Trends in the New Information Technologies

THE EVOLUTION OF IT

• The impact of Internet standards on internal, supplier/partner and customer relationships, and on the architecture of information systems
• Speed, connectivity and reactivity characterize the new digital economy in a complex world
• New concerns for IT managers
• The evolution towards a world without IT specialists

THE EVOLUTION OF WORKSTATIONS, SERVERS AND OPERATING SYSTEMS

• The evolution of micro-electronics: 64 bits and multi-core
• The race to increase server power and availability: server clusters and virtualization of resources
• The revival of the thin client, in Windows and Linux
• Centralization of storage and data management (ILM)
• Microsoft's product line: the arrival of Vista
• Alternatives to Microsoft, and the status of Linux: the emergence of the WebOS concept
• The rich client and the explosive growth of interfaces based on Ajax
• The increasing success of Open Source software, accompanied by a cautious attitude on the part of managers
• Mobile workstations and intelligent telephones
• Unix: still doing well rather than fading away
• The current state of centralized systems

NETWORKS

• The evolution towards high-speed networks
• The inexorable convergence on IP and the reluctant move to IPv6
• New infrastructure, and the resurgence of fiber optic
• Local networks: Ethernet MAN from end to end, and 10G over twisted pair
• The evolution of cellular networks (2.5G, 3G and 4G)
• Wireless local networks: from the Bluetooth mini-network to Wi-Fi,  WiMAX and Wi-Fi meshed networks
•  The complementary technologies of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, WiMAX, and telephony
• The evolution of ASDL towards ASDL 2 and 2+, the role of cable
• The evolution of quality of service, a prerequisite for all other advances (MPLS)
• IP telephony
• The extraordinary evolution of the Internet, and the proliferation of new types of applications: blogs, wikis, podcasts, videos, and social networking sites

THE EVOLUTION OF APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT – FROM THE FAT CLIENT TO THE OBJECT-BASED RICH CLIENT

• Methodologies: pragmatic, agile approaches
• UML: towards code generation
• From objects to design patterns
• From basic Java components, to beans and then to EJBs: an uneven success
• .NET: Microsoft's ambitions for the server market, and the more professional versions 3.0 and 3.5
• Development platforms: an new model based on Eclipse
• Composite applications: the example of Internet mashups and Web 2.0
• New approaches to the client: Ajax and other forms of dynamic clients
• XML and its evolution
• The new era of distributed data with Web services over the Internet: well-established standards based on XML (SOAP, WSDL and UDDI)
• The careful generalization of service oriented architectures (SOA)
• The indispensable tools for modelling (BPMN, UML CASE) and orchestration (BPEL)
• The application bus: a credible alternative to integrated application suites

INTRANETS: PRODUCTIVITY AND COLLABORATION

• Intranets and their evolution towards dynamic portals
• Document search tools: increasing use of intelligent retrieval strategies
• Content management systems (CMS)
• New approaches to collaboration
• Office applications: Microsoft's traditional suite vs. new forms hosted on the Internet
• Solutions available on the net
• A new model for the workstation takes shape

B2B AND B2C E-COMMERCE

• Prerequisites: confidentiality, transactional integrity and authentication
• The impact of the Internet on B2B and B2C e-commerce
• The decisive contribution of XML, but with proposed standards that are still too fuzzy
• Using supply chain management (SCM) to reconfigure the logistic chain, the arrival of RFID
• The rise of online purchasing with e-procurement
• Disappointing results for horizontal and vertical marketplaces
• The new emphasis on the Front-Office

BUSINESS APPLICATIONS AND SUITES

• The impressive evolution of integrated suites and vertical applications
• Beyond the help desk, tools to foster customer loyalty: customer relationship Management (CRM) and its Internet counterpart, Internet relationship management (IRM)
• New hosting approaches for CRM
• The typology of the major analysis and decision support tools: query tools, multidimensional analysis (hypercubes) and data mining
• Managing the enterprise by means of its information system: CPM, BPM, BAM

ADMINISTERING SYSTEMS, NETWORKS AND SECURITY

• Management of infrastructure, and the primary responsibilities of system administrators (configuration management, remote software distribution, security management, and performance analysis)
• New techniques for delivering applications: virtual packages, streaming
• PRA and activity maintenance
• The increasing importance of directory services based on the LDAP standard
• Innate and unavoidable weaknesses of information systems
• Protection solutions: IDS, IPS, NBA and behavioural analysis
• Viruses, worms, spam and spyware
• The dangerous world of cybercrime: rootkits and botnets
• Biometry: fad or effective technology?

TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND THE IMPACT ON OCCUPATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS

• The linked evolution of technologies and occupations
• Service management and ITIL
• User and client-based orientation
• Reconsidering the relations between the project owner and the contractor
• New business models: offshore and outsourcing
• The evolution of professions, and the decline of occupations that are close to the hardware