Looking Forward: IT Industry Predictions for 2016

You may have seen our press release earlier in the month discussing data recovery trends for 2015 and you might be thinking, 2015 is almost over, what about 2016? What’s going to happen in the IT industry this year?  Well, let’s discuss our predictions for 2016.

Hyper-converged storage

With all of the advantages of hyper-converged systems, we predict that more companies are going to implement this architecture in 2016. As companies replace and refresh their data centers and other portions of their IT infrastructure, with hyper-converged systems, they benefit from the simplicity of a system which is pre-built and tested by the vendor. Utilizing hyper-converged systems consolidates and manages hardware and multiple functions (computing, networking and storage) and this type of infrastructure offers fast implementation, space-saving and quick redundancy. The single source of management makes it very easy and cost-effective to expand data storage capacity too.

Our team of engineers already provides data recovery solutions for hyper-converged systems. With the multiple vendors offering these customized IT infrastructures, complexity is added to any data recovery. Our team is working hard to streamline the process and reduce the recovery time when these requests arise.

Tape management

Managing tape archives is always a battle. Even though, some out there like to think that tape is dying out, others still think of it as the “old reliable” source for data storage. It doesn’t matter which camp you are in, if you have tapes, you have to manage the data on them. In the past years, we have seen an increase in compliance standards surrounding the storage and management of data. Compound the compliance burden with the increased need for data security and you create the necessity to not only know what data you possess, but to also find a way to properly manage that data. In 2016, we see the need for tape management to increase. Increased requests to view, extract and manage data on tape will continue to rise over the next year as companies want to end-of-life older hardware and software, view what data is stored on improperly labeled/damaged tapes, or simply and effectively manage the data they have stored on tape.  Our newly-launched solution Ontrack® DataAdvisor was created from our clients’ need for simplified tape management.

Data security

Security measures for data will remain at high alert in 2016. Unfortunately, we most-likely have not seen the last of malicious data breaches and virus infections.  Ontrack assists clients in recovering data lost from these types of attacks every year. We can bring additional resources from Advisory Solutions to assist with physical and logical data breaches and malware attacks. It is apparent that companies are more aware now and will continue to take all of the steps possible in order to guard themselves and their customers from harm.

Apple watches and other wearables

On the IT consumer front in 2016, we see an increase in the adoption of digital wearables. Rumors are already hitting the market of the next generation of Apple Watch, which should draw sales from some of those reluctant to buy the original model.  Along with the Apple Watch the market is seeing an influx in sales of Android and fitness-based smartwatches. Other accessory items for these smartwatches, like Bracelite, also suggest that the market will grow.  The question is when will we see our first data recovery request from a smartwatch or other wearable?

Mobile dependency

Anyone with a smartphone can tell you that the dependency on mobile devices will continue to grow in 2016. In 2015 Google changed its tune as far as giving websites with mobile capability a higher ranking than those without.  This change resulted in the growing number of searches from mobile devices. In fact, per Google, mobile searches exceeded that of desktops for the first time this last summer. This number was based on searches made from a device with less than a six inch screen, so most tablets were excluded as well. What will be interesting is to see if the market gravitates more toward the “Phablet,” like the iPhone 6+, or towards wearables. It might even be a combination of both.

Your predictions?

What are your thoughts and predictions for the IT industry in 2016? Please add them in the comment section as we would like to hear from you.