As the technology landscape changes rapidly, making one wonder which technology would take the lead in offering business and jobs, IT experts feel blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics will lead the way in 2018.

Cyber security, which is critical for these newer technologies would also hold promise, they feel.

Dimension Data, an arm of NTT Group, has come out with a report that captures the likely technology trends that could drive the IT landscape for 2018.

With a turnover of $7.5 billion in 2016, Dimension Data offers digital infrastructure, hybrid cloud, digital workspaces, and cyber security solutions.

“There has been an increase in the adoption of blockchain, especially within the Indian BSFI sector. It is currently being used for fund transfer, digital identity and payments infrastructure. One of the main reasons for that is the security that Blockchain brings with it,” KN Murali, Head Solutions of Dimension Data India, has said.

“In 2018 we will see the ‘zero trust’ security model re-emerging, which means that enterprise systems will vigorously authenticate whether users are indeed entitled access to specific sets of data, before making them available,” he said.

Blockchain, which will become the implementer of the ‘zero trust’ policy, would hold the key in cyber security.

In the world of automation, organisations expect automated services that are managed from the cloud in a hybrid IT environment. “They do not want to worry about where their technology sits ─ they just want to consume it the way they want to, in a fully automated way,” he said.

Blockchain, together with artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and virtual and augmented reality, have the potential to deliver disruptive outcomes and reshape digital business in 2018, the Dimension Data report said.

“I believe that Blockchain has the potential to totally re-engineer cyber security, but the industry has yet to come to terms with it,” Ettienne Reinecke, Dimension Data’s Group Chief Technology Officer, said.

The year 2018 should throw up some interesting applications of Blockchain and IoT in the area of cybersecurity. Significant attacks have recently been launched from low-cost IoT endpoints, and there is very little incentive for manufacturers of these devices to incur the cost of a security stack, which leaves them extremely vulnerable.

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