Global Office Directory
More Products
Share this page
Home > Community > Business Blogs > Technical Trends > 2010 Technology Predictions for WCMS and Sitecore
Yes, - yes... I know that January is almost over already, yet even so I want to chip in with technology predictions for 2010.
Almost anybody who has done technology predictions on 2010 predicts that Cloud Computing Platforms will boost in 2010. This too, I believe will become omnipresent in the mindsets of software vendors and end users. However, unlike many predictions, I do not believe we'll see a huge shift in WCMS vendor strategies, - or at least not the true technology shift that is really required to shift to Cloud Platform alternatives.
Cloud providers such as Amazon and Microsoft supplies two kind of data storage setups: A Simplified data model, which allows true scalability in regards to locations and data size. They also offer a traditional relational database model which has other limitations (data must be centralized in one physical location, and there are limitations to the data storage size).
So, using the traditional relational model, - which almost any existing software provider uses to their data layer will lead to the loss of some of the major benefits of Cloud computing: True size scalability and true cloud distributed data computing (e.g. you cannot have a data segment in US and one in EU). In the other hand, using the simplified data model would require re-coding to your existing application(s) and the loss of functionality on the data level.
In other words, - any WCMS vendor, - or for that fact ANY vendor who want to use real cloud offerings must recode their applications or accept a limitation to the data storage size and computing model. Sitecore does have a very solid abstraction that would allow us to switch data model, but to move to such as simplified model would have wide complications for the caching models and performance.
Of course cloud platform vendors such as Amazon and Microsoft are fully aware of these facts; - and both vendors have recently released support their SQL alternatives. A great first step, - but these models are crippled models of SQL with no real data distribution. Also, a provider such as Windows Azure currently has a 10GB data size limitation which makes it less attractive for a vendor such as Sitecore. After all, cloud computing is also about scaling your solution in content-size. I think we will see better, more native support for relational database storage in the year to come.
So, back to the predictions: WCMS vendors will claim support for the cloud virtualization offerings but very few would implement full data support. Instead cloud computing platform vendors will mature and go into a leadership battle with Amazon now leading the race. The cloud vendors who succeed will be those who successfully converges storage and network virtualization.
In the beginning of this year Sitecore will release a version specifically designed for ultra-high requirements, fully prepared for the real cloud offering (once it is ready). As most of you know, Sitecore can already now scale delivery servers with no limitations. The scalability version applies same capabilities to content production.
Sitecore is currently testing our database model against SQL Azure, and if the test proves successful, Sitecore will support Microsoft Azure SQL within a short timeframe.
This prediction is really a no-brainer: Looking at current growth, - by the end of 2010, 1.2 billion people will be using mobile devices capable of executing rich mobile applications. This, combined with advanced mobile OS's and development tools (e.g. Android) will lead to sophisticated applications and needs: Sitecore predicts a growth in mobile social networking as well as location-aware applications. Of course, this will lead to a growth in the use of mobile devices as browsers.
While many new devices are well equipped with a real browser and capable of parsing almost any html page, it is still important to generate output for the device: To give the visitor a compelling experience, the output should be designed specifically for the screen estate. Also, - size matters: Most mobile units suffer with lower bandwidth, which mean you must supply less content, an alternative navigation and scaled images.
Sitecore is well prepared to counter and deliver content to mobile devices as our presentation layer evolves around the "device" terminology. By detecting device and deliver optimized design, combined with Sitecores dynamic image scaling, our customers face higher conversions for their mobile audience.
Watch a 35 seconds video on YouTube on Sitecore and mobile applications.
2010 will be the year we will see a shift in focus for some WCMS vendors. Many will realize that, WCM is much more than maintaining content. It is also about measuring the effect of your content in order to maximize returns, and to an extend profit.
Traditional web analytics does not, even though tightly integrated to the WCM, provide nearly enough functionality for this to happen. While more sophisticated analytics systems, if tightly integrated, may provide you with the intelligence to optimize your web site, - they are all passive systems with no integrated connection to your web content, and design processes. And, - of course, being 3rd party systems, they are not designed specifically for the system you are using, but built to serve any system, this being a custom web application or a WCMS. This means a lowest common denominator approach and loss of (some) data as well since no API was designed for your specific choice of WCMS.
Sitecore believes, - to fully optimize your business, you need a WCMS that, from within the interface gives you the capability to provide simulation, prediction, optimization and a personalized experience for your visitors based on their current and past behavior. All 100% integrated to the content you are producing. After all, content is great, but given the wrong context it is meaningless.
So, who is up to the challenge in 2010? I believe the larger WCMS vendors, bar one, address this issue (in fact, many us have already done it). The question is who will choose the path of integration with the challenges of data islands and less integration to their respective systems? And who will, like Sitecore, choose the expensive solution to build the core functionality within the WCMS, with the risk of being compared with dedicated web analytics systems beautiful interfaces and not the functionality?
Whatever path the vendors choose, - my hope for 2010 is that our customers, - and the analysts who help them out, will look deeply into the functionality and compare these systems. Not from a feature by feature comparison of the separate instances, but from what is actually achievable once these systems have been integrated. This will require more and deeper insight to integration. Who is up to the task?
Lars co-founded Sitecore in 2001 as a natural outgrowth of his company’s transformation from consultancy work to original software development.
This website is designed to be fully functional with scripts disabled in browser. Please contact the webmaster for any suggestions