IT predictions for 2009

Phillip A. Laplante, professor at Penn State University, has made some predictions for information technology (IT) professionals for 2009. He predicted that future cyber-attacks can be more coordinated with one or more physical strikes on infrastructure or political establishments. Physical attacks may involve damage to the undersea telecom cables to disconnect services of Middle East and Southwest Asia. He said about some security lapses found in the US Transportation Security Administration's traveler dispute-resolution web site. He also predicted that in near-future senior-level executives will put more pressure on cost savings and improved productivity from virtualization technologies. Spending of business intelligence initiatives will be decreased, while the new open-source-based business intelligence initiatives will gain importance in the coming years.