Hot Technology and Advances for 2019

Every year it is common to see articles about the next hot technology that will be part of our lives in the year ahead.  We are not going to skip this opportunity to provide our thoughts on the matter as well.  These items may seem obvious, but that does not mean you can treat them lightly.  Here are some areas you should advance your knowledge to stay relevant in 2019.

Azure and Office 365

Microsoft has been pouring features and applications into their Office 365 and now Azure offerings.  Every week seems to bring new things to learn about your subscription and what it has for you.  This includes hot areas like security and managing your cloud (structure and users).  There are no indications that Microsoft plans to slow down in 2019 so expect to keep them on your hot technology radar.

Amazon AWS

The other side of the Microsoft cloud solution is Amazon's AWS.  If you have followed episodes of season four of the podcast, then you are well aware of how much they provide.  As with Azure, AWS is not showing any signs of slowing down.  It feels like they may even be increasing the velocity of producing new services and enhancing the existing ones.

Security - Single Sign-On

The growth and availability of data have outpaced our ability to secure it.  In 2018 a lot of progress was made in this area.  In 2019 it looks like we will start to see the next step of being able to secure our data without demanding that we have dozens of elaborate and unrelated passwords in our head.  Biotech like fingerprint and facial recognition will continue to advance.  However, it looks like a single sign-on for the masses is on the horizon as well.

Virtual Machines and Containers

If you are not up-to-date with the latest technology and options for VMs and containers, then do not expect it to get simpler.  The speed of networks and comfort enterprises with the Cloud are increasing.  These combine to make it more likely that this area of technology will grow in 2019.

Blockchain

Virtual currencies are not a solid technology yet.  There is still a lot to be determined before we can list them as stable or a fad.  The underlying blockchain technology is a different case.  There are a lot of ways to use blockchain outside of those currencies that are looking like safe bets in the years ahead.  Expect this to be a hot technology for 2019 and several years to come.