rPath, an innovator in automating application deployment and maintenance, today announced “Eight IT Predictions for 2010,” an animated short video that offers a lighthearted view of what the future holds for enterprise IT. The video is available now at http://bit.ly/6lCjug.

“For many organizations, 2009 was a painful year,” said Jake Sorofman, vice president of marketing for rPath. “But in IT, pain usually precedes progress, and that’s what we’re forecasting for 2010 — progress borne of necessity and informed by the struggles of 2009. For 2010, we’ll see many of the lessons of a down economy play out in the form of fundamentally leaner approaches to enterprise IT.”

Despite its comic tone and tongue-in-cheek depiction of IT personnel and chickens, “Eight IT Predictions for 2010” has a more serious purpose as context for shaping a strategic IT agenda for 2010 and beyond. The video predicts that next year’s IT agenda will once again focus on cost reductions. For 2010, however, they will be strategic — rather than tactical — cost reductions supported by the eight rPath predictions:

1. Virtualization rising

2. Clouds forming

3. Storm warnings

4. Self-service IT takes shape

5. Conquering complexity

6. Automation expands

7. IT roles shift

8. The application-centric data center emerges

For more information on rPath, please visit http://www.rpath.com. For additional perspectives, please visit and subscribe to rPath RSS blog feeds at http://blogs.rpath.com/wpmu/. Follow rPath on Twitter at @rpath.