Six experts offer Karlin Lillingtontheir predictions for the significant trends and products in the IT and communications sectors in 2008
Dr Linda Doyle, lecturer, Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, TCD
The foundations of the world of the traditional mobile operator/mobile service provider are going to be fundamentally shaken when the likes of Google buy their own spectrum, with Apple providing new types of mobile phone infrastructure; and with the way being cleared for technologies such as cognitive radio (smart phones that sniff out empty spectrum belonging to others and squat in that spectrum until the owners come back).
The spotlight will finally fall on internet radio (though it has been around since the late 1990s). New portable internet radio devices that connect to internet radio services via broadband wireless networks and that can access unlimited radio stations (official, homemade, personally targeted) will be the perfect gift for the gadget lover. See: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet-radio.htm
Movie downloading will be all the rage - download the movie from iTunes: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yz1-cPx0cIk. Available the same day as the DVD release . . . watch it on an iPod, a computer, IPTV . . . or maybe even watch it on a wall near you: http://tinyurl.com/aslvt
TomRaftery, social media consultant and blogger www. tomrafteryit.net
Facebook will lose a lot of its lustre as people get increasingly tired of receiving ever more invites to chain-letter type Facebook applications.
Further disillusionment may also arise from Facebook's cavalier privacy practices unless it quickly moves to become personal privacy champions. However, its joining Dataportability.org is a good move in this direction.
Micro-blogging sites (ie Twitter, Pownce, etc) will become far more prevalent as people get hooked into the concept of ambient intimacy.
The increasing penetration of quality personal video cameras (ie Nokia N Series phones, webcams, etc), the growing ubiquity of broadband and the quality of personal video players (ie iPod Touch) will conspire to bring about a huge rise in the importance of video as a medium of communication on the web in 2008.
Chris Horn, co-founder and vice-chairman, IONA Technologies
Google buys SAP, and starts competing in the enterprise space against Oracle, using a web-based software as a service enterprise system.
Microsoft led by Steve Ballmer increases its pressure on the open source space by issuing law suits against Red Hat and Ubuntu, claiming serious infringements of Microsoft intellectual property. Facebook goes public, and then buys Yahoo and eBay to try and build a business model.
Donal Cunningham, network engineer and chairman of the System Administrators' Guild of Ireland
IPv6 trials: 2008 is the year when companies ask their Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for IPv6 address space (new forms of internet addresses) to use in trials.
While Regional Internet Registries such as RIPE are continuing to assign older IPv4 addresses to ISPs, they are doing so with a year's usage in mind instead of two or three years.
Niall Murphy's recent RIPE talk on models for IPv4 address exhaustion makes for interesting reading.
Green Technology: you may pat yourself on the back for driving a hybrid car, but how about that behemoth of a PC under your desk, or better yet, the racks of computers in your data centre? 2008 is the year when eco-conscious consumers will realise the cost of powering (and cooling) their many devices.
Identity theft countermeasures: in 2007, the UK lost a copy of its child benefit database; Jeremy Clarkson's defiant posting of his bank details to prove it didn't matter made his €500 loss charity's gain.
In 2008 we may finally learn to shred our bank statements and run anti-spyware and anti-virus programmes regularly. I can dream, can't I?
TJ McIntyre, chairman of Digital Rights Ireland, consultant with Merrion Legal Solicitors, law lecturer, UCD
Virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft and Second Life will face legal scrutiny over issues such as in-game gambling and ownership of virtual items. Real world laws will increasingly be applied to these virtual worlds as well.
There will be a head-on collision between EU privacy law and social networking sites, such as Facebook, particularly those based outside the EU. Web 2.0 sites will increasingly face legal difficulties over the use they and others make of "user generated content".
Users of photo sharing sites such as Flickr will continue to find companies making commercial use of their photos without either payment or permission.
The "Net Neutrality" debate will come to Europe as consumers begin to complain that ISPs are throttling certain types of traffic (such as file sharers using Bittorrent) or are blocking access to certain sites.
Martin Murphy, general manager, HP Ireland
Energy consumption: businesses will be focused on building energy strategies.
The aim will be to drive down energy costs, now a major factor in the cost of doing business in Ireland.
More organisations will look at alternative energy resources and move to adopt "greener" technology with reduced energy consumption and carbon footprint.
"Wired" home: in 2007, people moved towards more portable, mobile devices such as laptops and pdas.
In 2008, affordability and availability of consumer electronic products and services will result in a shift in behaviour towards greater adoption of wireless appliances and convergence of home technology such as laptop and TV.
Services such as iBBC will drive consumer appetite for converged technology.
More online services - more incentives: the Web 2.0 revolution will continue to offer people more online services and more incentives to access services online.
This technology, in gestation for 10 years through the first wave of digital, is about to bring to the forefront of business and society unparalleled levels of choice and control for a wide range of consumers.
