Prediction: IT spending to grow

Jake Widman
Wednesday, 13 January 2010 03:03

IT Industry - Market

Forrester Research has predicted a "recovery" in the technology sector this year as businesses and governments start spending again.

According to Forrester vice president and principal analyst Andrew Bartels, "the technology downturn of 2008 and 2009 is unofficially over. All the pieces are in place for a 2010 tech spending rebound."

U.S. IT spending dropped 8.2% in 2009, according to the firm's research, while worldwide spending dropped 8.9%.

Those numbers are expected to reverse dramatically: Forrester predicts 6.6% growth in the U.S. this year and 8.1% growth globally.

The top two performing sectors are expected to be computer equipment and software, as organizations embark on what Forrester calls "a new multi-year cycle of technology investment growth and innovation defined by Smart Computing."

"We are entering a new six- to seven-year cycle of IT growth and innovation that Forrester calls Smart Computing," said Bartels. "Smart Computing rests on new foundation technologies such as service-oriented architecture, server and storage virtualization, cloud computing, and unified communications."

Further details can be found in Forrester's "US And Global IT Market Outlook: Q4 2009," available here for US$1,749.

Forrester had predicted as early as last July that tech spending would start to rebound in 2010. Other research firms have also pointed to an end to the tech recession starting this year.