At the center of strategic technologies

Week 43, 2011

Gartner’s top 10 strategic technologies for 2012 include:

1. Media Tablets and Beyond,

2. Mobile-Centric Applications and Interfaces,

3. Contextual and Social User Experience,

4. Internet of Things (including NFC),

5. App Stores and Marketplaces,

6. Next-Generation Analytics,

7. Big Data,

8. In-Memory Computing,

9. Extreme Low-Energy Servers,

10. Cloud Computing.

Interestingly, secure transactions are the core or directly involved in all these technologies. Media tablets, Mobile centric applications, Internet of Things, especially as Gartner includes NFC in it, and cloud computing all require strong authentication of users, generally thanks to portable objects such as smart cards and other devices related to the secure transactions industry. Other items in the list also bear relations with our industry.

At a period of the year when companies publish their Q3/2011 results, and start to have a precise anticipation of their 2011 results, also when everyone gets busy in establishing budgets for 2012, seeing ourselves at the core of strategic technologies for next year should bring solace to all of us worried about perspectives in the global economy.

Thierry Spanjaard

Chief Editor

Smart Insights