Here are some ICT trends for year 2019 picked from various sources (linked to sources) and edited by me:
General: From AI to Moore’s Law, the entire industry is deep in the throes of massive changes. The future will be characterized by smart devices delivering increasingly insightful digital services everywhere. While CPUs continue to evolve, performance is no longer limited to a single processor type or process geometry.
Business: There seems to be a clear evidence from this research that businesses are adopting and looking to capitalise on the benefits of Big Data, the Internet Of Things and Sensor technology for their mobile workforces.
Open source: 2019 Will Be the Year of Open Source in software and even in hardware. We saw more activity in open source than ever before in 2018. And the momentum isn’t likely to slow down in 2019.
Web is mobile: According to the statistics of FICORA, Ofcom, the PC has lost its place as the first device and platform for web browsing. Almost half of the web browses the web with a smart phone, which places a requirement on all online services from shops to news sites.
Multiple devices: As the number of different IT devices continues to grow, there are more and more devices in use at the same time.
Situations and tasks that utilize and use multiple devices together have become commonplace. We need to think how how user interfaces could better support multi-device sharing.
Artificial intelligence: It seems that AI Market Ramps Everywhere. The AI term creates hope for some, fear for others, and confusion for all. Artificial intelligence (AI) is what the Internet of Things was two years ago – overhyped and not very well understood. The obvious shift is the infusion of AI (and its subcategories, machine learning and deep learning) into different markets. It seems that you don’t need to be artificial intelligence wizard anymore to use some AI – at best, implementation can be picked up by GitHub without really understanding anything. AI Still Has Trust Issues for many. There are also views that now hot artificial intelligence is the bubble that broke out last in the 1990s because at present, artificial intelligence and man form a bad cyborg. You need to separate AI Hype From Reality because it seems to be a miraculous thing where almost nobody knows what it is.
AI chips: While GPUs are well-positioned in machine learning, data type flexibility and power efficiency are making FPGAs increasingly attractive. Today, selling custom chips for artificial intelligence is still a small business. Intel, the largest manufacturer of computer processors, has appraised the current market at $2.5 billion, one half of one percent of the estimated value of the 2018 global semiconductor market. At a press event at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, Intel announced the Nervana Neural Network Processor (NNP-I), an AI chip for inference-based workloads that fits into a GPU-like form factor. Google and NXP advance artificial intelligence with the Edge TPU.
AI-driven development: AI-driven development looks at tools, technologies and best practices for embedding AI into applications and using AI to create AI-powered tools for the development process.
Huge data: It seems that It’s All About The Data. Data creation, management and processing always have been a winning business formula. It takes lots of data to train AI systems and IoT systems generate a lot of data.Data scientists now have increasing amounts of data to prepare, analyze and group — and from which to draw conclusions. The entire tech industry has changed in several fundamental ways over the past year due to the massive growth in data. Many data science tasks will be automated. Hardware and software are no longer the starting points for technology design. It’s now about data processing, flow and throughput.
Digital twins: A digital twin is a digital representation that mirrors a real-life object, process or system. Digital twins can also be linked to create twins of larger systems, such as a power plant or city. The idea of a digital twin is not new but is has become hot when AI and IoT were added to the mix.
Power consumption: Globally, ICT today consumes 8% of all electricity and doubles every year. I think we needs new semiconductor technologies and maybe also more optimized software that does more but consumes less power.
Memories: DRAM market growth stops in 2019. GDDR6 and HBM2 impacts system design. There is disparity between the different types of DRAM, from GDDR to HBM.
Faster storage: Apacer has CFexpress card, which supports PCIe and the new NVMe 1.3 protocol, transfers data at a rate of two gigabytes per second.
Heterogeneous architectures: Need for increased computing power requires new multi-processor architectures (hybrid processors). Heterogeneous design is changing the starting point for chip design so that integration is now more the real challenge rather than the processor core. Many ARM processors already use hybrid architecture. Intel has unveiled a new Foveros architecture that addresses the challenge of Arm processors.
Immersive technologies: Users can interact with the world with immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR). AR brings new possibilities. A smart space is a physical or digital environment in which humans and technology-enabled systems interact in increasingly open, connected, coordinated and intelligent ecosystems.
Open hardware: Can RISC-V – Linux of Microprocessors – Start an Open Hardware Renaissance? RISC-V is an open source processor command set that can be used with the same principles as Linux code. RISCV is now being firmly linked to Linux as the Linux Foundation and the RISC-V Foundation have agreed to work together to promote open code development and RISC-V deployment. For the first time, Arm architecture will be a serious challenger in millions, even billions of embedded devices. Companies like Hi-Five, NVIDIA and WDplan to release product with RISC-V in them. This year RISC-V does not compete with traditional CPUs on PCs. Also MIPS hardware architecture is opening up.
Containers: Is Kubernetes the new application server? If you thought there was a lot of chatter about Kubernetes in 2018, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Software robotics: Software robotics becomes widely available. Robot Framework will be important on this.
Intel processors: Intel Announces Faster Processors Patched for Meltdown and Spectre, New Intel Architectures and Technologies Target Expanded Market Opportunities. Intel Demonstrates 10nm-based PCs, Data Center and Networking Systems, Next-Gen ‘Sunny Cove’ Architecture with AI and Crypto Acceleration, and 3D Logic Chip Packaging Technology. 5 Observations From Intel’s Event article says that mysterious locations, codenames and process delays are on the top of the list. Intel’s Foveros Lakefield technology for making smaller chips.
AMD processors: Ryzen mobile processors would begin showing up in ultrathin and gaming laptops by the end of the first quarter. AMD starts to use 7nm technology: Radeon VII GPU will be available and it is promised to be 27% to 62% faster, third-generation Ryzen desktop processor and second-generation EPYC server processor will be available starting later this year. AMD is challenging Intel in Chromebooks with A-Series CPUs and launching Ryzen Mobile 3000-Series chips with 2nd-generation Ryzen Mobile parts.
ARM processors: Taking aim at Intel, Qualcomm launches chip for business PCs. The Snapdragon 8cx series is Qualcomm’s first chip specifically designed for computers. Qualcomm’s pitch is that laptops using its chips will go days without needing to be plugged in, and will always be connected to the internet via cellular networks. The Snapdragon 8cx is also the world’s first 7-nanometer PC processor platform and promises superior performance for laptop. Intel’s position on laptops is very strong and Qualcomm has a big hill to get up if it really wants to challenge Intel’s PC side. Huawei Rolls 7nm ARM Server CPU Kunpeng 920 that is said to outperform ThunderX2, Ampere by 25%. Rumors are circulating that Apple will obsolete x86-based computers in favor of its own SoC-powered successors.
NVIDIA: RTX 2060 GPU was introduced. GeForce RTX™ graphics cards are powered by the Turing GPU architecture and the all-new RTX platform. This promises to give you up to 6X the performance of previous-generation graphics cards and brings the power of real-time ray tracing and AI to your favorite games. GeForce RTX 20 Series GPUs to gaming laptops.
Microsoft hardware: Microsoft reportedly working on Xbox and Windows webcams for 2019.
Windows security: Microsoft officially announces ‘Windows Sandbox’ for running applications in isolation.Microsoft’s coming ‘Windows Sandbox’ feature is a lightweight virtual machine that allow users to run potentially suspicious software in isolation. It could debut in Windows 10 19H1,
Storage: NVMe Hits a Tipping Point. A show dedicated to NVM Express (NVMe) next month solidifies an industry-wide sentiment that the host controller interface and storage protocol hit a tipping point in the last year. It is expected that we’re going to see the majority of new products coming out with NVMe. There are already relatively young NVM Express Over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) specification and even some hard disk enclosures using NVMe.
Fibre channel: Broadcom Nudges Fibre Channel to 64G using 64G optical modules (just starting to sample) and PCIe Gen 4 connections that are not yet generally available on x86 servers.
Faster PCIe:PCIe 4.0 is ready. The PCISIG organization has completed the new 4.0 version of the PCIe bus, and now the technology is expected to be deployed on the devices. It is possible to to get the full PCIe 4.0 speed with both copper and fiber. It seems that this year PCIe 4.0 comes to wider us for x86 servers.
FPGA: FPGA Graduates To First-Tier Status because FPGAs are better for certain types of computation than CPUs or GPUs.While GPUs are well-positioned in machine learning, data type flexibility and power efficiency are making FPGAs increasingly attractive.
Enterprise software:Legacy enterprise applications and software systems have a reputation for being clunky, expensive, and almost impossible to keep up to date. Rethink your enterprise software systems and consider whether cloud-based options like SaaS may better serve your needs. Office 365 is massively successful. AWS services are running the backend of thousands of major companies now. As internet connections and speeds increase, the cloud becomes more and more viable as it is more cost effective to centralize computer hardware reducing costs for companies and employee overhead.
Windows 10: Microsoft is building a Chromium-powered web browser that will replace Edge on Windows 10. Microsoft could be preparing to ditch the EdgeHTML layout engine of its unloved Edge browser in Windows 10 in favour of Chromium. Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is improved. Microsoft new Windows 10 reserves ~7GB of disk space for updates, apps, and more to ensure critical OS functions always have space.
Light Windows: Microsoft is working on Windows Lite, a super lightweight, instant on, always connected OS that runs only PWAs and UWP apps, to challenge Chrome OS. Microsoft’s ‘Centaurus’ device is yet another potential piece of its Chromebook-compete strategy.
Coding for Windows: Microsoft has released a public preview of Visual Studio 2019 for Windows and Mac. Microsoft open sources its most popular Windows UX frameworks and says the first preview of .NET Core 3.0 is now available — Microsoft is open sourcing WPF, Windows Forms and Win UI via GitHub.
Quantum computing: Quantum computing is a type of nonclassical computing that is based on the quantum state of subatomic particles that represent information as elements denoted as quantum bits or “qubits.” Quantum computers are an exponentially scalable and highly parallel computing model. They can work well on some specific tasks suitable for them, but are not suitable for most generic computing tasks we are used to.
Blockchain: Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger, an expanding chronologically ordered list of cryptographically signed, irrevocable transactional records shared by all participants in a network. It can work with untrusted parties without the need for a centralized party (i.e., a bank). Businesses should begin evaluating the technology to see if it fits their business or not. You need to separate Blockchain hype from Reality because it seems to be a potentially miraculous thing where almost nobody knows exactly what it is to what it is good for. Check this related Dilbert comic.
Related predictions and trends articles:
Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019
Virtual reality implementation: observations and predictions
5 IT job trends to watch in 2019 – because success starts with talent
Digital transformation reality check: 10 trends
These are the 15 best US tech companies to work for in 2019, according to Glassdoor
786 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Time for Apple to dump Intel
https://www.zdnet.com/article/time-for-apple-to-dump-intel/
Intel’s revelation that it won’t have 7-nanometer processors ready until 2021 should be a wakeup call for Apple.
Intel has been stuck in a bit of a quagmire as of late. It’s 10-nanometer processors have experienced delays, while the CEO admits that it won’t have 7-nanometer parts to compete with AMD out until 2021.
I wonder how Apple – one of Intel’s flagship customers – feels about this.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/big-data-keeps-getting-bigger/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://medium.com/better-programming/object-oriented-programming-the-trillion-dollar-disaster-%EF%B8%8F-92a4b666c7c7
Alisa says:
Play free online games at https://yaksgames.com/.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-to-explore-using-rust/?ftag=COS-05-10aaa0h&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_content=5d306db80ca7240001cba6af&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://publiccode.eu/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/internet/how-the-youtube-era-made-cloud-gaming-possible
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/22/google-cloud-makes-it-easier-to-set-up-continuous-delivery-with-spinnaker/?tpcc=ECFB2019
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-to-check-open-ports-in-linux-using-the-cli/
Tomi Engdahl says:
System admin
https://opensource.com/article/19/7/sysadmin-best-practices?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to explain service mesh in plain English
https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2019/6/service-mesh-plain-english
As people continue to scale and automate containers and microservices, you’ll hear a lot about service mesh. What exactly are the benefits? Here’s how to break it down, even to non-techies
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rust in peace: Memory bugs in C and C++ code cause security issues so Microsoft is considering alternatives once again
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/18/microsoft_rust_security/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build cross platform desktop apps with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
https://electronjs.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/debian-ubuntu-linux-reinstall-a-package-using-apt-get-command/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-execute-cron-job-after-system-reboot/
https://crontab.guru/#0_0,12_1_*/2_
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/install-speedtest-cli-on-centos-redhat-fedoa-scientific-to-measure-internetspeed/
Tomi Engdahl says:
DOJ Targets Silicon Valley Tech Companies in Antitrust Probe
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/DOJ-Targets-Silicon-Valley-Tech-Companies-in-Antitrust-Probe-513121261.html
The Department of Justice on Tuesday announced it will launch an investigation to determine if some tech companies have become too powerful.
No companies were cited by name, but three Silicon Valley giants — Facebook, Google and Apple — are believed to be at the center of the inquiry.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Justice Department opens sweeping anti-trust investigation into whether major tech firms such as Facebook, Google and Amazon are monopolies that harass customers and hinder competition
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7278547/FTC-say-Facebook-misled-users-privacy.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
INTEL PREPARES TO GRAFT GOOGLE’S BFLOAT16 ONTO PROCESSORS
https://www.nextplatform.com/2019/07/15/intel-prepares-to-graft-googles-bfloat16-onto-processors/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Justice Department opens sweeping anti-trust investigation into whether major tech firms such as Facebook, Google and Amazon are monopolies that harass customers and hinder competition
https://mol.im/a/7278547
Probe will look at whether their online platforms have hurt competition, suppressed innovation or otherwise harmed consumers
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yes, You Can Write an Awesome Game in Just 10 Lines of Basic
https://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/tools-toys/yes-you-can-write-an-awesome-game-in-just-10-lines-of-basic
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://frontendmasters.com/books/front-end-handbook/2019/
Tomi Engdahl says:
g4u – Harddisk Image Cloning for PCs
http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/
g4u (“ghosting for unix”) is a NetBSD-based bootfloppy/CD-ROM that allows easy cloning of PC harddisks to deploy a common setup on a number of PCs using FTP. The floppy/CD offers two functions. The first is to upload the compressed image of a local harddisk to a FTP server, the other is to restore that image via FTP, uncompress it and write it back to disk. Network configuration is fetched via DHCP. As the harddisk is processed as an image, any filesystem and operating system can be deployed using g4u. Easy cloning of local disks as well as partitions is also supported.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Make an RGB cube with Python and Scribus
https://opensource.com/article/19/7/rgb-cube-python-scribus
Create a 3D cube that shows the RGB color spectrum with Scribus’ Python Scripter capability.
Tomi Engdahl says:
32-bit life support: Cross-compiling with GCC
https://opensource.com/article/19/7/cross-compiling-gcc?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
Tomi Engdahl says:
What happened to the sharing economy?
https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/31/what-happened-to-the-sharing-economy/?tpcc=ECFB2019
A generation of startups now look more like the traditional companies they were disrupting
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.cnet.com/news/intels-10th-gen-laptop-chip-names-make-my-brain-hurt/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-some-developers-at-strong-companies-like-Google-consider-Agile-development-to-be-nonsense
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is such a hit it almost outsold Intel’s entire CPU range
https://www.techradar.com/news/amd-ryzen-7-3700x-is-such-a-hit-it-almost-outsold-intels-entire-cpu-range
The latest stats from German retailer Mindfactory (as highlighted on Reddit) for the month of July show that AMD sold an incredible 79% of all processor units, compared to 21% for Intel.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How tech companies compare at protecting your digital rights
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/06/how-tech-companies-compare-at-protecting-your-digital-rights/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google and Twitter are using AMD’s new EPYC Rome processors in their datacenters
https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/07/google-and-twitter-are-using-amds-new-epyc-rome-processors-in-their-datacenters/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mueller Was Right: Read The New Senate Report On Russian Technology Meddling In U.S. Elections
https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveandriole/2019/08/01/mueller-was-right-read-the-new-senate-report-on-russian-technology-meddling-in-us-elections/?utm_source=FACEBOOK&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Valerie/#32870f9b1ff2
Tomi Engdahl says:
pGina
http://pgina.org/
pGina is a pluggable, open source credential provider (and GINA) replacement. It allows for alternate methods of interactive user authentication and access management on machines running the Windows operating system.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intro to Corteza, an open source alternative to Salesforce
https://opensource.com/article/19/8/corteza-open-source-alternative-salesforce
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://pentestmag.com/how-i-hacked-into-your-corporate-network-using-your-own-anti-virus-agent/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why fear of failure is a silent DevOps virus
In the context of software development, fail fast is innocuous to DevOps.
https://opensource.com/article/19/8/why-fear-failure-silent-devops-virus
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://m.majorgeeks.com/files/details/iobit_toolbox.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cultivated data is the next Gold Rush
https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/08/cultivated-data-is-the-next-gold-rush/?tpcc=ECFB2019
I define “cultivated data” as existing data (i.e. ERP data, Google Analytics, public health data, inventory data) that is analyzed and developed into a more usable form than it was before. This doesn’t have to be the complex data sets using inordinate amounts of computing power that signifies “big data,” but approaches and techniques to data sets that previously weren’t utilized. Cultivated data isn’t always about volume, variety or velocity of data — it’s more important for the output to be relevant and actionable.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ina Fried / Axios:
AMD CEO talks about plans to quickly ramp up production of EPYC server chips, launched this week, and sustaining the advantage created by Intel’s stumbles
AMD CEO Lisa Su discusses her company’s resurgence
https://www.axios.com/amd-lisa-su-interview-chipmaking-intel-6fcf82cf-4915-41fa-81d3-1c67b35d8d00.html
With Intel struggling to get to the next generation of chipmaking technology, AMD has an opportunity to gain some ground on its longtime rival.
The latest: AMD chief executive Lisa Su says that’s why she wants to quickly ramp up production of the EPYC server chip, which launched this week. At the same time, she says AMD’s long-term success can’t be predicated on Intel’s stumbles.
“I am counting on our competitor being really, really good. That just means we need to be better.”
— Lisa Su
Where it stands: At the moment, analysts say AMD is set to put a lot of pressure on Intel, including in the profitable data center business where AMD’s new chips appear to outperform Intel’s while costing significantly less.
Yes, but: For all its current success — and it is gaining ground on Intel — AMD recently cut its financial outlook for the year. Su blames that on lower expectations for the game console industry’s performance this year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nick Heath / ZDNet:
Interview with Python creator Guido van Rossum on Python’s creation in the 1980s, its evolution, draw for developers, and future
Python is eating the world: How one developer’s side project became the hottest programming language on the planet
https://cutt.ly/cwirDQA
Frustrated by programming language shortcomings, Guido van Rossum created Python. With the language now used by millions, Nick Heath talks to van Rossum about Python’s past and explores what’s next.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 7 support timebomb: 76% of NHS PCs not on Windows 10 despite looming deadline
Just over one million computers in the NHS are still using Windows 7.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-7-timebomb-with-less-than-six-months-until-support-ends-76-of-nhs-computers-not-yet-on-windows-10/
With less than half a year to go before support ends for Windows 7, about three-quarters of computers in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) are still running the OS.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows 10: Has Microsoft cleaned up its update mess? (Spoiler: no)
https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-has-microsoft-cleaned-up-its-update-mess/
Four years after the debut of “Windows as a service,” Microsoft continues to tweak the Windows Update for Business rules. And if you don’t know how to play the game, you’re likely to be surprised with unexpected updates.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Cray, which is in the process of being bought by HPE, wins contract to make a $600M supercomputer for the US DoE, for 3D simulations, nuclear weapons research — Seattle-based supercomputer maker Cray has been tapped to develop a new $600 million system for the U.S. Department of Energy …
Cray to develop insanely fast $600M ‘El Capitan’ supercomputer for U.S. nuclear simulations
https://www.geekwire.com/2019/cray-develop-insanely-fast-600m-el-capitan-supercomputer-u-s-nuclear-simulations/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft’s Windows is falling apart, says Google (and Bill Nye)
https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-windows-is-falling-apart-says-google-and-bill-nye/?ftag=COS-05-10aaa0h&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_content=5d52ece86f0c9700014b11e5&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
Windows is old and tired. Switch to a Chromebook. This is the new jaunty, Bill Nye-fronted message now coming from Google.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://about.gitlab.com/2019/08/08/built-in-ci-cd-version-control-secret/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_campaign=ghcmp&utm_content=cicdblog&_bf=6145374369471
Tomi Engdahl says:
9 open source cloud native projects to consider
https://opensource.com/article/19/8/cloud-native-projects
Work with containers? Get familiar with these projects from the Cloud Native Computing Foundation
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://blog.paessler.com/8-reasons-why-documentation-is-vital-for-your-it-environment
Tomi Engdahl says:
2019 Global Developer Report: DevSecOps
https://about.gitlab.com/developer-survey/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_campaign=2019developerreport&_bf=6143610875071
Tomi Engdahl says:
The renaissance of silicon will create industry giants
https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/15/the-renaissance-of-silicon-will-create-industry-giants/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A comprehensive guide to agile project management
https://opensource.com/article/19/8/guide-agile-project-management
Agile project management’s 12 guiding principles can help your team move faster together.