Some IT predictions from IDC

Research firm IDC just released its top 10 predictions for the IT and telecommunications industry. Here are a few highlights:

• Growth will return to the IT industry in 2010. We predict 3.2% growth for the year, returning the industry to 2008 spending levels of about $1.5 trillion.
• Emerging markets will lead the IT recovery, with BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India China) countries growing 8-13%.
• Cloud computing will expand and mature as we see a strategic battle for cloud platform leadership, new public cloud hot spots, private cloud offerings, cloud appliances, and offerings that bridge public and private clouds.
• Business applications will undergo a fundamental transformation – fusing business applications with social/collaboration software and analytics into a new generation of “socialyptic” apps, challenging current market leaders.
• Rising energy costs and pressure from the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference will make sustainability a source of renewed opportunity for the IT industry in 2010.
• Other industries will come out of the recession with a transformation agenda and look to IT as an increasingly important lever for these initiatives. Smart meters and electronic medical records will hit important adoption levels.