S.N. Baranov, V.M. Shishkin

The paper offers a summary analysis of the major trends in development of the IT-industry based on a number of surveys from the Russian and international media, the 2011 survey by ExecutiveBrief being the major reference source. Two topmost trends are described - cloud computing and mobile applications, the former being considered with more details. Various aspects of security and respective risks related to cloud computing, both from the client-s and the provider-s side are discussed. Two other trends - the «big data» and «green data centers» aimed at limiting energy consuming by data processing with computing machinery. 10 topmost trends for each of the years 20082010 are enlisted retrospectively at the end of the paper and a careful conclusion that cloud computing will dominate as the major trend in the coming years is offered to the reader.