Worldwide IT Spending Outperformed Expectations in 2010, Reaching $1.5 Trillion
Depending on which magazine or website you read, the economy is either still in the tank or on its way to even more pain; but let’s see the truth for what it is in the IT industry, which is we’re officially back to business, building products, moving scale, and capturing demand for expansion of the digital universe — you can’t stop this kind of stuff. We’re seeing hardware upgrades, infrastructure investment (just look at the Data Center space), and globally the IT market grew by 8% year-over-year, to more than $1.5 trillion, according to International Data Corporation.
Hardware equipment, such as computer systems, peripherals, storage, mobile devices, and network equipment saw an increase of 16%, to more than $661 billion, the fastest rate of growth for hardware investment since 1996. Storage systems spending grew by more than 14%, servers 9%, and PCs by 11%. Software and services returned to positive growth, reaching 4% and 2% respectively.
So that’s the big picture, this year is going to go through a lot of changes, we can already see it ahead. Mobile is beginning to breakout, data growth is astounding, and the cloud is redefining how we approach web software; lots of exciting stuff looking forward. Good luck to everyone.
09 Feb 2011
FRAMINGHAM, Mass., February 9, 2011 — Global spending on information technology (IT) surged to its fastest rate of growth since 2007 last year, driven by pent-up demand for hardware upgrades and infrastructure investment after the financial crisis and global recession of 2009. According to the new International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Black Book, the global IT market grew by 8% year over year to more than $1.5 trillion at constant currency. Including telecom services, the overall information and communications technology (ICT) market grew by 6% to almost $3 trillion in 2010.Hardware spending led the way, as a major capital spending cycle saw IT spending on computer systems, peripherals, storage, mobile devices, and network equipment increase by 16% to more than $661 billion, the fastest rate of growth for hardware investment since 1996. Storage spending grew by 14%, servers by 9%, and PCs by 11%.
“Like the global economy, the global IT industry performed better than expected in 2010,” said Stephen Minton, vice president of IDC’s IT Markets and Strategies Group. “With business profits and stock markets back into a cycle of growth, many organizations took the opportunity to make up for lost time by upgrading mission critical systems and infrastructure over the course of the year. While downside macroeconomic risks are still present, we entered 2011 on the back of a resounding rebound for the technology industry.”The pace of recovery was more robust than after any previous economic recession, in spite of the severity of the 2008/2009 financial crisis. Spending on software and services, while lagging the pace of hardware investment, also returned to positive growth of 4% and 2% respectively. This is set to accelerate in 2011, as investment in new IT projects (including rapid adoption of cloud computing) begins to make up for an inevitable deceleration in the pace of capital spending by the end of the year. The overall IT market will grow by 7% this year to $1.65 trillion with another year of double-digit growth for hardware spending (10%), while software and services markets will increase by 5% and 4% respectively.
“The global economy could still be a wild card,” said Anna Toncheva, program manager and economist in IDC’s IT Markets and Strategies Group. “The sovereign debt crisis in Europe may raise its head again, and we still lack sufficient visibility into many variables to be sure that a double-dip recession will not occur. However, the consensus opinion is currently that such a downturn is much less likely now than six months ago, and this continued economic stability will provide the foundation for another year of strong growth in the IT industry.”
The U.S. IT market grew by 6% in 2010, and will expand by another 5% in 2011, but emerging economies are again leading the way and driving the overall growth of the global industry to higher levels. The Asia/Pacific region, excluding Japan (APeJ), saw growth of 13% last year, which will be followed by a 10% increase in 2011. Double-digit growth is also forecast in Central & Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Meanwhile, other mature economies including Western Europe, Japan, and Canada will continue to expand at a lower but sustainable rate of growth, much like the U.S. High levels of unemployment will continue to inhibit overall IT investment in many of those countries, but positive drivers will include adoption of cloud computing, the continued proliferation of mobile devices, and investment in new software analytics tools.
“Last year was a big year for the technology industry,” said Minton. “Some of the growth was just a bounce back from the declines of 2009, when the market declined by 4%, but there was also a very real surge of demand as businesses around the world continue to deal with the issue of managing, storing, securing, and analyzing the increasing flood of digital information that is resulting from the proliferation of mobile devices and embedded computing platforms. As long as the economy remains stable, we look forward to another strong year of investment in 2011.”
On February 17th, Minton and Toncheva will host an IDC Web conference focusing on IDC’s new IT spending forecast. The presentation will include a discussion of regional trends across hardware, software, and IT services markets, as well as the drivers and inhibitors for IT investment in 2011 and beyond. For more information, or to register for this event, go to http://www.idc.com/events/eventwebconference.jsp?containerId=IDC_P22469.
