Part 1 of 2. This part deals with the rendering trends in the VFX industry today. Then part 2 will include a run down of 14 of the most popular renderers for VFX.
I found [this](http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-state-of-rendering/)today really interesting for first part, cant wait to read 2nd part
http://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-state-of-rendering/
Looks like Cycles is on a good way here - touching at least multiple hot topics such as GPU, OSL, and online rendering.