What technology will have the biggest impact on business in the next 12 months? Nope, it's not RFID. According to a poll conducted by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), it's security technology. Nearly a quarter of the 1,100-plus IT professionals who participated in the group's online survey this spring put security technology at the top of their lists.

The findings come as no surprise to CompTIA President and CEO John Venator. "The proliferation of devices that are now connected to networks, and the increasing mobility of customers and workers have pushed security to top of mind for everyone, from the technician monitoring the network to the business owners and operators whose livelihood can be at risk in the event of a security catastrophe," says Venator. "Information security considerations affect virtually everything an organization does, whether it is internal e-mail communications, business-to-business data exchange, or electronic commerce with consumers."

What else made the list? Wireless data applications came in second, and convergence solutions, such as voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony and unified messaging, took third place.

As for RFID? It showed up in seventh place, trailing open source solutions, virtualization technology, and Web 2.0.