduce variations like private cloud computing and hybrid approaches.

Gartner’s annual hype cycle report provides a perspective on the technologies and trends that IT managers should consider in developing emerging-technology portfolios.

This features technologies that are the focus of attention in the IT industry because of particularly high levels of hype, or those which have the potential to make a significant impact.

The report also says that e-books services launched by firms like Sony and Amazon have attracted a great deal of attention during 2009. However, the devices still suffer from proprietary file formats and digital rights management technologies, which along with price, are limiting their adoption.

While awareness about social software suites like Web 2.0 continues to be high, there is a strong evidence of their experimentation and production deployment within businesses. Microblogging technologies like Twitter have witnessed a huge popularity surge in 2009, which will see these becoming standard feature in enterprise social software platform. “...it is earning its place alongside other channels (for example, e-mail, blogging and wikis), enabling new kinds of fast, witty, easy-to-assimilate exchanges,” the report says.

“Looking at the real benefit, rather than hyped expectations, we see a number of potentially transformational technologies that will hit mainstream in less than five years, including Web 2.0, cloud computing, Internet TV, virtual worlds and service-oriented architecture,” said Jackie Fenn, vice president and Gartner Fellow, and co-author of Mastering the Hype Cycle.

Gartner introduced the idea of the Hype Cycle in 1995 as a commentary on the common pattern of human response to technology. This year the analyst firm examined the maturity of 1,650 technologies and trends in 79 areas, which have been published in “Gartner’s Hype Cycle Special Report for 2009.”