Social networking technologies, Web mashups, multi-core and hybrid processors, and cloud computing are amongst the 10 most disruptive technologies that will shape the IT landscape over the next five years, according to research firm Gartner.

Speaking at the Gartner Emerging Trends and Technologies Roadshow in Melbourne recently, David Cearley said that business IT applications will start to mirror the features found in popular consumer social software, such as Facebook and MySpace, as organisations look to improve employee collaboration and harness the community feedback of customers.

"Social software provides a platform that encourages participation and feedback from employees and customers alike," he said.

"The added value for businesses is being able to collect this feedback into a single point that reflects collective attitudes, which can help shape a business strategy".

Multi-core processors are expanding the horizons of what's possible with software, but single-threaded applications won't be able to take advantage of their power, Cearley said. Enterprises should therefore "perform an audit to identify applications that will need remediation to continue to meet service-level requirements in the multi-core era".

Gartner predicted that by 2010, Web mashups, which mix content from publicly available sources, will be the dominant model (80 per cent) for the creation of new enterprise applications.

"Because mashups can be created quickly and easily, they create possibilities for a new class of short-term or disposable application that would not normally attract development dollars," Cearley said. "The ability to combine information into a common dashboard or visualise it using geo-location or mapping software is extremely powerful".

According to Gartner, within the next five years, information will be presented via new user interfaces such as organic light-emitting displays, digital paper and billboards, holographic and 3D imaging, and smart fabric.

By 2010, it will cost less than $US1 to add a three-axis accelerometer -- which allows a device, such as Nintendo's Wii controller, to sense when and how it is being moved -- to a piece of electronic equipment. "Acceleration and attitude (tilt) can be combined with technologies such as wireless to perform functions such as touch to exchange business cards," Cearley said.

According to Cearley, CIOs who see their jobs as "keeping the data centre running, business continuity planning and finding new technology toys to show to people" will not survive. Instead, they will have to think beyond the constraints of the conventional, in order to identify the technologies that might be in widespread use a few years from now.

Gartner recommended that CIOs establish a formal mechanism for evaluating emerging trends and technologies, set up virtual teams of their best staff, and give them time to spend researching new ideas and innovations, especially those that are being driven by consumer and Web 2.0 technologies.

Len Rust is publisher of