The vast majority of CIOs express optimism about economic growth, but that doesn't necessarily translate into more spending on technology this year.

A first-quarter 2007 survey of 100 U.S. CIOs by Citigroup Investment Research reveals that 83 percent of the business technologists see the economic recovery continuing in 2007. Still, nearly half say their IT spending in the next 12 months will stay about the same as it is now; just over two in five see an increase in spending.

When companies do spend on IT, their top priority by a wide margin is beefing up IT security, the survey reveals. What type of security spending? CIO Insight's May Research study on IT security shows increased spending on anti-virus/spyware/malware software, identity management and authentication, encryption, security education and training and security consulting services.

Other priorities of CIOs, according to the Citigroup survey: server consolidation, application and business intelligence software deployment and regulatory/compliance projects.

Take a look at the survey results: View the slideshow

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