20 To Watch: 5 Technologies

20 To Watch: 5 Technologies

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By CRN Staff

CRN

10:09 AM EST Fri. Jan. 02, 2004

A year ago, even some of the most technically savvy had never heard of Web services management software. But in early 2003, the technology, which orchestrates how Web services are routed and accessed in a service-oriented architecture, came into vogue.

Vendors that didn’t have it wanted it, and those that did flaunted it. Hewlett-Packard, Computer Associates International and webMethods gobbled up niche Web services management players Talking Blocks, Adjoin and The Mind Electric, respectively.

Microsoft flirted with acquiring a company, and IBM and BEA Systems supported strategies to provide Web services management in their software. Add those vendors to a host of niche players—including Amberpoint, Confluent, Actional, Infravio and Digital Evolution—and the race to ferret out a strong position in the market became more frantic than a hyperactive terrier.

Expect the Web services management market to gather more steam in 2004, as well as consolidate further, analysts and solution providers predict. Research firm ZapThink projects that the market will grow to $13 billion by 2007 from $35 million in 2003 --Elizabeth Montalbano

Ask a network administrator which category identity management fits into, and most likely you’ll hear “security.” Meanwhile, a plethora of IT purists are pushing to have identity management recognized as a network management technology. But not so fast: A myriad of security issues arise when identity management solutions are not implemented.

This argument is sure to heat up in 2004, but no matter which camp finally lays claim to identity management, solution providers will benefit. Besides generating increased productivity, identity management will be a key requirement for complying with a slew of new federal security and privacy regulations. Research firm IDC expects the market to reach nearly $4 billion by 2007, up from $593 million in 2002. --Charlene O'Hanlon

When Wal-Mart talks, the retail industry listens. And Wal-Mart has spoken in the matter of Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, tags for inventory management.

Beginning in January 2005, the retail giant will require suppliers to place the tags on all pallets and cases. The Department of Defense, also interested in improving inventory management, will require its suppliers to start using RFID on at least cases and pallets in the same time frame.

What’s got those in the inventory management world so enthusiastic about the tiny devices, which can be embedded in everything from pallets to products to employee IDs, is the ability to obtain information wirelessly without having to open a box or even scan the package with a reader. That’s a step up from bar-code tags, which must be manually scanned by an employee.

Solution providers already have begun adding support for RFID into custom software, and others have been looking at the technology to track important inventory, such as radioactive materials in health-care settings.

The technology, however, has detractors. Consumer advocates are up in arms over potential privacy concerns. Michael Liard, a Venture Development analyst, also notes compatibility issues remain an inhibiting factor in the near term and believes RFID won’t immediately replace bar codes in the hearts and minds of retailers.

“Many companies will be developing bar-code-and-RFID strategies, not bar-code-to-RFID strategies,” he says. --Kristen Kenedy

Automated server provisioning tools should sizzle in 2004 as businesses act to improve server utilization and move toward utility computing.

Sun Microsystems and Veritas Software are offering software that can copy images to servers, bringing them online and offline as needed for specific tasks. And Hewlett-Packard has made the capability available for its blade servers.

A related technology, server virtualization software, yields similar results by enabling a single server to be configured as multiple virtual servers. It is being offered by VMware (EMC in December unveiled plans to acquire the company) and is slated to be offered by Microsoft.

Both technologies will be more automated in the future, becoming key first steps toward utility computing as well as critical to managing data centers, solution providers say. “If someone comes in and says they need a Sarbanes-Oxley server, we can just load the software, and we ‘automagically’ have on-demand provisioning,” says Mitch Kleinman, executive vice president and general manager of Computer Configuration Services, Irvine, Calif., a VMware partner.
--Joseph F. Kovar

A growing field of vendors are unveiling wireless devices that enable audio, video and image files stored on a PC to be played back on television and audio systems. The devices could give new meaning to home networking and offer new opportunities for solution providers mulling the home networking market.

While these devices are billed as plug-and-play, many consumers will find the out-of-box experience frustrating and require help. And solution providers will be able to bundle solutions that include networking gear, storage and various digital devices.

“Right now, the opportunities are in the audio/video system because that is the flashiest, sexiest area for consumers to recognize—making your audio/video system digitally aware,” says Chris Kaminski, president of FutureHome Guild, a Ferndale, Mich.-based network of home integrators.

SMC Networks, Hauppauge Digital, Pinnacle Systems, Linksys, Gateway and Hewlett-Packard are among the companies that have launched products in the $150 to $250 price range.
--Marie Lingblom & Russell Redman

Published for the Week Of January 5, 2004