The Top 9 Tech Trends for 2016

Collectively, they represent the innovations that have the greatest potential to make a profound impact on enterprises—and society—for this year and beyond. They are the "Top Nine Technology Trends for 2016," presented annually by the IEEE Computer Society. The trends are all about speed (as in 5G mobile networks) and power (the Internet of things [IoT]} and artificial intelligence-based advancements. With respect to the latter, the "next big thing" will go far beyond machines that can process information with stunning velocity: Companies are now creating computers that can essentially "teach" themselves about data and then make predictions based on their newly acquired knowledge. To support such efforts, another top trend called "nonvolatile memory" will enable enterprises to store more data at a lower price. And if all of this seems interconnected, well, that's because it is. "Some of these trends will come to fruition in 2016, while others will reach critical points in development during this year," said Dejan Milojicic, a past president of the IEEE Computer Society. "You'll notice that all of the trends interlock, many of them depending on the advancement of other technologies in order to move forward. Cloud needs network functional virtualization, 5G requires cloud, containers can't thrive without advances in security, everything depends on data science, and so on. It's an exciting time for technology."