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
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Are DevOps certifications valuable? 10 pros and cons
https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2019/6/devops-certifications-valuable-10-pros-cons
DevOps is all about culture – and you can’t certify that. But recruiters say some certifications do help you get hired. Let’s examine the ups and downs of DevOps certifications
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BIOS simulator center
https://download.lenovo.com/bsco/index.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Explains Why 800 Million Windows 10 Users Can’t Auto Backup Registry
https://fossbytes.com/microsoft-tells-windows-10-users-cant-auto-backup-registry/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The state of open source translation tools for contributors to your project
https://opensource.com/article/19/6/translation-platforms-matter
There are almost 100 languages with more than 10 million speakers. How many of your active contributors speak one?
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://lugge.wikidot.com/ocr-on-line-services
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Microsoft Releases New Windows Terminal On Windows Store; Download Now
https://fossbytes.com/microsoft-releases-new-windows-terminal-on-windows-store-download-now/
You can access the traditional cmd line, PowerShell, and the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), all at one place, through the new Windows Terminal.
Please note that you will need Windows 10 version 18362 to use the new Windows Terminal. So make sure that you have this build number associated with the May 2019 Update or you have a Windows Insider build installed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Keeping personal data personal with database sanitization
https://www.anders.fi/en/blog/keeping-personal-data-personal-with-database-sanitization/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=ad&utm_campaign=sanitization&utm_content=frank
We made a sanitization tool for your database dumps so that you can worry less about dumping data and more about fixing things.
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Test a new operating system
Welcome to DistroTest.net
https://distrotest.net/
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NSA Starts Contributing Low-Level Code to UEFI BIOS Alternative
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nsa-contributes-low-level-stm-coreboot,39704.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to use to infrastructure as code
https://opensource.com/article/19/7/infrastructure-code
As your servers and applications grow, it becomes harder to maintain and keep track of them if you don’t treat your infrastructure as code.
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Data: The next great resource
https://www.home.sandvik/en/news-and-media/stories/articles/2018/02/data-the-next-great-resource/
Industry 4.0 is the next phase in digitalization. It is driven by a sharp rise in data volumes, computational power and connectivity, the emergence of analytics and business-intelligence capabilities, new forms of human-machine interaction and improvements in transferring digital instructions to the physical world, such as advanced robotics and 3D printing, according to consulting company McKinsey.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Communication: how to be a better software developer
https://medium.com/techspiration-ideas-making-it-happen/communication-how-to-be-a-better-software-developer-869c50767701
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/
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https://fossbytes.com/google-open-sources-robots-txt-robot-exclusion-protocol/
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https://fossbytes.com/intel-launches-free-one-click-tool-to-overclock-your-cpu-boost-pc-performance/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amazon Found Every 100ms of Latency Cost them 1% in Sales
https://www.gigaspaces.com/blog/amazon-found-every-100ms-of-latency-cost-them-1-in-sales/
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Sysadmin vs SRE: What’s the difference?
https://opensource.com/article/19/7/sysadmins-vs-sres?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
Both sysadmins and site reliability engineers are valuable parts of any organization. Here’s a look at each role differs.
In the IT world, there has always been a pull between generalist and specialist. The stereotypical sysadmin falls in the generalist category 99 times out of 100. The site reliability engineer (SRE) role is specialized, however, and grew out of the needs of one of the first companies to know real scale: Google. Ultimately, these two roles have the same goal for the applications whose infrastructure they operate: providing a good experience for the applications’ consumers. Yet, these roles have drastically different starting points.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What is an SRE and how does it relate to DevOps?
The SRE role is common in large enterprises, but smaller businesses need it, too.
https://opensource.com/article/18/10/sre-startup
Tomi Engdahl says:
It is done now. IBM Closes Acquisition of Red Hat for $34B https://www.redhat.com/en/about/press-releases/ibm-closes-landmark-acquisition-red-hat-34-billion-defines-open-hybrid-cloud-future #Linux #OpenSource
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Brings Back PowerToys for Windows 10
https://uk.pcmag.com/news-analysis/120830/microsoft-brings-back-powertoys-for-windows-10
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://uk.pcmag.com/gallery/118748/tech-that-will-probably-die-in-2019
Tomi Engdahl says:
3 Tools to Check and Test USB Flash Drive
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-check-and-test-usb-flash-drive/
Windows comes with scandisk or chkdsk which I can use to scan for bad sectors but it lacks any soft of burn-in test or a test to check the true capacity. So here are 3 tools you can use to test the current condition and performance of a USB flash drive.
Check Flash (ChkFlsh) is a very simple flash drive testing and maintaining tool. I have used this tool several times to run a burn in read and write test on USB drives. If the device is able to survive after a few cycles, the USB flash drive should be OK.
RMPrepUSB is a tool which is actually a USB formatting, partitioning and bootloader creation utility as opposed to a USB testing tool. While it’s not meant to be useful for doing a complete read and write scan, it does have a little function that can test your drive to see if there are missing or bad parts and what the actual usable size is.
H2testw is able to test USB flash drives, memory cards and also internal, external and even network hard drives for errors. It simply works by filling the device with 1GB chunks of test data and then verifies it by reading the data back again. Usage is very simple.
Tomi Engdahl says:
All You Need To Know About Angular Latest Version: Angular 8 Feature Updates
https://www.mobileappdaily.com/angular-latest-version
Most prominent JavaScript Framework for mobile and desktop app, unveiled its latest version of Angular 8 with fascinating features.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DevOps for doubters: How to deal with 9 kinds of people who push back
https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2019/7/devops-for-doubters-9-tips
Are certain people clinging to the old ways of working? Here’s how to identify them – and get them on board with your DevOps efforts
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to securely and completely delete files in Windows 10 without third-party software
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-securely-and-completely-delete-files-in-windows-10-without-third-party-software/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fuchsia OS: Everything About Google’s New Operating System
https://www.mobileappdaily.com/google-fuchsia
Google Fuchsia OS is packed with the Ledger system, that store everything in the cloud storage
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ACCESSIBILITY IS A HUMAN RIGHT
https://wunder.io/blog/accessibility-human-right
Many people think that web accessibility is a lot of effort for just 1 % of the population. Or if you don’t have any users with disabilities, you can just ignore it. In reality, accessibility is much more than making the Internet work with screen readers or other assistive technology. It’s about giving everyone equal access to the digital services we’re building.
In fact, everyone benefits from accessible web services. Accessible websites and services are usually easier to use and understand. Who would not want that? Plus accessibility is actually good for businesses too, if they’re aiming to reach as many users as possible.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://tech.eu/features/26904/the-eu-is-about-to-make-the-internet-more-accessible/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Avoid the Trash Heap: 15 Great Uses for an Old PC
https://uk.pcmag.com/features/94383/avoid-the-trash-heap-15-great-uses-for-an-old-pc
Ancient laptops and desktops might seem ready for the scrap heap, but there’s life in them yet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to teach software engineering students about the enterprise
https://opensource.com/article/19/7/enterprise-technology
Start with a solid foundation of polymorphism, object-oriented programming, collections, lambda, and design patterns.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to install Elasticsearch and Kibana on Linux
Get our simplified instructions for installing both.
https://opensource.com/article/19/7/install-elasticsearch-and-kibana-linux
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home> Test-and-measurement Design Center > How To Article
Build an instrument-control library for Python
https://www.edn.com/design/test-and-measurement/4461948/Build-an-instrument-control-library-for-Python
Tomi Engdahl says:
Introduction to cloud-native application environment architecture
https://developers.redhat.com/blog/2019/07/02/introduction-to-cloud-native-application-environment-architecture/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Certifications for DevOps engineers
https://opensource.com/article/19/7/devops-certifications
Tomi Engdahl says:
MTTR is dead, long live CIRT
By focusing on business-impacting incidents, CIRT is a more accurate way to gauge ops performance.
https://opensource.com/article/19/7/measure-operational-performance
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What is Apache Kafka?
https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/integration/what-is-apache-kafka
Apache Kafka is a distributed data streaming platform that can publish, subscribe to, store, and process streams of records in real time. It is designed to handle data streams from multiple sources and deliver them to multiple consumers. In short, it moves massive amounts of data—not just from point A to B, but from points A to Z and anywhere else you need, all at the same time.
Apache Kafka is an alternative to a traditional enterprise messaging system
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.mongodb.com/products/charts
Tomi Engdahl says:
Get going with EtherCalc, a web-based alternative to Google Sheets
https://opensource.com/article/19/7/get-going-ethercalc
EtherCalc is an open source spreadsheet that makes it easy to work remotely and collaborate with others.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Surrogate.tv raises $2 million to bring real-life gaming to the internet
http://blog.surrogate.tv/2019/07/15/surrogate-investment/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Which types of startups are most often profitable?
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/08/which-types-of-startups-are-most-often-profitable/
One answer: E-commerce, Chrome extensions, mobile apps, enterprise SaaS, SMB SaaS — in that order
Tomi Engdahl says:
Understanding software design patterns
Design patterns help eliminate redundant coding. Learn how to use the singleton pattern, factory pattern, and observer pattern using Java.
https://opensource.com/article/19/7/understanding-software-design-patterns
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://opensource.com/article/19/7/what-posix-richard-stallman-explains
Tomi Engdahl says:
10 YAML tips for people who hate YAML
Do you hate YAML? These tips might ease your pain.
https://www.redhat.com/sysadmin/yaml-tips
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows Kernel Debugging & Exploitation Part1 – Setting up the lab
https://voidsec.com/windows-kernel-debugging-exploitation/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kubernetes for workstations and appliances
https://microk8s.io/?utm_source=facebook_ad
A single package of k8s that installs on 41 42 flavours of Linux. Made for developers and great for appliances.
Tomi Engdahl says:
There’s more going on with Microsoft’s Azure and Windows businesses than a cursory look at the company’s latest earnings might indicate.
Microsoft Q4 FY19: Why is Azure ‘slowing’ and Windows growing?
https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-q4-fy19-why-is-azure-slowing-and-windows-growing/?ftag=COS-05-10aaa0h&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_content=5d3116720ca7240001cbaffe&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
Installing five flavours of Linux on my new laptop
I got a very nice new laptop at a very good price, so I wiped Windows and installed Linux on it.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/installing-linux-on-a-new-hp-pavilion-14-laptop/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://opensource.com/19/7/news-july-20
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tech Workers Are Finding Jobs Outside of Traditional Tech
https://spectrum.ieee.org/view-from-the-valley/at-work/tech-careers/tech-jobs-boom-outside-traditional-tech-companies
Tomi Engdahl says:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 BETA: An early look at the new training preview course
https://www.redhat.com/en/events/webinar/red-hat-enterprise-linux-8-beta-early-look-new-training-preview-course