Gartner: Web 2.0 to make waves in enterprise

AJAX, mashups, location-aware software and sensor mesh networking are among the key emerging technologies set to have a significant impact on businesses over the next 10 years, Gartner says.

Web 2.0 is one of the major themes identified in an "emerging technologies hype cycle" released by the research firm. The hype cycle looks at new technologies that are gaining attention and predicts a pattern of hype/disillusionment/adoption for each one.

Technologies under the Web 2.0 umbrella predicted to have a high impact on businesses are AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML development techniques for enhancing the responsiveness and usability of Web applications), and mashups, the joining together of multiple online applications to create a new service). These are also expected to reach maturity in less than two years.