AUSTIN, TX, Dec. 30 -- A dramatic escalation is ahead in device-to-device communication as traffic on the Internet is no longer people talking to people, but people talking to devices and devices talking to devices.

So says self-styled futurist and technologist David Smith, a vice president at Technology Futures Inc., and who has worked with Boeing, Hughes, Intel, Compaq and the CIA.

 Other forecasts, as issued by the firm today:

• The timeframe of the product life-cycle continues to decrease: By the time a product hits the market, its shelf life is half what it used to be. So the science and research time will become more intensive and innovative earlier as product development time continues to compress.
• Outsourcing and globalization become paradigms of success: Businesses must understand and adapt to the new source of competitive advantage by connecting to the core competencies and customer interaction on global scale. In the global business world, global interaction is imperative.
• Broadband and high-speed wireless penetration reach a large enough market for new classes of applications to emerge: These new products will explicitly take advantage of what broadband and wireless networks have to offer in terms of mobility and accessibility to markets.
• The Age of Bio will maintain its marked acceleration: National and global collaboration is enhancing its commercialization potential.
• An information age emerging increasingly driven by needs for precision, accuracy and timeliness in all  endeavors -­- personal, business, governmental.
• A major revolution continues in IT growth in such areas as the Internet, wireless and wired communications, mobile applications and electronic commerce.
• Information technology becoming ubiquitous and expanding within the private, business and global worlds. Every device becomes a server.
• Quality of life improvements in such areas as smart appliances, cars, highways and buildings, easier access to knowledge, and revolutionary new concepts in health-related fields.
• An increasingly mobile and global society becoming ever more reliant on a worldwide availability of information.

The firm says that in order for these trends to come about, certain policies must be put in place, including an open, standards-based infrastructure that position U.S. organizations as early adapters to information technology developments.