12 Crackpot Ideas…That Just Might Work.

This article offers a look at proposed technologies that might transform the future of information technology (IT). The dream of superconducting computing persists in the form of the Hybrid Technology Multi-Thread program, which takes advantage of superconducting rapid single-flux quantum logic and should eventually scale to approximately 100 gigahertz. Obstacles to the integration of solid-state storage devices into IT are volatility and cost. However, developments in flash technology have reduced the negative aspects of solid-state devices. International Business Machines' autonomic computing initiative in 2001 has four pillars including self-configuration, self-optimization, self-protection and self-healing. But virtualization has stolen much of the initiative's value-prop claims.