Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2017.  Read them in this 9th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

Contributed by Hamesh Chawla, VP of Engineering at Zephyr

Our Vision for Software Development in 2017

We at Zephyr envision the software industry flourishing in 2017. Automation will increase technological innovation and IT modernization. Flexibility in software technology will consequently grow in step with fluctuating consumer preferences.

Variations in technologies and technology industries will grow with data analytics, big data, cyber security, and the Internet of Things (IoT) leading the momentum. Innovations in wireless transmission and mobile device technology will exponentially increase, as consumers discover new additions, creations, and modernizations in Wi-Fi accessibility and wearable technologies.

Cloud computing will increasingly be the infrastructure mainstay, with the Cloud platform providing software protection free of hardware vulnerabilities.

The focus of technology in 2017 will be on managing data relationships for enhanced real time user experiences.

Teams

In 2017 DevOps and Agile methodologies will bring heightened dexterity to quality assurance and application development. The lines between Dev and Ops will continue to give way, inspiring a DevOps transition into DevTestOps. Development, Testing, and Operations will become an integrated deployment component. We envision the industry moving from a single vertical operation to a collaboration of full stack developers who will in concert carry the line of dev, ops, and testing.

Collaboration will become the go-to solution for increased product quality and decreased development/testing timeframes. The year 2017 will also see the discovery and implementation of inter-operable solutions significantly enhanced through the culture of cross-talent communication.

New innovations in application design will further more effectively driving user efficiency in task completion.

2017 will witness Agile teams excel in new software innovation. Diversity in respect to member talents will increase, contributing to a richer development process. Advanced design strategies will progressively enhance product quality.

Culture

The culture of coaction will continue to reign in 2017, as DevOps continues to extend Agile collaboration into organizational co-operation between development/testing and operations. The workplace cultural trend will continue to emphasize timely deployment, design, and innovation.

The Agile methodology will begin to focus on the lean start-up Minimum Viable Product (MVP), with minimal features initially deployed to satisfy early adopters, and a complete set of features designed and later deployed per feedback from initial users. MVP production is projected to shorten iterations and metric-driven testing.

Communication among teams and with project owners significantly increased.

Technology

Although the focus in 2017 will emphasize software and applications over infrastructure, the Cloud platform, with its platform-as-a-service (PaaS), will even further expand business capabilities. The borders of an organization's internal intranet, Internet access, and the general reach of communication transfers will significantly widen due to Cloud technology.

Facebook will amplify live streaming. Pokémon Go will continue to attract attention. Fitbits will expand its tracking of athletic activities. Smart refrigerators, smart washers, OK Google, and smart ergonomics will conquer the 2017 consumer market with substantive, lifestyle-centered innovation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI will begin to evolve from a separate stand-alone technology into a mainstream software development thought process. Application codes will be written with attention to machine learning and smart devices.

Machine learning, instructing a computer to recognize patterns and review data to devise insights into critical thinking, is a form of artificial intelligence that will receive attention in 2017.

Robotics will continue to expand, providing robot-power to such enterprises as warehouses, manufacturing plants, underwater diving, and bomb deactivating with precise and repetitive performance.

Many devices among the Internet of Things are also being re-engineered with independent ‘thought' components.

Cyber Security

Along with QA testing, 2017 will bring cyber security into a leadership role within the software industry. Rapidly increasing threat factors from Cloud adoption and the greater use IoT are forecast to increase.

As the Cloud further evolves, open APIs, democratization of data, and security will play a greatly expanded, and increasingly important, role in the software development lifecycle.

Increased use of the Cloud will expand the internal and external reach of information transfers, significantly increasing organizational needs for greater cyber security.

2017 will also witness an increase in protections and authorizations built directly into the software for increased security in user applications.

As well, further innovations will allow greater business and user visibility into networks to quickly spot malware and easily recover from its impact.

We at Zephyr are leading on all technology fronts, and have pivoted our software development methodology to align with our projected vision.

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About the Author

As VP of Engineering,  is responsible for the worldwide engineering function of Zephyr and brings over 18 years of engineering, mobile, and networking technology experience to this role. Prior to Zephyr, Hamesh held numerous lead engineering roles at Asurion, InnoPath Software, Sonus Networks, and Cisco Systems. Hamesh holds an MS in Computer Science from Texas A&M University.