News Feature | January 30, 2015

IEEEs Top 10 Technology Trends for 2015

Christine Kern

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Top 10

Wearables, 3D printing, and SDx are among the trending technology predicted to flourish in 2015.

IEEE Computer Society has released its top 10 technology trends for 2015, stating that, “In the coming year, while consumers will be treated to a dizzying array of augmented reality, wearables, and low-cost 3D printers, computer researchers will be tackling the underlying technology issues that make such cutting-edge consumer electronics products possible.”

A primary concern in 2015 will be general cybersecurity, with intensified attention on security for cloud computing and deeply embedded devices. Further, IEEE concludes, interoperability and standards will focus on maximizing the potential of Software-defined Anything (SDx) and the Internet of Anything (IoA).

“Researchers have been working to address these issues for a number of years, however 2015 should see real progress in these areas,” incoming IEEE Computer Society President Thomas Conte, an electrical and computer science professor at Georgia Tech, said in the release. “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.”

Among the advances IEEE Computer society is forecasting, according to Health Data Management are:

  • The expansion of wearable devices: IEEE states, “Both established players and small startups in 2015 will be actively involved in developing new devices, applications, and protocols for the wearable electronics market.”
  • The Internet of Anything will become all-encompassing: The Internet of Things and Internet of Everything in 2015 will morph into the Internet of Anything, which “envisions a common software ‘ecosystem’ capable of accommodating any and all sensor inputs, system states, operating conditions, and data context.”
  • Cloud security and privacy concerns grow: Recent events have brought cloud security to public attention, as enterprises are moving workloads to the cloud and expecting enterprise-level security.
  • 3D Printing will takeoff: 2015 will see the first 3D-printed car enter production, and sales of 3D printers are expected to explode, with a host of new possibilities for healthcare.
  • Predictive Analytics will be increasingly used to identify outcomes: Business intelligence in 2015 will be less about examining the past and more about predicting the future.
  • Augmented Reality Applications will grow in popularity: IEEE explains, “The availability of inexpensive graphics cards and sensors, and the popularity of applications in such areas as gaming and virtual worlds, is bringing augmented reality into the mainstream.”