Now that 2011 is coming to a close, we reminisce on the year’s best technologies, trends and gadgets. Forward looking to 2012, reports of predictions, the-next-best-gadget, killer app and new technology are all being laid out. While it’s hard to predict up-and-coming trends in the tech sector, 2011 certainly paved the way for quite a few.

Cloud computing, the technology that was once a curious one, is going to become the norm. 2011 made “the cloud” legitimate and 2012 is promising to make it more so. Companies will likely use a combination of various public cloud services, including Software as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, and Platform as a Service.

In fact, with SaaS (News - Alert), Gartner says SaaS and Cloud Computing are areas that will continue to grow despite the current economic recession. The areas they expect to be hot are CRM, Web Conferencing, and Google (News - Alert) Apps. Implied in this report is that services inside Second Life can benefit if aimed at enterprise use.

As companies quickly adopt a variety of cloud resources, they’ll increasingly have to address working with several different cloud solutions, often from different providers. By the end of 2012, cloud customers will already be using more than 10 different cloud apps on average. Cloud orchestration will become a big topic and an opportunity for service providers, according to Holger Kisker, principal analyst, Forrester Research.

Devices using cloud computing may become more of a commodity in 2012, according to a post on International Business Times' website. The website predicts that next year, firms without a cloud strategy will be faced with long-term issues and pressures.

Other predictions for 2012 are that devices will become more popular and will work better within the cloud, mobile advertising will pick up as a big revenue generator for businesses, and carriers will be expected to bare some of the burden of bandwidth.

“To the extent cloud-based offerings require more bandwidth, the carriers could benefit depending on actual customer usage patterns,” the website said. “While carriers have talked of their own cloud-based services (as with apps), they will likely be relegated to the role of delivery vehicle.”

CloudTimes said cloud computing will become a “common thing” in 2012, as more people and companies will realize the benefits of what the cloud can do for them. Irmee Layo said the cloud will become an “accepted paradigm shift as new buzzwords surface and make new trends.”