LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. – Spending on IT products and services will rise 3.4 per cent to US$2.3 trillion in 2002 worldwide, compared with 2001, Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner Inc., announced Monday at Gartner’s Symposium/ITxpo.
The biggest of the four IT market segments is telecommunications products and services, which will make up 58.4 per cent of the total, followed by IT services, hardware and software.
Spending on telecommunications products and services is expected to increase 4.8 per cent in 2002 over 2001, while IT services spending is on track to grow 2.8 per cent. Dataquest expects spending on hardware to finish 2002 with a 1.3 per cent decrease, and spending on software to rise 3.6 per cent.
The main drivers for the telecommunications market are the fixed and mobile services segments, which combined are expected to grow 8.8 per cent in 2002, over 2001.
In IT services, the healthiest segment right now is the provision of management services, while segments such as consulting, development and integration are faring as well.
In the hardware market, the PC segment, which is the largest, is expected to post “a slight increase” in spending, while other segments, such as Unix servers and handheld devices, are hurting.
Worldwide IT spending is expected to grow a healthier 7 per cent to US$2.46 trillion in 2003, over 2002, according to Dataquest. Spending on telecommunications services and products is expected to increase 7.5 per cent, followed by IT services (7.1 per cent), software (6.5 per cent) and hardware