TechRepublic recently ran an article by Jason Hiner about Gartner's predictions of the 10 technology trends that will shape IT.  In it, Mr. Hiner adds insightful comments, some of which inspired me to write this post.

Gartner predicts that half of business travelers won't take their laptops with them by 2012.   The timing is perhaps aggressive but the idea is spot on.  Many people want smaller mobile systems, but there is probably going to be a point where small isn't necessarily better. Others want  larger laptops. Look at the newer notebook computers that have 20 inch monitors.  Some people want modular, multi-purpose devices - think "laptop/smartphone/PDA/emaildevice."   The range of products will undoubtedly expand.

Gartner predicts that open source will penetrate 80% of enterprise software.  To put a finer point on it, they think 80% of enterprise software will include "elements" of open source.  I think it's an  improvement to substitute the words "standards based" for "open source." Why?  Ask, and I''l explain.

The article says power efficiency will become key criteria in IT purchases.  We hear it from customers every day.  The convergence of limitations on power, cooling and space are hitting the entire IT infrastructure hard.  That's why we started years ago, and why we're delivering products and services today that address these issues head on.  We're already offering the greenest servers, client PCs and solutions on the planet.

The CO2 footprint ("carbon footprint") of the data center, was also mentioned as becoming part of PC purchasing criteria.  We're well on our way to having a zero carbon footprint for our company by the end of this year.  Dell is the only company to offer free recycling for consumers and low-cost asset recovery services for business.  You can offset the carbon footprint of the entire life of one of our products with the "Plant a Tree for Me" and "Plant a Forest for Me" programs.  CO2 is still a pretty abstract concept for most people.  One way to think of it is that using an Energy Smart server that consumes 19% less power can save 3,200 watts per rack per year (about $30,000), which eliminates 18 tons of CO2 emissions, which equals about four acres of pine forest.  Please check out our credentials, and our Sustainability Report. 

I also agree with the idea that end user preferences will drive many IT decisions.  IT organizations will govern the directions and architectures, but end users will drive what IT delivers to them as tools.  Tablet PCs, RFID devices, smart phones, email devices, telephony, fax, and other devices will all need to be interconnected.  Users will demand a single identity that travels with them and the ways they use and access information.

In short, we agree with a lot of what's in the TechRepublic article, but differ over the timing.  What do you think? How fast is our IT world changing and in what ways?