Cloud computing and unified communications are two of the technologies that will hit the mainstream in less than five years, according to Gartner Inc.

Gartner’s report Hype Cycle for ICT in India, 2010, which tracks multiple technologies within an IT domain or technology portfolio, adds that these would be transformational across industries.

The technologies that are in the Peak of Inflated Expectation include, apart from cloud computing, open source development tools in India, business process management suite (BPMS), and video telepresence, according to a press release by the organisation.

The Hype Cycle report also categorises technologies as being on the technology trigger — these will have less than 5 per cent market penetration and may take two to 10 years for mainstream adoption. Technologies on the technology trigger include data center bridging, fabric-based computing, navigation solutions, knowledge process outsourcing-market analytics, and mobile over-the-air payments.

“Enterprise Resource Planning has already advanced to the Plateau of Productivity on the Hype Cycle but will continue to appear in future Hype Cycles on India,” said Aman Munglani, principal research analyst, according to the press statement.

“The ERP wave in India has moved beyond the large-enterprise accounts and has expanded into the small and midsize business segment. The ability to increase SMBs' productivity, making them more competitive, is a big draw for ERP in this segment. The technologies slipping toward the Trough of Disillusionment are in the stage of proof points (thin provisioning, data duplication, SOA, SAAS, mini-notebooks and business intelligence platforms),” said Munglani.

"The Hype Cycle reports are a convenient way to look at a set of relevant technologies and trends," said Munglani.

"Many Gartner clients draw from multiple Hype Cycles, augmented with industry- or company-specific topics to create their own Hype Cycles and Priority Matrices as part of their annual technology planning. Technology providers use Hype Cycles as a way to understand the likely market reaction to their products and services, while investors watch for technologies that are on the rise in a Hype Cycle to try to catch them before they move into mainstream adoption,” he said.

Additional information is available in “Hype Cycle for ICT in India, 2010." The report is available on Gartner’ Web site at http://www.gartner.com/resId=1413221