Analyst firm IDC has revised its yearly forecast on the IT budgets of companies around the world.
Because of the worldwide financial crisis, the firm expects spending on technology by enterprises to grow by just 2.6 percent next year, compared with 2008. Before the late-September Wall Street meltdown, IDC predicted a worldwide spending growth rate of 5.9 percent. In the US, 4.2 percent growth was expected, but IDC has now revised that figure to just 0.9 percent.
Cisco, Nortel, Dell and others have already indicated that they've seen or expect to see IT spending drop.
With the exception of storage, hardware will be hardest hit by the spending cutbacks, while software and services will be safer, according to IDC.
Regionally, spending in Japan, Western Europe and the US will take the biggest hit. Emerging markets like Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America will still experience "healthy" growth, according to the new forecast.
IDC's report isn't entirely gloom. The firm said it expects IT spending to make "a full recovery" and reach six percent growth by 2012.
