UCStrategies has a good post on the outlook for Unified Communications in 2009.  Some experts are saying that Unified Communications (and Web 2.0) are causing serious security issues for enterprises so I find that UCStrategies’ analysis is very compelling.  Here is the link to their outlook for 2009.

Jim Burton’s highlights on 2008
Industry consolidation started in 2007 but took shape in 2008. It takes time to integrate major acquisitions such as Cisco’s acquisition of WebEx and Mitel’s acquisition of Inter-Tel. It also takes time for companies that have changed their business model/ownership to reorganize, as has been the case with Avaya. By…

I found this great podcast on the network world site today from Andreas Antonopoulos.  Things like Web 2.0 and unified communication applications as well as virtualization all make securing an enterprise network more difficult. Nemertes’ Andreas Antonopoulos explains how security policies and systems need to become more flexible to fit the new ways we work.

Click here for the podcast.

Greg Ness wrote a post over at Seeking Alpha on Infrastructure 2.0 or Dynamic Enterprise.

Over the last three decades the network has grown to a point of exhaustion for many enterprises, with critical projects being slowed by the demands of manual IT labor, from core network services like DNS/DHCP and IPAM (IP address management) to the new dynamic processing power potentials unleashed by virtualization and cloud computing. A report last fall by Computerworld showed large enterprises already experiencing diseconomies of scale (rising per unit IP address management costs as IP addresses are added), before even more endpoint and system movement and…

Efraim Schwartz over at ComputerWorld reported back in July the results of various studies that indicate that IT jobs will drop in 2009.  Contractors, projects, overall spending down.  The news is dire: “Almost no investment in cloud computing”.

Well, I don’t have any studies to refer to just gut predictions.
Like that old sly cop with the corduroy jacket on your favorite TV show, I got some hunches.

Shining up my crystal ball:

YES…….
Economy is kinda clouding things up, but yes, a few things seem clear..

1. Yahoo – Microsoft will scoop them up
2. Windows 7 – Unfortunately for Microsoft, this will probably dud, too many factors against…

Yeah, Everyone does these.  Top 10 – etc.

I thought about it.  Techmeme did a nice job of the biggest stories.  Thanks end the end-of-year read.   So, I’ll analyze it.

1. The Yahoo-Microsoft Story – Yeah this had to be the story of the year.  Microsoft overbids it turns out for Yahoo.  Yahoo plays hard-to-get.  Yahoo cozies up to Google.  That doesn’t turn out so well.  Yahoo is worth a fraction of what Microsoft bid for it.  This one is not over by a long shot.
2. Apple Announces last year at MacWorld – The fanboys will be onboard anyway and this was their event.  (FYI – I…

The state of Florida wants to tap into the billions of venture capital dollars invested in young companies each year. It is seeking venture capital funds in which to invest money from the $29.5 million Florida Opportunity Fund, established by the state to funnel more venture capital to Florida start-ups.

The fund will look for regional and national venture capital funds that have done business in Florida and plan to invest in young Florida companies, particularly those developed at Florida universities and research institutions. Then, the fund will invest portions of its $29.5 million in those funds, with the goal of creating…

The Wall Street Journal has a great perspective on how regulation is hurting entrepreneurship. Add the lack of research mentioned here (below) and the opinion is complete.

Businessweek had a post last week about Silicon Valley wealth machine. Silicon Valley is going through another downturn. It’s the second major downturn in less than 10yrs. I’ve been on the ground for all of those years. It’s down, but not completely ‘out’.

Silicon Valley is a special place for entrepreneurship, and it continues to be. The issue is not that there is a wrench in the machine, but that the machine is broken. It’s rebooting.

One thing…

I find it interesting that its interesting that Cisco, Infoblox, and F5 have come together very quickly around this Infrastructure 2.0 meme.

Interested in Infrastructure 2.0 from Cisco then click here to register.

Network infrastructure will be transformed in coming months by new levels of automation and intelligence driven by new system and endpoint demands and new IT initiatives. Find out how you can boost network availability and flexibility while reducing TCO by transforming your static network infrastructure into a dynamic network infrastructure capable of responding quickly to the needs of more dynamic systems and endpoints. Attendees will learn about:

• Cisco’s perspective on…

There is a great post going on over at F5 devcentral by Lori MacVittie.  She calls it  How VM sprawl will drive the urgency of the network evolution.

The bottom line is the the network infrastructure is capable of being smarter.  The opportunity (for companies) is to create or enable the “Dynamic Enterprise.”.   Like Web 2.0 did for web sites and web apps, Infrastructure 2.0 will do for networks - addressable, discovery, intelligence, and policy will be at the center of the Infrastructure 2.0 equation.  The network needs to be smarter and automated to new functionality and benefits.

Lori writes:  “VM sprawl is…

Microsoft is now shedding a little more light on the zero-day XML vulnerability.  It seems some Hong Kong-based pornography sites are dropping the trojans Trojan:Win32/VB.IQ.dr and Trojan:Win32/VB.IQ on unsuspecting PC users.   This in addition to exploits discovered on a popular Taiwan search engine.  The details are here. A release to patch this vulnerability is to be released today.

(BTW I wonder what that job is like – “Just checking on potential viruses chief”)   I digress – really I appreciate all the MS team does to keep us in the dark keep us up to date on this serious security flaw in every instance…