Eric Knipp

I’ve finally been added to the Gartner Blogger Network.  Cheer!

I’m a recent addition to the Web Technologies team here at Gartner, working with such illustrious contributors as Gene Phifer, Ray Valdes, David Gootzit, David Mitchell Smith, and David Cearley (among others).  I feel lucky to have joined such a great team.  I only hope that my dozen years in software development at a variety of organizations will come in handy as I try to get up to speed.

My role at Gartner involves covering Web and Cloud Application Development.  This is a big bucket, to be sure!  My most recent research includes topics ranging from dynamic Web development languages in the JVM, to open-source JavaScript frameworks, to business value enhancers that Web AD managers can leverage quickly.  I’ve barely scratched the surface of a deep 2009 research agenda that straddles the line between Web 1.0/2.0 research and a Cloudier future.

Every day I engage in conversations with Gartner clients (incidentally, the best part of my day). Over time these conversations let me paint a picture of what is happening in the Web AD and Cloud AD ecosystems. As useful as these inquiries are, they don’t provide a complete picture of what is happening, and I’m quickly learning that there is always a ‘fog of war’ around industry analysis and developing technology trends.

It is my hope that this blog will serve as a knife cutting through the fog, thereby enriching the client-analyst relationship and the quality and relevance of my research. I will use this blog to hint at what’s coming up in my agenda, and to tell you what I think is important for me to learn more about (known unknowns). I also hope that occasionally someone will drop in and inform me about an unknown unknown that I really need to get on my radar.

Right now the hottest items on my plate revolve around developing Web applications for the Cloud.  Announcements from leading Clouderati and their onhangers are arriving with increasing frequency.  There’s a lot of fog, and I hope to cut through some of it.