06 Nov 2009

Drop predicted in IT spending

A fall has been predicted in the amount that businesses spend on IT infrastructure next year, research carried out by Gartner has shown.

Dan Joe Barry, vice-president of marketing at Napatech, said a worldwide decline in IT spending is expected across all business areas, including communications, data management and online banking.

"There's been more emphasis now on controlling what's going on in these different packet networks. People are beginning to manage their networks a bit more tightly than they were," he commented.

Mr Barry claimed that the recession has had an impact on all types of firms and IT cutbacks are just one of the expected outcomes.

According to the Gartner report, IT spending is projected to total $2.28 trillion (£1.37 trillion) in 2009, 6.8 per cent down from 2008.

Meanwhile, the three largest industry segments for IT - financial services, manufacturing and government - will remain dominant through to 2013.