Unfortunately, I can’t read the whole Gartner study (2006 Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle) for the moment, but this ZDNET post by Dion Hinchcliffe (thanks again to Ollie) let me know what’s inside.
The Web 2.0 is considered as one of the three key technologies in next ten years. The Web 2.0 has its most famous expression in blogs , other keywords are: “user-created content, lightweight technology, service-based access and shared revenue models”.
The identified components of the Web 2.0 are (with the rated impact they will have on enterprises):
- Social Network Analysis: “use of information and knowledge from many people and their personal networks”; it will have high impact.
- Ajax: “a collection of techniques that Web developers use to deliver an enhanced, more-responsive user experience in the confines of a modern browser”; it will have high impact.
- Collective intelligence: “an approach to producing intellectual content (such as code, documents, indexing and decisions) that results from individuals working together with no centralized authority”; it will be transformational in long term (5 years, although Dion Hinchcliffe doesn’t agree).
- Mashups: “a lightweight tactical integration of multi-sourced applications or content into a single offering”; it will have moderated impact.
Location-aware technologies (GPS and similar) and applications, with the web, will have a significant impact on our lives, as well as changes in applications architecture. Reports on Hype Cycle say in which stage a technology is, so you may consider if invest on it or wait.
Dion has his theory on the Web 2.0 adoption by an enterpires. Four steps, every steps will give the enterprise more advantages (related to Web 2.0) but requires a bigger effort. Here a brief summary, please read Dion‘s post for more details: Software as a service; Enterprise Mashups and Web Oriented Architectures; Enterprise 2.0; Collective intelligence.
