In its latest report, Forrester describes the top 10 trends in infrastructure technologies for 2024, including the following:

Sustainability data collection is easier to get, and firms must report. Some of the major tech vendors are now offering sustainability measurement and management solutions, aiding decarbonisation. Cloud companies are also some of the largest buyers of renewable energy in the world, driving new business through offsetting customer carbon footprints.

AI infrastructure scarcity is limiting generative AI (genAI) adoption paths. The brisk growth in AI applications to drive business priorities is increasing demand for AI-specific infrastructure. However, the limited supply and long lead times of AI infrastructure — the GPUs, the accelerators, and the power capacity — thwarts these efforts, leading to pent-up demand.

AI PCs will become an expected norm by 2030. A Forrester survey reveals mass adoption of AI PCs will not come to pass until 2030, when all devices will have AI hardware. In 2025, Forrester expects that AI PC adoption will coincide with the end of life for Windows 10. The remainder will pilot AI PC use cases, especially for compute-intensive users, such as developers, data scientists, and creatives.

Quantum computing is transitioning from theory to value after 30 years. Currently, vendors are addressing concerns in error correction, connectivity, control, and scale to achieve more practical value from quantum computing. This puts the potential for exponentially faster solutions to complex problems on the 10-year horizon.

Hyperscalers and specialized providers double down on distributed cloud. Today, distributed applications are increasingly composed of differentiated custom code with consumable cloud-native constructs. The traditional cloud versus edge paradigm no longer suffices for the next generation of cloud-native distributed applications, leading to the rise of distributed cloud.

Moving into 2025, technology infrastructure will go through significant changes, driven by changing business requirements for remote connectivity, AI to power insights, and Zero Trust protection. Businesses have sky-high expectations of AI technology and must continue to prioritise technology infrastructure resilience.

To know more about Forrester's predictions on technology infrastructure for 2025, visit https://www.forrester.com/predictions/.