Predicting the IT trends of 2009: What's in and what's out

In the midst of troubled economic times, the IT world marches on with a strong mandate to help businesses drive efficiency and cost savings. With that in mind, here is my list of predictions for the rising and falling IT trends of 2009.

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I’ve organized this list into counterpoints, trends that will be “IN” and related trends that will be on their way “OUT” during 2009. These are not absolutes. The INs will not be ubiquitous and the OUTs won’t be extinct. The rule of thumb here is that for the INs you’ll see more of them in 2009 than you saw in 2008, while you’ll see less of the OUTs in 2009 than you did last year. So here we go…

IN: IT pros with business skills - OUT: Technical certifications

IN: Web-based applications - OUT: Build-it-yourself custom software

IN: Automating processes to save money - OUT: Long-term projects

IN: Macs in the enterprise - OUT: Upgrading XP machines to Vista

IN: Virtualization - OUT: Infinite racks of small servers

IN: Core i7 - OUT: The Pentium brand

IN: Thin clients - OUT: A laptop for every knowledge worker

IN: WiMAX - OUT: Metro Wi-Fi

IN: Ubuntu - OUT: Red Hat

IN: Business Intelligence (BI) - OUT: SNMP data overload

IN: Telecommuting - OUT: The 8-5 work day

IN: HP laptops and desktops - OUT: Dell laptops and desktops

IN: Multifunction server appliances - OUT:  Best-of-breed network devices

IN: Smartphones - OUT: Desktop-replacement notebooks

IN: Video conferencing - OUT: Air travel for a single meeting

IN: More internships - OUT: Filling open positions

IN: Conserving energy - OUT: Building IT for future growth

IN: WAN acceleration - OUT: Dark fiber

IN: 3G broadband - OUT: Frame relay

IN: Netbooks - OUT: Desktop PCs

IN: Microsoft Office on the Web - OUT: Azure, Live Mesh, and Windows Live

IN: CIOs with minimal tech background - OUT: CIO as lead engineer

IN: IT/business integration - OUT: Centralized IT departments