After a sharp decline in 2009, global information technology (IT) spending is expected to rebound this year and keep growing in the years ahead, market research firm Forrester said on Tuesday.
Global IT spending, which dropped 8.9 percent last year, will rise 8.1 percent in 2010 to more than 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars, according to a new
report released by Forrester.
"The technology downturn of 2008 and 2009 is unofficially over, " Andrew Bartels, vice president and principal analyst of Forrester, declared
in a statement. "All the pieces are in place for a 2010 tech spending rebound."
Software and computer hardware will see the greatest growth as businesses and governments begin spending again on information technology,
Forrester predicted.
Measured in U.S. dollars, global purchases of software and computer equipment are projected to rise 9.7 percent and 8.2 percent respectively
this year, and communications equipment buying is expected to increase 7.6 percent.
Moreover, Forrester also believes that 2010 marks the beginning of a new phase of technology advancement and spending growth.
"We are entering a new six- to seven-year cycle of IT growth and innovation that Forrester calls Smart Computing," said Bartels.
Smart Computing is based on technologies such as service- oriented architecture, server and storage virtualization, cloud computing, and
unified communications, he noted.