Your Guide for 2006

Introduction: Anchors Aweigh!
IT spending is on the rise, but it still won't be easy to keep your boat afloat. Our business and technology editors share their predictions for the coming year.

Priority No. 1: Data Protection
IT organizations have many priorities for the coming year, but none is as prominent as the effort to protect corporate data from disaster. We examine IT's approach to its top priority for 2006: data protection.

Security
As you prepare for 2006, you need compliance-driven products to ensure your company doesn't become the next security-breach headline. But don't be fooled by all the vendor hype.

Network and Systems Management
Before you plan your next management step, consider carefully what's available. A wealth of products and technology--from expensive to free, from proprietary to standards based--is out there vying for your attention.

Enterprise Apps and App Infrastructure
Business processes will continue to drive application initiatives, while businesses themselves will rely on enterprise architectures to integrate their apps with processes.

Messaging and Collaboration
In 2006, look for stable communication technologies such as e-mail and videoconferencing to converge on your network with new media like blogs and podcasts.

Network Infrastructure
After some years of stagnancy, there are finally sails on the infrastructure horizon. Look to MPLS and Metro Ethernet to make a splash.

Wireless
Wireless will throttle full speed ahead in 2006, with 3G, Wi-Fi and WiMAX technologies setting the pace for the enterprise. But which technologies will stay afloat? We look to the horizon.

Storage and Servers
In the year to come, pay attention to bigger disks, fatter pipes and disk backups. And don't ignore multicore processors, blade servers and virtualization on the server side!

TechLeader TV
We tell you what's hot and what's not, what companies to keep a particularly close eye on, and we check ourselves on the predictions we made at this time last year.