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Forrester analyst James Staten has compiled his list of ten cloud computing (or, more specifically, infrastructure-as-a-service) predictions for 2011. Staten sees hosted private clouds and community clouds being increasingly important, cloud computing costs being driven down, and a widening gap between those that take advantage of cloud computing and those that don't. IaaS is one of the 15 technologies listed in the Top 15 Technology Trends EA Should Watch_2011 To 2013 report released last month, and this blog post by Staten drills deeper into the subject.

The family is talking about turkey again. That must mean it's time for reflection and to look ahead to the next 12 to 18 months.

In that spirit, here is part one of a two part series on trends in the enterprise. What's evident in all of these trends is the role data is playing in how technologies are evolving. Is it the megatrend of the next decade?

In all of this, we think about the way people work these days. We have multiple mobile phones. We work in offices and homes. For many people, working is anywhere they can find a flat surface for their laptops or for that matter just finding a signal for their smartphone.

You know cloud computing is big.
Then you see the analyst forecasts like the ones compiled by Total Cloud.

And you have to ask yourself: Do you believe these numbers?

Here are the market estimates that Total Cloud collected and posted to its blog:

The digital marketing agency AKQA had a problem. With 900 employees scattered across the globe, to say nothing about the clients, collaboration could be a problem. Document revisions and discussions took place in an endless volley of e-mails, leading to lost work and miscommunications. Teams tried various solutions to try to manage their work, but eventually IT decided to step in and deploy a global solution: Huddle. Yesterday, we looked at some data on how early adopters see cloud computing. Today, I talked with AKQA's Executive Director of IT Robert Burns about why his company made the jump and how it's working out.

Cloud management company Appirio, seeing that most surveys on the subject of cloud computing focused on the industry as a whole, sponsored a survey of public cloud early adopters to see how they view the state of the public cloud. The results are quite interesting. Early adopters are downplaying problems like security risks, vendor lock-in and availability and reporting a change in the role of IT.

Forrester recently released a report titled "Channel Models In The Era Of Cloud." Forrester found that as vendors are taking advantage of cloud computing, channel partners are becoming increasingly nervous about being left behind by. According to the report, more than 60% of tech industry revenue is generated by channel partners, "often by serving customers deemed otherwise unreachable by tech vendors." The firm cites the following as examples of channel companies: distributors, value-added resellers (VARs), direct market resellers (DMRs), managed service providers (MSPs), application hosting providers, and systems integrators (SIs) in the tech industry.

Greenpeace raised the heat several months ago when the organization lambasted data center operators for contributing to global warming. The organization has recently intensified criticism by targeting Facebook in campaigns to force the company to move away from using coal-based utilities.

In contrast, a new study by Microsoft, Accenture and WSP Environment & Energy reports that cloud computing reduces energy use and carbon emissions.

Skeptical? In this case, we do not argue that data centers can be greener than corporate IT. But there is a distinction to make between efficiency and the overall effect of data centers on the environment.

The way we view the enterprise is changing all at once. We view technologies differently due to a number of factors.

At the base of all this change is one constant. And that's content. It all needs to be managed in some way. Content is a central issue in the enterprise. It's becoming as important for management as any core function.

Amazon.com is buying more land in Oregon, showing again why the the Pacific Northwest is a choice region for companies such as Google, Facebook and T-Mobile to build data centers.

According to Data Center Knowledge, Amazon has already built a data center in Boardman, Oregon, along the Columbia River. It also recently acquired land at the Port of Umatlla, also along the Columbia.

Google opened its first data data in 2006 in The Dalles, Oregon, downstream from Boardman. Facebook is building a data center in Prineville, located in central Oregon.

Windows Azure Chief Bob Muglia is correct when he compares this year's Professional Developer Conference (PDC) to the 1992 event when Microsoft introduced Windows NT.

You can trace the rise of IT to that time in history. It is conceivable that 2010 will be remembered as the beginning of the cloud computing era.