Here Are 10 Emerging Technologies Impacting 2020
Artificial intelligence, 5G and IoT take the top three spots on the latest list.
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The cloud communications provider updated its workstream collaboration platform.
Avaya Spaces now features an enhanced calling capability. For example, customers can manage multiple concurrent calls. IN addition, AI enhancements can create visual overlays for speakers.
Check out Avaya’s press release.
5G’s critical improvements — low latency, intelligent power consumption, high device density and network slicing — make it a breakthrough and great opportunity for the channel, according to CompTIA. It will make possible new experiences, like augmented reality that works anywhere, smart cities that are more efficient, and truly connected cars.
“5G’s effect will take a little longer [than AI] to be seen, but will be no less impactful,” Rice said. “It will provide the increased speed and decreased latency to give other technologies the foundation they need to reach their potential. IoT and ambient computing driven by 5G will allow autonomous vehicles to become a reality. Everything will become more connected, and data that is generated will be collected, processed and analyzed by AI systems at speeds that have heretofore not been possible.”
IoT brings together information from a series of connected devices that allow for the creation of analytics of systems previously difficult to access, CompTIA said.
These platforms, devices and data sets have the potential to provide insights, efficiencies and entirely new business opportunities, it said.
Serverless computing, or function-as-a-service (FaaS), enables organizations to build applications that automatically scale in real time, responding to demand that may change instantaneously by orders of magnitude. FaaS offers a consumption-based platform, allowing developers to quickly and cost effectively deploy applications.
“Serverless mostly refers to an application or API that depends on third-party, cloud-hosted applications and services,” Rice said. “It is all about FaaS platforms. Even though the name serverless suggests that there are no servers involved, there will always be servers in use. Serverless computing essentially represents the advancement of cloud computing and has many of the same characteristics.”
Biometrics are a way to measure a person’s physical characteristics to verify their identity.
“The technology of biometrics is on the verge of exploding with a wide range of both business and consumer applications,” Rice said. “Secure ecosystems will develop that will be both closed and opened to consumers and businesses. Individuals will register for multiple systems with different modes. Open roaming or the ability of people to move seamlessly from one system to another will be enhanced by biometric identification. Users will no longer carry an ID or be required to remember passwords. Biometrics is also in the process of revolutionizing how medical care is monitored and delivered. It will become fundamental to how we care for ourselves and interact with our care providers.”
Mixed reality technologies (AR/VR) are transforming the way we engage with machines, data and each other, CompTIA said. Organizations are using mixed reality, AI and sensor technologies to enhance execution flexibility, operational efficiency and individual productivity.
Blockchain is solving the growing need to secure and manage transactions across the internet as it provides a flexible alternative to centrally managed record keeping, CompTIA said. Distributed ledger technologies have proven valuable in managing data and supply chain challenges.
Robotics are shifting from industrial use to service delivery, and have the potential to create change impacting homes and businesses physically and virtually, according to CompTIA.
Natural language processing (NPL) is new to the list this year. It describes the interaction between human language and computers.
NLP is a field of AI that enables computers to analyze and understand human language, CompTIA said. Speech-to-text converts human language to a programming language, and text-to-speech converts a computer operation to audible response.
Quantum computing also is new to the list this year. This is an area of computing focused on developing computer technology based on the principles of quantum theory.
Quantum computing is the engine that will drive our ability to process and analyze big data and will be the key to leveraging machine learning (ML) and the power of AI, CompTIA said.
Quantum computing also is new to the list this year. This is an area of computing focused on developing computer technology based on the principles of quantum theory.
Quantum computing is the engine that will drive our ability to process and analyze big data and will be the key to leveraging machine learning (ML) and the power of AI, CompTIA said.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has ascended to the top of CompTIA’s latest list of 10 emerging technologies that have the most potential for near-term business impact.
The top technologies on the list shifted only slightly from 2019 to 2020. AI, 5G and IoT take the top three spots. In 2019, IoT was No. 1 followed by AI and 5G.
In 2018, when the CompTIA Emerging Technology Community released its first list, AI ranked third.
Microsoft’s Mike Haines
“We try to place technologies on the list that have a window of opportunity for channel companies of around three years or so,” said Mike Haines, director of partner incentive strategy at Microsoft and chair of the community’s executive council. “The innovation that will be delivered by these technologies when they’re leveraged in tandem will be staggering over the next few years and will enable customer solutions that will actually have paradigm shifting impact for those that act on them. They’ll also provide some great new opportunities for IT companies and IT solution providers that decide to build offers around them.”
List Formed by Research Committee
The community developed the list by forming a subcommittee tasked with researching the technology landscape, assessing the marketplace, and determining if an emerging technology had near-term opportunity for solution providers.
“It’s the view of this community, but it fosters great discussion,” Haines said. “It becomes a good vehicle for channel companies to use to assess their own possible opportunities and to make sure that they’re considering emerging technologies that they could build solutions around.”
Think Channel’s John Rice
John Rice is president of Think Channel and also a member of the community’s executive council. He said both AI and 5G will drive the technology revolution. And they will continue to be the most impactful technologies both short and long term.
“Of the two, AI is probably going to have the most short-term impact as it becomes embedded in almost every software system and is used in process automation to make increasing smarter systems,” he said. “It will enhance IoT, robotics, blockchain and a broad array of business software and apps.”
Scroll through the gallery above to learn about the top emerging technologies.
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