Ten Significant Tech Innovations for 2015
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Wearable Devices
Smart watches—which send and receive email, make calls and even track exercise routines—represent a starting point for an anticipated boom in wearable tech offerings this year. -
The Internet of Anything
The Internet of anything will combine the Internet of things with the Internet of everything to create a common software ecosystem that can accommodate any and all sensor inputs, system states, operating conditions and data contexts. -
Software Design Security
With the relentless surge in data volume, along with increasing capabilities to collect and analyze it, software teams must build security into product design, while carefully balancing the need for cyber-protection and privacy. -
Software-Defined Anything
SDX, commonly defined as a movement to allow software to take command of hardware systems and devices, will transform network appliances into app warehouses. Standards groups are already working on interoperability issues. -
Cloud Security
Privacy concerns loom large here, as enterprises move more workload to the cloud and require high-level security to protect it. -
3D Printing
Among other astonishing predictions: A tech team will produce the first-ever 3D-printed car in 2015. Additional advances will revolutionize manufacturing by lowering costs and time to market. -
Predictive Analytics
Business intelligence efforts too often focus on the past. With predictive analytics, teams turn to data mining to take advantage of future events. -
Embedded Computing Security
Deeply-embedded computing systems are prime targets for malicious attacks. Tech innovators will look to redefine security approaches for embedded systems, which present additional challenges because they typically run on batteries and are extremely constrained. -
Augmented Reality Apps
Augmented mobile apps promise to enable the colorblind to distinguish hues, travelers to explore unfamiliar cities and shoppers to "see" what they'd look like in different outfits. In other words, it will bring the virtual world of videogames into everyday life. -
Continuous Digital Health
Mobile-driven connectivity, interoperability and instant feedback will help us live better and prevent illnesses. They could also reduce the cost of health care.
Mobile, the cloud and cyber-security will continue to dominate tech headlines this year, but the following "critical tech innovations for 2015," adapted from a list compiled by the IEEE Computer Society, will recast these topics in a fresher, forward-focused light. They include wearable devices, 3D printing, what's called "augmented reality" and an anticipated redefinition of the Internet of things (IoT) and the Internet of everything (IoE). Combined, these technologies are expected to enable organizations to work faster and smarter, while driving down costs on products and services. "2015 should see real progress in these areas," says incoming IEEE Computer Society President Thomas Conte, who is also an electrical and computer science professor at Georgia Tech. "We are reaching an inflection point for 3D printing, which will revolutionize manufacturing, and the exponential growth in devices connected to the Internet makes interoperability and standards critical." The IEEE Computer Society is a leading global computing membership organization, which serves as an information and career-development source for professors, researchers, software engineers, IT professionals, employers and students.