While the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is the harbinger of emerging smartphones, tablets and other exciting consumer gadgets, it is also a forum that signals new trends in the IT industry. Take, for example, the “Bring Your Own Device” or BOYD mania that is emerging in the IT world. Employees are using their personal smartphones and tablets in offices in large numbers. And BOYD tide is only rising with time.

According to ZDNet’s contributing editor Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, “21st century IT administrators ignore consumer tech at their own risk.” The ZDNet report highlights Shawn Dubravac’s, chief economist and senior director of research at CEA, preshow presentation at CES (News - Alert) 2013.

Dubravac alerted the attendees that consumers were moving into the "post-smartphone era." He pointed out that when Apple released the iPhone (News - Alert) in 2007, the emphasis was on its use as a phone. Today, however, "65 percent of the time we spend on mobile phones is not communications. Even adding in e-mail, texting, and so on, smartphones are no longer about communication."

In other words, smartphones are becoming interfaces to services. It has become “the viewfinder of your digital life," explained Dubravac. For IT, it means they should develop more smartphone-friendly apps, said the CEA executive. In fact, Dubravac went on to say that “The smartphone is becoming the 21st century worker's first computing tool,” wrote Vaughan-Nichols.

Meanwhile, the smartphone, as well as the tablet, continues to evolve by adding sensors, such as multiple cameras, microphones, and accelerometers. As a result, they are also becoming hubs for other sensors such as blood-pressure and glucose monitors.

Dubravac’s CES presentation shows that "data is the new currency." And that data gathered from these devices is being used in the real world. He gave the example of Progressive Insurance who has a program, Snapshot, that can give you as much as a 30 percent break on your car-insurance rates if you install a black box on your car that lets the company monitor how often you slam on the brakes, how many miles you drive, and how much time you spend driving between midnight and 4 AM.

Furthermore, Dubravac’s presentation suggests forthcoming changes for network administrators. With smartphone screens adopting higher resolution displays, such as Apple's (News - Alert) Retina Display, the networks will need more bandwidth. Concurrently, Dubravac said some 350 million devices with IP addresses will ship in 2013. “So, do you still think you can get away with delaying your IPv6 migration? I don't,” asserted Dubravac.

Similarly, he alerted the CES audience on the use of multiple screens for more data, and the trend towards voice recognition like the Apple Siri.

In conclusion, Dubravac said that the society was moving into an era of pervasive computing. And that signal comes from the CES showroom floor, said the preshow keynoter.

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