In a press release earlier this year, Gartner, Inc. highlighted 10 key predictions of events and developments that will affect IT and business decisions in the coming years.

"Selected from across our research areas as the most compelling and critical predictions, the trends and topics they address this year indicate a strong focus on individuals, the environment, and alternative ways of buying and selling IT services and technologies," said Daryl Plummer, managing vice president and Gartner Fellow.

What I found interesting was the proportion of environmentally related predictions. Three of the 12 highlighted in this article were environmentally focused, that’s 25 percent! This is an unprecedented change from the past predictions of prior years. If this is not a statement of where our societies focus is moving, I don’t know what is.

We’ve all heard the cyclical argument with respect to environmental trends, but “Gartner’s” predictions tend to carry greater authority with respect to where executives and IT professionals will take action in 2008 and beyond.

Below I have summarized the 12 predictions. For more information, or to read this article in its entirety, simply click the link below.

• By 2011, Apple will double its U.S. and Western Europe unit market share in computers.
• By 2012, 50 percent of traveling workers will leave their notebooks at home in favor of other devices.
• By 2012, 80 percent of all commercial software will include elements of open-source technology.
• By 2012, at least one-third of business application software spending will be as service subscription instead of as product license.
• By 2011, early technology adopters will forgo capital expenditures and instead purchase 40 percent of their IT infrastructure as a service.
• By 2009, more than one-third of IT organizations will have one or more environmental criteria in their top six buying criteria for IT-related goods.
• By 2010, 75 percent of organizations will use full life cycle energy and carbon footprint as mandatory PC hardware buying criteria.
• By 2011, suppliers to large global enterprises will need to prove their green credentials via an audited process to retain preferred supplier status.
• By 2010, end-user preferences will decide as much as half of all software, hardware and services acquisitions made by IT.
• Through 2011, the number of 3-D printers in homes and businesses will grow 100-fold over 2006 levels.

Full article can be found here: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=593207

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By Joshua Levitt
Managing Director for UsedCisco.com

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