There are two big tendencies that I see in today's software and certainly at IBM :

• Virtualization of everything, for example :

  • Servers : VMWare, zVM...
  • Storage : Tivoli Storage Manager virtualizes your storage
  • Services : an ESB virtualizes services by decoupling the consumer and the provider

• Centralization of shared components

  • ESB : a hub for integration
  • Identity Management : with Single Sign On, centralization of Security configuration and access rights

More samples to come as I meet them.

IT SOA