Gartner's top 10 technology trends for 2018 | SDTimes.com

Photo: Christina Cardoza

"With only a couple more months left of the year, Gartner is already looking ahead to the future. The organization announced its annual top strategic technology trends at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo this week" says Christina Cardoza, formerly known as Christina Mulligan, Online & Social Media Editor of SD Times.

The basis of Gartner’s trends depends on whether or not they have the potential to disrupt the industry, and break out into something more impactful.

The top 10 strategic technology trends, according to Gartner, are:

1. AI foundation: Last year, the organization included artificial intelligence and machine learning as its own trend on the list, but with AI and machine learning becoming more advance, Gartner is looking at how the technology will be integrated over the next five years. “AI techniques are evolving rapidly and organizations will need to invest significantly in skills, processes and tools to successfully exploit these techniques and build AI-enhanced systems,” said David Cearley, vice president and Gartner Fellow. “Investment areas can include data preparation, integration, algorithm and training methodology selection, and model creation. Multiple constituencies including data scientists, developers and business process owners will need to work together.”
2. Intelligent apps and analytics: Continuing with its AI and machine learning theme, Gartner predicts new intelligent solutions that change the way people interact with systems, and transform the way they work.
3. Intelligent things: Last in the AI technology trend area is intelligent things. According to Gartner, these go beyond rigid programming models and exploit AI to provide more advanced behaviors and interactions between people and their environment. Such solutions include: autonomous vehicles, robots and drones as well as the extension of existing Internet of Things solutions.
4. Digital twin: A digital twin is a digital representation of real-world entities or systems, Gartner explains. “Over time, digital representations of virtually every aspect of our world will be connected dynamically with their real-world counterpart and with one another and infused with AI-based capabilities to enable advanced simulation, operation and analysis,” said Cearley. “City planners, digital marketers, healthcare professionals and industrial planners will all benefit from this long-term shift to the integrated digital twin world.”
5. Cloud to the edge: Internet in the Internet of Things has brought up the notion of edge computing. According to Gartner, Edge computing is a form of computing topology that processes, collects and delivers information closer to its source. “When used as complementary concepts, cloud can be the style of computing used to create a service-oriented model and a centralized control and coordination structure with edge being used as a delivery style allowing for disconnected or distributed process execution of aspects of the cloud service,” said Cearley...

To compare, last year’s trends are available here. 
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Source: SDTimes.com