5 Technologies To Watch

Solution providers say they expect to see a significant increase in their use of Web services to integrate applications within and beyond the enterprise this year. Emerging companies such as Iona Technologies, Sonic Software and SpiritSoft are offering low-cost EAI software based on Web services standards. And research firms such as ZapThink are making eye-popping forecasts. ZapThink predicts the market for integrating systems using Web services will grow to about $6.2 billion in 2006 from $435 million in 2001.

>> STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION <<
Storage virtualization,the ability to treat storage array capacity as a pool that can be cut up and allocated as needed,has traditionally resided on the storage device or on the server. But in 2003, watch for virtualization to move into the storage network, allowing multiple servers to share storage and allocate storage resources across multiple arrays, says Carolyn DiCenzo, a Gartner Dataquest analyst.

That move has been slow in coming. In 2000, Compaq Computer billed its VersaStor network virtualization technology as hot, but no VersaStor product has shipped yet. Instead, the new year will see smaller companies such as DataCore Software and FalconStor Software continue to develop their storage virtualization software and those such as StoreAge Networking Technologies and Topio to build their software into appliances.

This year could also see more virtualization-related acquisitions as a follow-on to Sun Microsystems' purchase of Pirus Systems in September and Hewlett-Packard's acquisition of StorageApps in July 2001. Storage networking switch vendors Brocade Communications Systems, with its buy of Rhapsody Networks in November, and Cisco Systems, through a relationship with Veritas Software, also have plans to put virtualization into their switches.

>> CONTENT MANAGEMENT <<
Move over, data management. Content management, a term that has been expanding to embrace everything from document imaging to portal software, could become a top growth area in the software industry this year. Content management consistently turns up among the top IT spending priorities in surveys, and the maturing of Web services architecture will enable enterprises to build out their content management infrastructures, says Kenneth Chin, a Gartner analyst.

One sign of things to come has been the flurry of acquisitions. IBM and Documentum both acquired developers of records management software, a growth area spurred on by the Enron fiasco and a host of new government rules. And Vignette snapped up portal vendor Epicentric. "There will probably be fewer vendors and more customers," Chin says of the coming year.

>> WIRELESS HOT SPOTS <<
The lack of a cohesive, cost-effective wireless WAN service in the United States is giving rise to a new alternative: wireless hot spots. The hot spots,access points that wirelessly link mobile users to the Internet at speeds starting at 2 Mbps to 3 Mbps,dwarf anything the wireless carriers can put together today. They are also cheaper, with service fees averaging about $8 a day and $20 a month.

Backers of the technology read like a who's who of technology heavyweights. Intel, IBM and AT&T Wireless last month joined to form a hot-spot network. Earthlink founder Sky Dayton launched Boingo Wireless to stitch together a network of hot-spot locales across the United States. And T-Mobile maintains a high-profile deal with Starbucks coffee shops. The list goes on.

Yankee Group projects hot-spot services revenue will significantly increase next year, jumping to $82.3 million from $9.18 million in 2002. "We see wireless hot spots as a significant opportunity," says Dan Elliott, vice president of mobile technologies at solution provider CompuCom Systems, Dallas. Elliott says CompuCom is talking with retail and food service customers about providing hot-spot services through Toshiba Computer Systems Group.

>> IDENTITY MANAGEMENT <<
In the era of distributed applications and Web services, a secure identity management infrastructure is becoming critical. Without it, companies cannot risk exposing sensitive account information to customers or giving partners access to internal information. Nor will they enjoy the cost benefits of Web services.

That is why research firms, which increasingly refer to access, authentication and authorization as the "three A's," place security identity management among the fastest-growing segments of the security market. IDC expects sales of identity management software to reach $9.4 billion by 2005.

"In the world we are entering, one person will be able to access sensitive systems, Web services and applications from many devices, from any location. The distinction between 'inside the firewall' and 'outside the firewall' ends," says Scott Silk, senior vice president of sales and marketing at ePresence, a Westborough, Mass.-based security and identity management solution provider.