Intelligent Enterprise

The promise of a fresh start, a new leaf, new projects, and maybe, just maybe, not repeating the mistakes and bad habits of the previous year is appealing, isn't it? We asked readers and industry luminaries what they plan/hope to do differently and predict will happen in the coming year. Here are some of their answers.

A new look for Google, the Web itself, and search in general: "Google will have a facelift, as it is starting to look a little 1970’s, all flairs and mullets," offers Graeme McCracken, COO of Reed Business Search. "The Semantic Web will start to become more real to people through sites like Flickr and YouTube, and vertical search will become increasingly important as users want better, more specialized answers."

Increased security and stability: At Ithaca College, Marco Cestaro, data warehouse administrator, says his top three priorities for 2007 are: first, stabilize BI offerings; second, improve network/system security; and third, enhance business continuity plans.

An abundance of open source: Jason Billingsley, vice president at Elastic Path Software, says, "In accordance with our open source heritage (90% of our enterprise ecommerce platform is based on open source components), we are drinking the Kool-Aid and moving everyone in the company to Open Office. I think the fact this is even an option is validation of the strides open source software has made into the enterprise. People will switch from Microsoft Office to Open Office...and I think to myself, what a wonderful world."

More mobile workers. Vettro builds mobile applications so naturally its CEO, Joe Rymsza, champions the idea of computing on the move. "Mobile workers kick into a different mindset when they're in the field," he says. "Goal-oriented, execution-driven, they have zero time for bulky form-factors like laptops (even if they're wirelessly enabled). They need to accelerate access to relevant data in ways that aren't optimized by traditional mobile WAP pages. Perusing app A, then app B, then app C to gather all the necessary bits of data for a job doesn't cut it for speed, efficiency or productivity. Mobility is getting faster, easier to deploy, and more additive to the bottom line all the time." He's starting a new blog, On the Move with Joe Rymsza, first thing next year.

Fewer relational databases. Dave Kellogg, CEO of Mark Logic, says his primary goal for 2007 is to "exploit the huge opportunity created by the failure of WinFS [a data storage and management system based on relational databases]. Office 7 will bring XML file formats and, thanks to the failure of WinFS, Microsoft has nowhere to put them (that will leverage their XML structure)." He wants to convince the world that not all information needs to be stored in a relational database and help people see the coming bifurcation between general-purpose, relational DBMSs and special-purpose DBMSs designed and optimized for specific applications: streams, XML, documents, warehouses, and messaging, for example. His tongue-in-cheek goal? "To win in the category-version-number one-upmanship game by creating database 4.0 as a meme, bypassing the database 2.0 meme and one-upping the easily anticipated database 3.0."

Our January issue cover story offers Intelligent Enterprise editors' take on trends and technologies that will rise in importance in 2007.

And here's what Henry Wadsworth Longfellow suggested about an impending new year: "Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear, and with a manly heart."

Have a good holiday and a peaceful, happy new year. Comments? Write me at pcrosman@cmp.com.