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Cloud and Mobile to Drive Increase in IT Spending Worldwide

According to the latest Worldwide Black Book forecast from International Data Corp. (IDC), worldwide IT spending will increase by 4.5 percent in 2017, rebounding from last year's growth of 2.5 percent. Total spending is expected to reach $2.1 trillion, and increase by another 4 percent in 2018. The source of that positive momentum, according to the market research firm: stronger upgrade cycles for cloud infrastructure and mobile devices.

"Cloud and mobile are still the big drivers for IT spending, despite the attention devoted to new technologies like augmented reality, artificial intelligence and robotics," said Stephen Minton, vice president for customer insights and analysis at IDC, in a statement. "New technologies will drive a larger share of market growth in the next five to 10 years, but the short term will also see a resurgence of growth in markets tied to 3rd Platform opportunities, including cloud services, mobility and big data."

Among IDC's market predictions, as outlined in a news announcement:

  • Cloud service providers will accelerate their datacenter investments to keep pace with growing user demand, with total server spending increasing by 4 percent this year and 5 percent in 2018;
  • Enterprise spending on server and storage infrastructure will increase in the second half of 2017, thanks to product refresh cycles;
  • Spending on infrastructure-as-a-service will reach more than $25 billion in 2017 and $50 billion by 2020;
  • The smartphone market will see stronger growth, with spending up by 7 percent this year;
  • Software spending will increase by 7 percent in 2017, with continued enterprise investment in big data and analytics as well as software-as-a-service adoption; and
  • IT services spending will increase by 3 percent this year, with a particular focus on project-oriented services.

Not all market areas are so rosy, however: "While overall market momentum is set to improve, some technologies will continue to drag on industry growth in the near term," said Minton. "High-end servers are expected to post another year of double-digit decline this year, while hardcopy peripheral spending will fall for the second year in a row. Overall tablet spending will also decline again, despite improving sales of hybrid and detachable models, while sales of traditional PCs and external storage systems will be broadly flat. This year will also see slowing growth for enterprise network equipment and traditional outsourcing services."

For more information on IDC's Worldwide Black Book, visit the company site.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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