Yes, sports fans it’s time for that spate of annual prediction columns where anyone who has ever been in a data center fires off their attempt at industry clairvoyance. For the most part, these efforts are fairly pedestrian, and mind numbingly similar — big data will be big, the cloud will kill the data center, blah, blah, blah — which wouldn’t be all that big a deal except they are usually wrong. The Amazing Kreskin (is that guy even still alive?) has nothing to fear from these guys. At this point, many of you are probably saying to yourselves, “Chris, since you seem to hold these efforts in such low regard why bother to proffer your own predictions of the future fate of the industry?” My honest answer is that I couldn’t think of anything else to write about, but also, wouldn’t you all be kind of disappointed if I didn’t? For many of you this provides you with another opportunity to say, “That Crosby guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about” and for others it will help you confirm the theory that “even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then.” Now having appropriately set your level of expectation, let’s jump right in shall we?
So there you have them ladies and gentlemen. My fearless forecasts for ’14. As is the case with any predictions, some may or may not come true, but I feel pretty solid about The Hunger Games and Jennifer and Kim.