Foote Partners LLC tracks the demand and changes in market value for more than 800 IT skills and certifications. So we asked the Florida-based analyst firm to evaluate the recent trends and feedback from more than 2,000 employers and provide a preview of the hot roles, skills, and certifications for 2012. The firm plans to publish the complete list in the next few weeks, but CEO David Foote gave Dice News an exclusive preview of the results. Dice News: Which career segment or role tops your hot list for 2012? Foote: Enterprise architecture tops our list, because companies are looking for outsiders to standardize their platforms so they can outsource apps and data to SaaS and/or the cloud. Expect a huge demand for integration experts due to a rise in M&A activity in 2012. At the same time, security is becoming a major concern as companies continue to build mobile apps and move data offshore, so architects need to understand The Open Architecture Framework (TOGAF) and have a CSSLP certification, which is becoming the Holy Grail of secure software development. DN: Will the cloud create other hot roles? Foote: We’re calling these people technology brokers, but their role is much more broad and analytical than their title suggests. They understand the financial, legal, and security issues associated with the cloud and have the ability to conduct an in-depth analysis and make outsourcing recommendations to senior management. They probably have an MBA and understand audit control and compliance and may even have a security certification. DN: What else is on your list? Foote: Everyone talks about the growing need for new-age developers, but I’m not sure they truly understand the evolution of this role or its importance. Modern developers are like walking Swiss Army Knives because they need to know C#, F#, mobile programming languages, collaboration software, user design interfaces, secure coding, .Net Framework and Ruby on Rails because everything is moving off the desktop. Development was dead just a few years ago; now, it’s coming back with a vengeance. DN: Are you tracking other emerging skills or technologies? Foote: We haven’t added a new category of skills to our survey in almost eight years, but due to a growing demand, we’ll be tracking Epic skills and salaries in 2012. Finally, new grads should consider going into SAP HANA  in-memory computing because it’s going to be hot for the foreseeable future.