IT Management Slideshow:
Gartner: Tech Spending To Jump 7% in 2011

Worldwide spending on computing hardware, software, IT services and telecom is on pace to grow 7.1% in 2011, according to 2Q spending outlook by Stamford, Conn., research firm Gartner Inc. (For more research on tech spending, check out CIO Insight's IT Investment Trends Study .) In the Gartner report, released at the end of June, the research firm's analysts revised their overall IT spending forecast from their 1Q update, when they projected 5.6% growth for 2011. "It is a bit surprising that we have not seen a more significant impact on our global IT spending forecast as a results of the Japan earthquake and tsunami, but despite widespread concerns about disruptions to the supply of critical components in the initial aftermath of the natural disaster, there has not been a dramatic impact on overall IT spending," says Richard Gordon, research vice president at Gartner. The computing and hardware segment is poised for the strongest growth of any major category this year, Gartner says. Cloud computing is playing a huge role in the spending landscape. The 2Q forecast shows that spending on public cloud services is expected to grow four times faster than spending on overall IT.