Global IT budgets to be slashed in 2001

According to a survey by Merrill Lynch, the situation is even worse in the US, where budgets will grow by only five per cent, down from 11 per cent in the previous 12 months.

The survey suggested that in Europe, the situation won't be so bad. IT budgets will grow by only 13 per cent, down slightly from 14 per cent in 2001.

Only 70 per cent of respondents had accounted for an economic slowdown in their budgets, so these figures may fall further. However, 58 per cent said they had had to revise their 2000 IT budget upwards as the year progressed.

50 US and 20 European CIOs, took part in the survey, conducted in the first two weeks of September.

Cisco, Compaq, Mircosoft, NetApp and Sun were the companies thought most likely to prosper in the New Year, with HP, IBM and Lucent expected to fall upon lean times. Microsoft Desktop software was the single category expected to grow fastest.

Unsurprisingly, handheld devices and wireless technologies topped the lists of categories where expenditure was likely to grow fastest in 2001.