Gartner released 10 key predictions for 2007

The end of the year is traditionally a propitious period for making predictions. Gartner is used to do that. Its latest 10 key predictions for 2007 include:

• the market share for the top 10 IT outsourcers will decline 3.5 points to 40.0% by 2009. Increased competition and reduction in contract sizes will put pressure on outsourcers that will have to find ways for survival.

• Only one APAC service provider will be in the global top 20 through 2010.

• The peak number of bloggers will be around 100m in 1H07.

• Corporate social responsibility (CSR) will become a high priority at the executive level by 2009.

• 75% of enterprises would be infected with undetected, financially motivated, targeted malware by the end of 2007.

• Vista will be the last major release of Microsoft Windows. The trend is towards modular and incremental updates.

• The average total cost of ownership (TCO) of new PCs will fall by 50% by 2010.

• 60% of the worldwide cellular population will be "traceable" via an emerging "follow-me Internet." by 2010.

• Through 2011, enterprises will follow outdated design practices and collectively will waste at least $100bn in the next five years.

• By 2008, nearly 50% of data centers worldwide will lack the necessary power and cooling capacity to support high-density equipment.