Gartner Projects Worldwide Spending on IT to Rise 5 Percent in 2005 During Opening Session of Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando
Peter Sondergaard, Global Head of Gartner Research, Says New Competition from India, China and High Energy Costs Drive Push for Productivity Gains
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., October 18, 2004 — Worldwide spending on information technology will increase by 5 percent in 2005, according to Gartner, Inc. As companies respond to increasing competition from India, China, Brazil and other emerging economies and to rising energy costs, their pursuit of productivity gains through investments in new IT products and services will continue to be a strategic priority.
"Business leaders have to find new ways to maximize the effectiveness of their operations to deliver against profit expectations," said Peter Sondergaard, global head of research at Gartner, the world's leading technology research and advisory firm. "They face greater uncertainty than ever" in anticipating world events as well as rapid changes in markets and competition, he said.
Mr. Sondergaard spoke today during the opening session at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, a six-day conference taking place here through October 22. The conference is one of the world's largest gatherings of senior IT and business professionals, with attendance this week estimated of 6,500, an increase of approximately 5 percent compared with last year's conference.
Gartner organizes more than 50 conferences worldwide each year on a wide range of IT industry topics. The conferences feature studies and commentary by Gartner analysts, and on-stage interviews conducted with industry leaders. During the first six months of 2004, revenue from Gartner events increased 13 percent, to $55 million, over the same period in 2003.
In his remarks, Mr. Sondergaard said consumer demand for products such as gaming machines, plasma screens and related video technology, and wireless connectivity continues to outpace demand from businesses as the primary influence on innovation and new investment by hardware manufacturers.
For example, he said, "Next year there will be 30 new companies offering Voice over IP (internet protocol) service in North America to consumers." These companies will be "competing with traditional suppliers that you rely on, and those suppliers are going to have change dramatically to stay in business," he said.
For leaders of IT operations, advances in four central technologies will create new opportunities for further reductions in labor costs. These advances include server consolidation, which reduces maintenance requirements; virtualization, which improves utilization of existing capacity especially during period of peak demand; real-time infrastructure, which improves data collection, analysis and response time; and, software, which is accelerating improvements in efficiency throughout IT operations.
"The biggest challenge for IT management is dealing with all this fluidity," Mr. Sondergaard said. "We have to get better at dealing with uncertainty. We have to support that sense-and-response cycle that underpins the real-time enterprise. Doing that involves all the many dimensions of IT which we will review over the next several days."
About Gartner Symposium/ITxpo
Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is the IT industry's largest and most strategic conference, providing business leaders with a look at the future of IT. For more than 10,000 IT professionals from the world's leading enterprises, Gartner's annual Symposium/ITxpo events are key components of their annual planning efforts. Attendees rely on Gartner Symposium/ITxpo to gain insight into how their organizations can use technology to address business challenges and improve operational efficiency.
In Orlando, an integral part of the Gartner Symposium is the ITxpo showfloor, where more than 190 technology companies are showcasing the latest technology solutions. There are 13 ITxpo marketplaces, including mobile and wireless, business intelligence and data warehousing, IT services, security and a compliance pavilion. ITxpo marketplaces are focused areas designed to aggregate solution providers into a specific market and link conference topics to market solutions. Attendees can attend technology company presentations and schedule face to face meetings with exhibitors of their choice.
About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB) is the leading provider of research and analysis on the global information technology industry. Gartner serves more than 10,000 clients, including chief information officers and other senior IT executives in corporations and government agencies, as well as technology companies and the investment community. The Company focuses on delivering objective, in-depth analysis and actionable advice to enable clients to make more informed business and technology decisions. The Company's businesses consist of Gartner Intelligence, research and events for IT professionals; Gartner Executive Programs, membership programs and peer networking services; and Gartner Consulting, customized engagements with a specific emphasis on outsourcing and IT management. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and has more than 3,500 associates, including approximately 1,000 research analysts and consultants, in more than 75 locations worldwide For more information,
visit www.gartner.com.
