Study: U.S. IT Spending Up Sharply, Non-U.S. Spending Down

Compiled ByTim Stevens Information technology spending is up sharply in the U.S., according to an IT trends report just released by META Group, a research and consulting firm specializing in information technology, Stamford, Conn. IT spending by U.S. business organizations, as a percentage of gross revenues, increased 8.7% in 2000, compared with a 3.4% increase in 1999. IT spending among non-U.S. business organizations, however, was down 20% from 1999. The study is drawn from a database of more than 16,000 IT contacts, representing 6,000 companies in 35 industry sectors in 28 nations. Companies are investing in networked computer and Web-based applications to take advantage of global markets opened by the new economy, according to the report. Twelve percent of applications developed in the U.S. use Java programming language, which is used for Web-based applications, up from 1% in 1999. The emphasis on new development is in client/server environments. Thirty-two percent of worldwide development is targeted at client/server, 27% at mainframe environments, and 19% at the network and workstation environments. With the focus on networking, the majority of U.S. IT budgets were spent on data center and operations. Non-U.S. companies are spending most on networks and data centers. Both U.S. and non-U.S. business organizations project budget increases in the next year, with U.S. companies emphasizing maintenance and support, and non-U.S. companies expending the most effort on new development.