prediction

Overheard: The big buzzword for 2009 is going to be “sustainable”

Every night after the news, my husband and I watch HGTV for half an hour before Jeopardy comes on.  On the East Coast, that means we watch “My House is Worth What?”  It’s a show hosted by Kendra Todd of Apprentice fame, where viewers get to virtually meet three homeowners who want to know how much equity they have in their house.  As the realtors critique and crunch numbers, my husband invariably sighs. You see, we don’t have granite countertops or stainless steel appliances and our bathrooms are very 1990.

What’s that got to do with information technology?

I’ll tell you. Over the years I’ve gotten pretty good at identifying buzzwords that marketers are going to pick up, slap on everything and beat to death — until the term either becomes meaningless or the rest of us learn that the idea behind the term is great but the technology just isn’t there yet.

This year I’m going to predict that since cloud computing and its variations have been watered down to mean just about anything marketers want it to mean (as long as the Internet is somehow involved), cloud computing will soon enter the buzzword graveyard and lay its weary bones down next to middleware and application service provider.

That’s right. For those of you who finally understand that cloud computing got its name from the symbolic cloud that’s used to represent the Internet on charts and diagrams — and that as mysterious as it once sounded, cloud computing is just an updated version of life on the Internet as we imagined it in 1999 — the idea that cloud computing is already “old school” is shocking.

Get over it.

Cloud computing is out. It’s too fluffy and ephemeral. The NEW buzzword for 2009 is going to be “sustainable computing.”

Sustainable computing. Doesn’t it sound kind of soothing? Calming?  That’s what we need right now. We need a grown-up sounding buzzword that sounds stable and mature. Sustainable computing. A term for our times.

Google has been pushing the term for awhile now.  ComputerWorld tooted the horn way back in 2006. But it took HGTV to really start the ball rolling.

If you watch HGTV, you know what I mean. The word sustainable has been sneaking in on shows during the last six months on a regular basis.  The worse the housing market gets, the more it seems to be popping up. Bamboo flooring. Recycled glass countertops. They’re not called “green.”  They’re not called “environmentally friendly.”  They’re called sustainable.  Granite countertops and hardwood floors are still king, but if you’re smart enough to put something  in your house that the realtor can describe as sustainable, you’re ok.  It’s not only cheaper, it’s politically correct.

So what does that have to do with IT marketing?  Everything.

Social networking was exciting, but the only people to make money off it were the ones who put together conferences about how to leverage social networking. And green was good as long as there are tax incentives to go green — but nobody’s seriously counting on tax cuts in today’s economy.  We’re living in an IT world filled with layoffs, virtualization and promises of clouds.  Marketers  desperately need a new buzzword to hawk their goods and services. One that’s comforting and inspires us to part with our dollars.

Sustainable is the perfect word for a shaky economy. It’s legacy without the outdated overtone. It’s green without inviting a conversation about Sarah Palin or Al Gore. It’s cloud computing without the ambiguity — which reminds me, did you every notice how much a cloud symbol looks like a bubble? It’s scalability with a fresh twist. It’s risk management without that scary word risk.

Mark my words and add this to your next secret Buzzword Bingo game. Sustainable computing.

End-users will decide as much as half of all software, hardware and services acquisitions made by IT

The rise of the Internet and the ubiquity of the browser interface have made computing approachable and individuals are now making decisions about technology for personal and business use. Because of this, IT organizations are addressing user concerns through planning for a global class of computing that incorporates user decisions in risk analysis and innovation of business strategy.

Gartner Highlights Key Predictions for IT Organisations and Users in 2008 and Beyond

Overheard: I’m declaring that 2008 will be the year of the thin client

Either HP sells thin clients, or someone else does. Sometimes, you have to eat your own children. IDC analyst Bob O’Donnell as quoted in HP Thinks Thin

I’m hereby declaring 2008 as the Year of the Thin Client. In 2008, laptop vendors will begin lining up ducks as we all get ready to move to the cloud.

Andy Greenberg does a really great job explaining why the time for the thin client is now.

PC manufacturers pay their bills by selling new machines year after year with ever more impressive loads of storage and memory. But as the U.S. economy sputters and companies transfer their IT needs from the desktop to virtualized data centers and to the Web, one computer giant is moving its enterprise products in a new direction: slimmer and cheaper.

The only thing I think he got wrong is when he said “one computer giant is moving its enterprise products in a new direction.” I think they all are. I also predict they’ll come up with a new name to replace “thin client.” It’s too 90’s.

Overheard: Datacenter in a box coming to a batcave near you

“Sun and a consortium of other businesses are going to lower Blackbox self-contained computing facilities into a Japanese coal mine to set up an underground datacentre, using up to 50 percent less power than a ground-level datacentre.” Chris Mellor, Sun to set up datacentre in coal mine

Sun Microsystems promoted their ”datacenter in a box” concept earlier this year. The datacenters are basically 20-foot shipping containers with racks of pre-configured servers and storage. The idea is that you’d be able to build a datacenter as big as you need because the Blackboxes are modular units — and because they’re self-contained shipping containers, you could ship them  just about anywhere – including outer space.  

When I first read about Project Blackbox, I was thinking military.  But I hadn’t thought about using caves and abandoned mines for commercial use. Genius.

In the Japan project, the coolant is going to be ground water — a little controversial, but they’re working on getting away from water altogether.  Since the cave’s temperature is a constant 59 degrees F,  the cost of running the underground center is expected to be $9 million less than if it were above ground.  

Overheard: It’s not your father’s joystick

“Though many popular games still employ a standard controller, the most popular games are using outlandish controlling devices that are so far-fetched, you’ll feel silly for trying, but won’t be able to put down.” Triston McIntyre, Guitar Hero, Wii and DDR usher in new era of gaming

I predict that Guitar Hero a PlayStation 2 game whose controller is a two-foot-long plastic guitar, will be the big buzzword this holiday shopping season. Guitar Hero III was released in late October and sold 1.4 million copies in the first six days. It’s kind of cool hearing Guns ‘n Roses around the house once more. The fun part about this game, though, is looking at all the ways people have modified their controllers.

I don’t know whose mod is in the photo…I came across it on an MTV blog, uncredited. If you know who this is, please let me know so I can credit source.