Last year has been an exciting and demanding year for IT businesses and technology.  The ongoing financial crisis has stressed the IT budget of many companies, pushing cost saving and consolidation solutions further and new creative technologies.

The result of such solutions has been seen across IT branches, from media to hardware manufacturers.  We have seen:

1. Re-Negotiation of outsourcing deals:
   1. Bringing IT Back Home by CIO.com
      
   2. IAOP shows the industry redefined
2. Acquisition
   1. HP Snapfish acquired Motionbox video platform
   2. AOL acquired 5mns
   3. Google acquired Episodic
   4. Limelight Acquires Delve Networks For Enterprise Video Management
3. New technologies
   1. Tablets
   2. Realtime Search (Present in Google search)
   3. Mobile Video (iPhone FaceTime and streaming video apps pushed it forward)
   4. Mobile Transactions (Square and other transaction processing options came onto the scene)
   5. Check out the full TechCrunch list here.

The next question is what is going to happen in 2011 in our line of business (IT, video and syndication).  It is always a danger to try to predict IT solutions and trends, nevertheless it is a great occasion for you to remind me how wrong I was last year.

What we should see in 2011:

1. Web Video On Your TV:  As mentioned in previous posts, Apple TV and Google TV are among the list of “internet-enabled” TV’s.  We are not talking about surfing the web on your TV.  This trend “is about using the Internet as an alternative way to deliver movies and TV shows to your flat-screen TV.” (TechCrunch.com) Cable companies, stand by.
2. The Streaming Cloud (Virtualization of IT products as services):  Why would you want to bother with managing all the download rights for the songs you buy from iTunes between your iPhone, iPad, laptop, when you could just sign in form anywhere and start streaming? Plenty have tried with varying degrees of success and failure (Rhapsody, Rdio, Spotify), but it will take someone with the negotiating muscle of Apple or Google to finally bring streaming music to the masses.
3. HTML5: With new devices and new technologies, this revision will be pushed further to allow better experience of internet content without having to wait for software companies to upgrade existing solution.
4. Mobile video: Video pushing solution will increase allowing end of users to not only be viewers but as well publishers
5. Mobile transaction: The earliest mobile banking services were offered via SMS.  A study from 2010 by Berg Insight forecasts that the number of mobile banking users in the US will grow from 12 million in 2009 to 86 million in 2015. The same study also predicts that the European market will grow from 7 million mobile banking users in 2009 to 115 million users in 2015.
6. Contextual Video Solution: The most useful apps people will keep coming back to are the ones which help cut through the increasing clutter of the Internet.  If you are on a news site, you will see the most shared links from people in you follow on Twitter or are connected to on Facebook. Music and movie services will similarly surface social recommendations. In a world of information overload, context is king. Such solutions have been already on the market (http://www.zoomino.com/).
7. Social CRM: The applications are designed to reflect the way sales people work by helping them identify qualified leads, develop sales campaigns and collaborate with colleagues to close more deals. Social CRM is one component of developing a social or collaborative business, both internally and externally.
8. 4G network: As we can see from 2010, the on-growing call for more content on Smartphones will create more and more stretched networks. That is why the need of a better generation of cellular is needed. A 4G system is expected to provide a comprehensive and secure all-IP based mobile broadband solution to smartphones, laptop computer wireless modems and other mobile devices. Facilities such as ultra-broadband Internet access, IP telephony, gaming services, and streamed multimedia may be provided to users.
9. New chipset to control proprietary content: New devices needs more power for smaller places. Another constraint is the need for proprietary content owner to protect their data on these new devices, that is why such chipset as the Intel new Sandy bridge could have a strong impact on the market.

What technologies do you think will make it big this year?

About Preview Networks

Preview Networks is Europe’s largest preview distribution network. We serve websites, social networks, mobile apps and internet TV. Our content is available on MSN, MTV, Brightcove, IMDB, iTunes, The Times, MySpace, The Guardian, El Pais, El Mundo, Le Monde and more than 1,500 other online media. We work with more than 300 entertainment companies including Sony, Fox, Disney, Warner, Universal, and Paramount. Learn more on previewnetworks.com