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The current high-tech industry downturn is painful to many, but it is not unprecedented. The technology industry went through a cycle of boom and bust in the late-1960s and again in the mid-1980s. On both occasions, innovation and entrepreneurial flair, combined with strong underlying demand, helped to pull the industry out of a tailspin and on to the next gold rush.

Commentators such as IDC and Gartner refer to the 'IT business cycle': a new technology initiates a new 'paradigm', creating a speculative bubble. Reality bites, triggering a collapse of expectations, valuations and a hiatus in sales. Eventually this is followed by the long-term exploitation of the new technologies, leading to more innovations and wealth creation. Many of the giants of technology have enjoyed sustained periods of growth in these later stages of the cycle.

The investment wave of the 1990s, along with the Internet 'bubble', led to the creation of many new and heavily hyped technologies. Infoconomist's team of writers and editors has looked beyond the fizz, identifying five areas that are moving into the third, most lucrative stage of the cycle.

They are:

1. voice-over-IP
2. wireless middleware
3. next-generation web sites
4. real-time analytics and
5. managed security.

Companies working around these technology areas, assuming they execute well, should be poised for a sudden surge in growth — as if swept up in a tornado, to paraphrase Silicon Valley marketing guru Geoffrey Moore.