What's Hot, What's Not!
By Priyanka Akhouri
Mumbai, Jan 2, 2008

The Indian IT industry is witnessing fast paced technological innovation, convergence, alliance, and acquisitions. Organizations need to adapt their traditional business models into more agile and flexible practices, while sustaining competitive advantage and generating business value. Focusing on the constant changes demanded by the market and the customers, CIOs keep experimenting and using new technologies.

With increasing concerns over global warming and climate changes, the focus of companies has also turned to the information and communications technology (ICT) market and the carbon emissions of this industry. According to the IDC report roughly 50 US cents is spent on energy for every dollar of computer hardware, and this is expected to increase by 54% to 71 US cents over the next 4 years.

This explains the emergence of 'Green IT'. IDC defines green IT as the design, manufacture, deployment, recycling of IT products and related materials in an environmentally responsible manner. Commenting on this, Satish Syal, CIO of NIIT Technologies says, "Now all technology decisions taken by organizations will be based on keeping green IT in mind."

While the consumer segment would continue to dominate and drive Web 2.0 industry, the enterprise segment is warming up to the possibilities of leveraging these applications to meet the challenging demands of businesses. "Enterprise 2.0 will define the beginning of Web 2.0 in the business environment with the initial benefit and value driven by collaboration, customer analytics, and targeted smart search applications," added Syal.

Web 2.0 tools and approaches also help in promoting awareness and understanding the new services being rolled out. Moreover, new user data mining technologies, search engines, and social networks would fundamentally change the way businesses do marketing.

However, IDC recommends aligning Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)-based projects with online Web productivity tools will facilitate team collaboration and improve the success of organizations.

Dhanalakshmi R.K, head (ISG & Technology) of Aditi Technologies opines that the positive changes faced by the industry include better and stable technology, tandem working in terms of standardization, and focusing more on customers. "Globalization has intensified and further the focus will be on delivering technology to masses at a much lesser cost than when the IT revolution started. IT management solutions, unified communications (UC) are two technologies that I see taking off in a big way," commented Dhanalakshmi. There is an expectation to see IT on the mobile platform leapfrog several levels.

According to Rajendra Dhavale, director (Technical Sales) of CA India, technologies like identity & access market, security information management, and project & portfolio management are going to be big in the coming years.

The servers in many companies are poorly managed and disorganized leading to inadequate documentation and limited understanding of build of each machine. Since a single server supports not more than a single application, many servers have been deployed by end-user departments away from the control of the central ICT function.

Syal says, "It's time to adopt a more innovative approach to deploy and manage these servers. Rather than being a necessary burden, virtualization enables the server to become a valuable strategic tool in enhancing the agility and competitiveness of the business."

By allowing a single system to run multiple incompatible operating systems - and their applications - virtualization technology can break down long-standing barriers to flexibility and compatibility while dramatically improving hardware utilization rates. Syal also added that traditional client server computing, and systems operating in silos will be things of the past.

In terms of packaged software, consolidation will continue. Smaller players who wish to pursue on their own may see their products and technologies getting marginalized. Satish Pendse CIO of HCC says, "I see a great future for Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Over a period, we are moving towards Software as a Service (SaaS) and open source will continue to gain momentum"

In terms of databases, CIOs see ORACLE, SQL-Server and DB2 as the leading players with others getting marginalized, especially in the medium-to-large segment. Recovery management, records management, and network & voice management are also some of the technologies expected to grow. In terms of mobility CDMA, GSM and WIMAX are catching up in the IT industry, say the CIOs who we interviewed.

Well, if these are the technologies gaining popularity among CIOs, there are some that may be on the decline. Syal is of the opinion that traditional client server computing, and systems operating in silos will be things of the past. Dhanalakshmi on the other hand expects a drop in desktop sales (atleast in the corporate and home users segment).

Hot in the industry:

* Information and communications technology (ICT)

* Organizations focusing on green IT

* Web 2.0

* Data mining technologies, search engines, and social networks

* Aligning Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)-based projects with online Web productivity tools to facilitate team collaboration

* IT management solutions and unified communications

* Identity & access market, security information management, and project & portfolio management

* Virtualization

* Software as a Service (SaaS) and Open source

* ORACLE, SQL-Server and DB2

* CDMA, GSM and WIMAX

Lost in the industry:

* Traditional client server computing

* Systems operating in silos

* Drop in desktop sales (atleast in the corporate and home users segment)


(With added inputs from Aarti Shah, Pankaj Maru, and Abhinna Shreshtha)