Thought Exposed

A host of providers including Amazon (AMZN), Salesforce.com (CRM), IBM (IBM), Oracle (ORCL), and Microsoft are helping corporate clients use the Internet to tap into everything from extra server space to software that helps manage customer relationships

An article on BusinessWeek.com posts yet another article of the ‘Cloud Computing’ trend in the technology industry.  The article points to some of the SAS giants in the industry along with exposing the newer growth trends of cloud computing into, ‘Hardware as a Service’ (HAS?).  All these services in their core are “all delivered over the Internet, on demand, from massive data centers”. The article points to Merrrill Lynch’s projection that cloud computing will surge to $95 billion over next three years in the global market. Microsoft (‘Software-plus-Services’), HP, and Dell are already moving forward aggressively to provide such computing in the cloud to its public and corporate customers.   In this model a company essecially is outsourcing the physical real-estate, disaster & recovery of data, and maintenance of their technology to third-party.  At the onset this may seem scary, but supporters of cloud computing point to the reduction of $8 out of current $10 in operating costs for maintaining technol ogy.  They also point to an exponential maturity in relaibility of these technologies.  In addition, these technologies provide an a-la-carte pricing model allowing for strict expense control, a very attractive pricing proposition in this economy.  The naysayers on the other side, point to various goverance around ownership of data and complication surrounding such, if hosted on third party systems.  They also point to the virtual nature of such real-estate and the fact that server clusters maintained by 3rd party could not be under rigorous control as their own.   Needless to say this technology is gradually emerging, the enterprise use of this technology currently remain limited to non-vital data systems.  In 2009 this one is a very interesting development to keep a keen eye on, especially, heavy hitting companies like Google, Microsoft, IBM, Dell, HP, and Amazon rapidly getting on the band-wagon.   How Cloud Computing Is Changing the World by Rachael King Related Entries: Cloud Computing to become mainstream in 2009 Other Related Articles: Sun Microsystems Acquires Q-layer To Expand Cloud Computing Offerings In Cloud We Trust Cloud Computing Begins to Gain Traction on Wall Street The Cloud is the New Dotcom  Latest cloud storage hiccups prompts data security questions

An article on mashable.com predicts 5 Web2.0 Business Models with tremendous growth opportunity in 2009. The author starts points to

• ‘Co-Working Spaces’ that lead to reduced cost and increased networking and sharing of intellect. 
• ‘Bootstrapping & Growth Based Business’ where the lack of VCs in current market will force business owners to create growth based plan and go at it on their own with a high risk and low tolerance of failure but also leading to larger share of profit and more control of future of the business in the absence of numerous investors hungry for the profit.
• ‘Collaborative Tools’ will keep travel and logistical expences down while work collaboration and increasing networking is done via tele-video conferencing & collaborative tools for peer design & construction. 
• ‘Idea Marketplaces’ where ideas are generated and sold exposing one’s bootstrap effort to larger organizations for rapidly adding to their services. Making innovation a global proposition. Lastly the author points to 
• ‘Workforce Marketplaces’ a dicey and interesting sector to watch.  Although very cheap labor can be had for grunt work through international sites like, Rent-A-Coder and GetAProgrammer,  american talent can offer the talent and quality. 

  5 Web 2.0 Businesses That Will Thrive in a Down Economy by Mark Hopkins

In a downturn such as this, when nothing is safe, the risk/reward of investing in a new business that you really understand, with people you trust, suddenly looks less out there on the risk curve.

ReadWriteWeb.com publishes an article putting forth the argument that in the current economic times, Real venture capitalists can for some investors, be a very safe asset class to invest on. The author makes the distinction between Real VCs and Momentum VCs, and picking the Real VCs to be the chosen ones to invest on. Calling Reals VCs contrarian, the author states that these VCs invest when most people are scared and sell when everybody is bullish. He compares Warren Buffet as a Real VC hero. The author goes further and compares the traditional safe asset classes that are popular during economic downturns and puts forth the proposition that they are not as safe for investing anymore. Real VC Might Be the Safest Asset Class Today - Bernard Lunn Other Related Articles: VC Dollars Dropped 33 Percent In The Fourth Quarter, Down 8 Percent For All 2008

When customers aren’t buying, tool vendors don’t innovate — so don’t expect many groundbreaking new technologies to debut this year.. and A battered economy will mean tightening belts, changing customer allegiances, and the Web as the platform of choice.

Infoworld.com publishes an article by Fatal Exception’s Neil McAllister laying out his development predictions for 2009. These include further struggles from Microsoft in retooling its image, a more open source mindset for Java, twilight for Sun, the Web as platform of choice, and a dearth of innovation due to dwindling economic prospects.  He also adds that smart companies will realize that “process automation is one of the best ways to reduce costs in any business, making 2009 the ideal time to ‘revisit old software schemes that got shelved back when staffing budgets were flush.” development predictions for 2009 by Neil McAllister

Yahoo and Microsoft will finally strike a search deal, video advertising on the Web isn’t working, retail bankruptcies could actually help e-commerce companies, and that M&A activity will pick up in the second half of 2009 (but the IPO market will be dead until 2010).

An article on Techcruch.com publishes 2009 Technology predictions from J.P Morgan & Barclays Capital analysts. There is a common theme of strategic partnerships and advancements in mobile and search technologies.  The author, Eric Schonfeld, summarizes the predictions from the two analysts. 2009 Tech Prediction Faceoff: J.P Morgan Vs. Barclays Capital - Eric Schonfeld

 ”Your best friend with instant access to all the world’s facts and a photographic memory you’ve seen and know.”  Mayer describes the concept of the ideal search engine

In a post in techradar.com Marissa is described to oversee about 150 product managers with 10-12 product pitches every month (whom each get 10 minutes of her undivided attention), including reviewing about 1000 - 2000 outside projects. Some say she uses rigid process of critiquing and approving new features with a dubbed name “the Marissa Gauntlet”.  She explains her method involves observing the innovation factor mixed with the strength of the project team. This in her mind produces a high degree of success factor for the product and its growth.  Marissa Mayer uses her ‘20 per cent time’ (the time Google apportions its employees for personal projects) to figure out how the search giant can continue to innovate as it builds new products. On the future of Google search engine, She speculates, “Maybe the search engine of the future will know where you’re located,” “Maybe they’ll know what you know already, or what you learned earlier today. Or maybe they’ll fully understand your preferences because you’ve chosen to share that information with us. We aren’t sure which personal signals will be most valuable, but we’re investing in research and experimentation on personalised search now because we think this will be very important later.” ”We really need to harness people’s friends better to understand which news to direct them to, which local events to direct them to… these are all things that we think are intriguing.” Mariss Mayer (Google’s vice president of search products and user experience) o the future of Google by techradar.com Related Article: The Future of Search - Official Google Blog

• Creatively Zig When Everyone is Still Zagging
• Tough Times are a Chance to Reinvent an Industry 

Fanboy.com posts an article that summarizes an interview by film maker Ralph Bakshi. Bakshi gave an interview at Comic Con 2008 on how he survived his talent during the 60’s when the bleak outlook of theatrical animation jeopardized even Disney.  This article does an excellent job in summarizing the talk into currently day application tips.  “Ralph Bakshi - Tips on Surviving in Tough Times” by Michael Pinto

But we’re clearly now at a point where the financial problems of the world will have a big impact on where web technology is headed. Indeed, it looks like we’ve arrived at one of those giant inflexion points - where one web era is usurped by another.

With terms like “now is the time for innovation”, “a re-focus on the bottom line of your business is key”, and “take more advantage of open source technologies and cheaper cloud computing infrastructure”; this article on ReadWriteWeb.com makes its predictions on future of Web technologies in light of the current economic crunch and disasters in the financial markets.  What are your predictions for Web technologies in 2009.  Where do you feel these technologies should invest? “What’s Next after Web 2.0” by Richard MacManus

Techies will re-energize with corporate cloud computing, Netbooks, and welcome change in D.C.

With support from individuals like Google’s central region managing director Jim Lecinski and David Friedman, the central region president of Razorfish, a digital marketing firm owned by Microsoft;  this article published on Suntimes.com; predicts aided by growing business of $300 ultra-portable Netbooks, Cloud Computing to become mainstream in 2009. In such trend “Software as a Service (SaaS)” is predicted to be widely used.  There is prediction of convergence between the IT and energy sectors with support around clean energy from Washington D.C.  Do you agree with these predictions described by the author? “Clouded Hopes for Coming Year” by Brad Spirrison

Despite the troubled state of the economy, 2008 was a year of great change and successful leadership

TGDaily.com publishes an article describing what the author feels to be the Top 10 influencial people in technology. The author cites people like Jonathan Ive of Apple to Bill Gates formerly of Microsoft.  This is a must read for those of us in the techonlogy industry.  “Top 10 People in Technology” by TG Daily Staff