Gartners hype cycle has long provided a very useful overview of where different technologies are on the road to maturity and the 2012 version is no exception.
As usual, there are some real game changers here. 3D printing, for example, is reaching the peak of inflated expectation about now and is estimated to reach genuine productivity in 5-10 years time. That gives us 5-10 years to completely redraw the way we thing about making and distributing, for example, mechanical components.
An internet of things is judged to be more than 10 years away, but the rapid growth in RFiD implementation will ensure that we may end up with something that looks like an internet of things somewhat earlier than that.
BYOD, another peaking idea, is making headlines at the moment. I find the whole issue suprising since those of us saddled with poor IT policies have always used our own kit in preference to the previous generation of hardware typically provided by employers. The fact that it IS an issue just shows that IT departments have begun to realise the scale of the problem that it gives them.
Although this provides an useful snapshot of the ideas, bringing the user community along with the ideas is a wholly different problem. Cloud computing, for example, currently on the slippery slope down to disillusionment, will plateau in a couple of years and then everyone will wonder why it wasnt always this way.
