The Complete Guide to Emerging Technologies of 2023

Technology today is evolving rapidly, paving the way for faster and more efficient ways of doing business. From increased AI and automation capabilities to developments in software testing and risk management, the ever-changing tech landscape presents an opportunity for organizations across industries to embrace emerging technologies with an eye on the future.  

In this overview, we’ll explore the different emerging technologies of 2023 and beyond, from trends in DevOps and game development to the future of virtual reality retail, API, open source, automation, and more.  

• List of Emerging Technologies
• Types of Emerging Technologies
• Emerging Technologies Trends
• New Emerging Technologies of 2023

What Are Emerging Technologies?

Emerging technologies are new technologies that are not yet fully realized and will continue to evolve over time. Emerging technologies typically have the potential to change the status quo.  

List of Emerging Technologies

Emerging technologies include:

• Digital Twins
• Virtual Production
• Open Source Technologies (including Linux)
• PHP Technologies
• Automated Compliance Technologies
• Groupware
• Java Modernization Technologies
• Other Development Technologies

Types of Emerging Technologies  

Some of today’s biggest innovations in global enterprise technology include new methods and tools for producing media, collecting and visualizing data in real-time, and collaborating remotely on projects. Read on to learn about types of emerging technology that are shaping business practices across industries.

Digital Twin(s)

Digital twins are a vital tool that helps companies better understand how a product will perform and react by using real-time data, simulations, and machine learning. A simple digital twin definition would be that a digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical object, process, or service. As this process is more cost effective than physical prototypes, digital twin manufacturing has become a more common and necessary practice. 

Virtual Production

Today’s most groundbreaking films, shows, and other media productions are created using innovations in virtual production technology. Teams in media & entertainment use game engines like Unreal Engine + virtual production techniques to create photorealistic virtual worlds.

In a nutshell, here is how media & entertainment teams are using in-camera VFX (a type of virtual production) to make some of today’s most popular movies and shows: 

1. Artists and designers create virtual sets using 3D modeling, art programs, and game engines.
2. Then those virtual sets are displayed on an LED volume (large LED screens) on set behind the actors and physical set. The sets can be altered in the game engine and changed on-screen in real-time according to the director and crew’s preferences. For example, the lighting might be adjusted, or an object in the virtual set might be moved.
3. Practical cameras (I.e., the real-world, physical cameras) on set are synced with virtual cameras in the game engine, so that the virtual scene moves as the cameras do.
4. The scene is recorded, and what the camera captures is very close to the final version. Much less editing is required in post-production than when filming with a green screen. 

Open Source

Open source is one of the fastest evolving frontiers in software development, and the majority of open source technologies could arguably be considered “emerging.” In the 2023 State of Open Source Report “access to innovations and the latest technologies" was the top reason cited for adopting and using open source software (OSS). Even well-established projects that have existed for decades continue to be applied in new ways, with expanding use cases across a variety of industries.  

Enterprise Linux is an area experiencing a particularly high degree of growth. Red Hat’s decision to sunset CentOS Linux (CentOS 6 and 8 are already EOL, with CentOS 7 following in 2024) in favor of CentOS Stream has led to the emergence of numerous alternative Linux distributions. Many have begun planning migrations to distros like Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux because they are more similar to CentOS than CentOS Stream, which does rolling releases that not all organizations have the infrastructure to support.

In the world of open source programming languages and runtimes, Java continues to dominate. Many teams are opting to use free OpenJDK builds instead of paying licensing fees for Oracle JDK. Open source Java technologies like Spring Boot, and cloud-native container orchestration technologies like Kubernetes have also become increasingly popular for those looking to modernize their Java applications. 

Development: PHP Technologies

PHP has been around for almost 30 years, but continual improvements — introduced via PHP’s unique RFC process — have kept it a “must-learn” language for web app and API developers. Specifically, enhancements to performance and usability in newer PHP versions have helped it stay relevant over time. Modern-day consumers expect speed and an intuitive UI, and PHP must deliver on these two fronts to keep developers and end-users happy.  

Security is another key advancement area for PHP. Since many PHP-based applications and sites are consumer-facing and publicly accessible, attack surface management is extremely important. PHP security means staying up to date with patches and fixes for known vulnerabilities and following encryption best practices to protect your applications.  

79% of web applications, from content management systems to e-commerce sites, are written in PHP, and it continues to successfully adapt and incorporate new features to meet changing consumer demands. In this sense, PHP can be considered both an established and an emerging technology.  

ALM Automation and Autonomous Compliance Technologies

Application lifecycle management (ALM) is a broad concept, encompassing the tools and processes used to manage an application lifecycle all the way from concept to EOL. ALM automation, then, is the use of automation tools to support ALM. ALM automation tools are designed to speed up processes and remove bottlenecks by taking the repetitive, manual work of ALM out of human hands.

Automating ALM is a core goal of the DevOps model, where people, processes, and tools are streamlined to bridge the gaps between teams in application development. As part of a DevOps approach, automation is also driving change across many other aspects of development. That includes enabling efficiency and compliance through creating a traceability matrix.  

Compliance automation, for example, is the use of automation to support an organization’s compliance efforts. Many organizations need to configure their IT infrastructure to meet relevant security standards, like rules set by the Center for Internet Security (CIS) and Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) from the U.S. Department of Defense.  

Autonomous compliance means scanning code for compliance with security regulations, flagging issues like configuration drift in the tools used to develop software, and fixing them – all with less and less direct human input. Great autonomous compliance can help organizations find, fix, and prevent compliance red flags that could present security issues, cost money, and fail regulatory audits.

Groupware and Risk Assessment

Groupware is a broad term that refers to a wide range of technologies, but the common thread that unites them all is the function of helping a group of people work together to achieve a common goal. Based on that definition, “groupware” includes tools for written communication, video calls, documentation, project management, and more.  

The number of remote and hybrid workers has been increasing every year since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, so tools that help teams collaborate from anywhere have become a high-priority need for many organizations. And this trend likely won’t slow down anytime soon — research suggests that hybrid and remote work, and the need for groupware, will continue to increase in 2023 and beyond.

When evaluating a new groupware tool or any other type of emerging technology, it may be helpful to conduct a risk assessment exercise. This helps teams or business leadership consider all the possible impacts of adopting a new tool or technology to help them make an informed final decision.   

Java Modernization

Java has been one of the most popular programming languages in software development for decades. Innumerable systems around the world are built on it. Because of its age, it was not originally built to scale with today’s technology. More and more teams who use it are undertaking time-consuming java modernization efforts to improve cloud performance, reduce costs, and more. Check out the 2022 Java report by the team at JRebel to learn what Java developers think about current development trends, application architecture trends, and more topics related to Java modernization.

Other Development Technologies

Reverse Debugging

Reverse debugging is a solution to the difficulty of debugging today’s increasingly complex software. Debugging tools let developers set breakpoints in their code, step through code statements, and examine variable values to examine why their code crashed. Most tools require developers to work forward from the crash point or a bad data value rather than go “backwards” to find the source of a problem. Even if the developer knows where an error is, finding it can be difficult because the code might have complex iterative and conditional structure. Being able to "go backwards" simplifies troubleshooting.

Popular reverse debugging solutions include recording and replaying the state of a process or OS, or using tools like TimeMachine or Omniscient. There is also reverse debugging with GDB, but it is available for only certain target debugging environments. Debugging tool TotalView has a built-in reverse debugging engine that lets developers record and deterministically replay the execution of programs. 

Machine Learning Libraries & Data Analysis

Machine learning is a field of artificial intelligence (AI) that focuses on imitating human learning through data and algorithms. In a broad sense, it is how computers learn to do new tasks without being programmed to do them. It’s the mechanism behind advancements in everyday consumer tech, like catered social media feeds, to the emerging technology that will shape the future of society, like autonomous vehicles.

There are many machine learning libraries available that provide a collection of functions and classes for preparing data, training models, and scoring results. One is the IMSL Python library; Python has become a very popular language for machine learning applications.

Time series analysis — a method of data analysis for examining data that is indexed by and evolves over time — is important in the ongoing development of machine learning and predictive models. One practice in time series analysis in particular that will be important for the development of machine learning is pre-processing data to estimate or correct missing values, remove outliers, and account for seasonal variations. Pre-processing in this way is crucial for creating a reliable dataset for training machine learning models. Learn more about pre-processing data for time series analysis and its application in real scenarios. 

APIs and Mainframe Modernization

The process of mainframe modernization allows organizations to take advantage of cloud capabilities and make their businesses more scalable, as well as reduce operational costs and increase security and performance. A mainframe refers to a powerful computing system many businesses still rely on for their critical applications, like bulk data processing or large-scale transaction processing. Modernizing these systems is tricky, as any error can be detrimental to the business. However, the long-term benefits of undergoing mainframe modernization outweigh the risks and challenges.

Emerging Technologies Trends

Within certain categories of emerging technologies, a few key trends have become noteworthy. IT leaders should consider how these trends might impact their industries and even accelerate their business goals. In this section, we outline some of the top trends in open source, virtual reality, testing, API, and development tooling.  

Open Source Trends

Open source software is an exciting space, with new tools, projects, and strategies for innovative teams to adopt every year. The top open source trends to keep an eye on this year, according to industry experts, are: 

1. Increased focus on open source security, as ransomware and critical vulnerabilities continue to make headlines.  
2. Movement toward greater open source maturity, with more organizations looking closely at their open source strategy and contributing to open source projects to influence their direction.
3. Demand for AI/ML/DL technologies and discussions about legal/ethical issues stemming from that growth.
4. Widespread adoption of CentOS alternatives, like Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux, and OpenSearch.

Related Resource: On-demand webinar - Open Source Trends to Watch in 2023

Virtual Reality

While virtual reality (VR) technology used to be most commonly found in the game development industry, as technology has improved VR has been adopted by many more industries. Some virtual reality examples of these new uses include:

• Athletics — To better prepare, teams are using VR to help during training. 
• Retail — Some retailers are using VR to help customers better envision what their new furniture could look like in their home, how clothes and accessories would look on them, and even how makeup would look. 
• Automotive — Automotive developers are utilizing VR technology to create 3D models of vehicles. While some have gone even further by using VR for virtual showrooms where customers can take virtual test drives. 
• Healthcare — Medical schools have been using VR to help train their students in how to perform certain procedures, while some hospitals have even used it to plan out complicated procedures.
• Education and Training — Schools have been experimenting with VR to help increase engagement with their students. 

Testing Trends

Adopting a good testing strategy is imperative to creating high-quality web and mobile apps that can compete in today’s marketplace. Part of a good testing strategy involves embracing shift-left performance testing, incorporating automation into your software development life cycle, and—perhaps most importantly—acquiring real and usable test data.  

The key to obtaining realistic and usable test data is to adopt a platform that allows you to produce synthetic, relevant data on demand, but also synchronizes the data across tests. BlazeMeter test data allows testing teams to build flexible, comprehensive, and reusable test data on-the-fly so that teams can test both mobile user experience and the backend under load in the cloud.

After acquiring BlazeMeter test data, this handy test coverage guide from Perfecto shows the devices, browsers, and operating systems that your team should be executing tests against. Utilize this test coverage guide to make strategic decisions about test coverage based on your users, their location, and the latest in device trends.

LoadRunner Alternatives  

While LoadRunner remains an industry leader in software testing, legacy tools can hold back your team’s ability to respond to marketplace opportunities. With planned organizational cuts, customers are looking to switch to lighter and less costly LoadRunner alternatives that allow them to be more agile and easily adapt to change.

BlazeMeter is an ideal open-source-based LoadRunner alternative because of its fully integrated continuous testing functionality, its scalability, and its easy-to-adapt SaaS platform, among numerous other features. BlazeMeter is a modern, lightweight, and easy-to-integrate LoadRunner alternative for modern testing.

API Trends

In the past ten years, companies have become increasingly strategic about their API products. What’s behind this trend? The realization that monetizing APIs as digital assets, as opposed to just technical artifacts, and marketing them to developers can boost your bottom line.  

Covid-19 also had a huge impact on API trends. Many in-person services suddenly had to be available online and APIs played a critical role in companies being able to seamlessly connect customers to new digital offerings. This has led to API-first architecture becoming a trend, as well as the low-code/no-code approach, which allows APIs to be built and updated with minimal involvement from software developers. Finally, the rise of microservices and AI/ML technologies means that modern API management platforms must integrate, and be compatible with, container orchestration technologies, and be able to securely ingest the vast amounts of data coming from AI/ML APIs.  

Emerging Development-Related Technology

Java is by no means a “new” programming language but continues to evolve to meet developers’ needs. Java 17 is the latest LTS version, and the second to come out since Java made the switch to a six-month release cadence in 2017. Java 19 became generally available in September 2022, and Java 20 should come out sometime in March 2023.

The appetite for enterprise-grade Agile and SDLC tools, including those that enable collaboration in software development, is high among dev teams. These technologies allow hardware and software developers work quickly in parallel without stepping on each other’s toes. Another emerging development tooling category is software debugging. While we will likely always be dealing with software bugs, having leading-edge tools to help identify them quickly and provide better visibility into running programs and thread states is invaluable.  

New Emerging Technologies of 2023  

Emerging technologies do not always refer to newer modern technologies; it can also refer to older technologies that are finding new applications. This evolution of development and practical application of technologies is ongoing with emerging technologies becoming broadly adopted. Here, we look at some of the more notable emerging technologies from the past year.

Virtual Reality in Retail

Virtual reality retail has been adopted by some brick-and-mortar shops to provide customers with a virtual shopping experience. This unique experience enables retailers to provide a personalized shopping experience that allows customers to try on clothing and accessories as well as preview new pieces of furniture in their home — all from the comfort of their own home.

The Future of Game Development

The future of game development is dependent on emerging trends and technologies in the gaming community. Some of the more notable emerging trends include:

• Cloud streaming is expected to be the fastest growing gaming platform.
• A growing number of creatives on game development teams.  
• Game development teams are going remote.  

The Future of Open Source

For insights into where open source is headed, the 2023 State of Open Source Report paints a predictive picture. This comprehensive open source report tracks usage and adoption trends across various industries, looking at organizations of all sizes from around the world. With data compiled from an anonymous survey conducted by OpenLogic by Perforce and the Open Source Initiative, the report shows that 80% of organizations increased their OSS usage in the last year and rely on open source software for all kinds of business-critical applications.

According to the report, containers and container orchestration technologies are especially in demand right now. The future of Kubernetes looks particularly bright, as more and more DevOps teams are moving to cloud-native environments. Kubernetes’s staying power can also be contributed to the number of large tech companies (Google, Microsoft, Red Hat) helping to develop and maintain the Kubernetes code base.    

The Future of Semiconductors

Simply put, the future of semiconductor has been heavily shaped by technological trends, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT). In addition, broadening markets — including home appliances and other smart devices — are contributing to the healthy forecast of semiconductors. 

Digital Twin Technology

Digital twin technology enables your team to use real-time data, simulations, and machine learning to create a virtual representation of whatever product, process, or service that you are developing. The technology has greatly improved since the early days of data simulations as designers now have access to fully realized 3D models. Now, digital twins has been adopted by multiple industries for its ability to quickly provide safe, cost-effective, and realistic digital models.

Rich Communication Services

Rich communication services is an advanced messaging feature that upgrades basic SMS text messaging to a more advanced “chat” function. Rich communication services (RCS) includes group chat, video, audio, and imaging capabilities.  

Rich communication services is at the center of nearly all of today’s interactions, from our everyday conversations to high-powered business meetings. Rich communication services is a trend that is continuously being scaled to allow faster, simpler, and more seamless communication, and is poised to greatly impact business communications going forward.  

The Future of API Management

Federated ecosystems and digital business platforms are essential to your future API management. However, there are a few mistakes to avoid as well, which include:

• Missing API ecosystem values.
• Missing the need for agile governance.
• Getting stuck on REST APIs.  

By adopting the right API management strategies, you can rapidly expand your opportunities going forward and secure the future of your business.