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Worldwide IT spending figures show mixed results for 2012


Worldwide IT spending is forecast to total $3.7 trillion in 2012, a 2.5 percent increase from 2011, according to the latest outlook by Gartner, Inc. This is down from Gartner’s previous forecast of 3.7 percent growth for 2012.


Gartner analysts said the lower growth rate has more to do with the U.S. currency than an actual decline in spending. The recent strengthening in the value of the U.S. dollar versus other currencies has resulted in the reduced growth rate. However, when looking at spending in constant U.S. dollars, Gartner analysts said IT spending is on pace to increase 5.2 percent in 2012, up from its previous projection of 4.6 percent.


“Despite ongoing concerns about the global economic recovery — most notably around the resolution of eurozone sovereign-debt problems, worries about the potential for China’s real estate ‘bubble’ to spillover and affect the rest of the economy and rising oil prices — early signs in 2012 suggest that the global economic outlook has brightened a little,” said Richard Gordon, Research Vice president at Gartner. Gartner analysts said IT spending in the government sector is


2011


Computing Hardware Enterprise Software IT Services


Telecom Equipment Telecom Services All IT


Spending 404 267 845 442


1,704 3,661


2011


Growth (%) 7.7 9.2 6.5 7.2 6.3 6.8


Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (Billions of U.S. Dollars)


expected to contract moderately on a global basis in 2012 and 2013, driven by austerity measures in the eurozone. While there has been much commentary about the need for government cuts since the sovereign debt crisis emerged in Europe, it is only now that the impact of government budget cutbacks is being felt on IT spending in the region.


Similarly, we expect U.S. government spending to be essentially flat in 2012 before contracting in 2013. In the small and midsize business market, which represents approximately a quarter of all enterprise IT spending, spending is forecast to reach $874 billion in 2012 and will grow to $1 trillion


by 2016. Throughout the forecast period, midsized business IT spending outperforms other sectors in each of the next five years, driven by growth in spending on enterprise software.


The worldwide telecom equipment market is forecast to show the strongest growth with spending reaching $472 billion in 2012, a 6.9 percent increase from 2011. Gartner attributes this growth to the continued health of the mobile devices market as well as a more positive outlook for enterprise network equipment, which is being driven by spending on application acceleration equipment, network security, WLAN and Ethernet switches.


New online tool measures progress of “green” data centres


The Green Grid launches free self-assessment tool for benchmarking against best practices and industry peers - data centre operators can now measure their progress towards best practice in efficiency, sustainability and reducing resource consumption, thanks to a new online tool from The Green Grid - the open industry consortium dedicated to improving the resource efficiency of datacentres and business IT.


The tool, which is free to use, enables anyone to assess their data centre and IT portfolio against The Green Grid’s Data Centre Maturity Model (DCMM), a comprehensive set of criteria for measuring progress towards greener, more sustainable data centre practices. As an extension of the DCMM, the new tool enables users to measure every aspect of their data centre, including power, cooling, compute, storage and network, and benchmark their progress against their peers and current industry best practice.


“We developed the Data Centre Maturity Model to be the world’s most comprehensive single resource for setting data centre operators on the path to maximum sustainability and energy efficiency,” said Harkeeret Singh, Chair of The Green Grid’s Technical Work Group. “The new online benchmarking tool builds on this work by providing users with clear assessment criteria that enables them to measure against current best practice, as well as a five year roadmap for the industry.


4 www.dcseurope.info I May 2012


“The DCMM criteria provide capability descriptions by data centre area, so operators can benchmark their current performance, determine their levels of maturity, and identify the ongoing steps and innovations necessary to achieve greater energy efficiency and sustainability,” continued Singh.


“Once they have entered their data, users get access to their own personal DCMM equaliser, a model that enables them to determine their levels of maturity and identify the ongoing steps and innovations required as part of their strategy to achieve greater energy efficiency and sustainability improvements in the data centre.


“This also gives users the ability to obtain benchmarking results so that they can see how they are doing against the industry and similar types of data centres, and see the next steps they need to take to improve efficiency.”


“The DCMM should be seen as a collective roadmap for the industry; operators will push for more evolved levels of the model; and both vendors and manufacturers will help users achieve their desired ends. There is often cynicism about ‘green’ initiatives undertaken in the IT industry, and it is sometimes justified. The Data Centre Maturity Model (DCMM) Tool will finally enable data centres to demonstrate credible proof that they lead the industry – and, perhaps, their rivals – in resource efficiency and sustainability,” concluded Singh.


2012


Spending 421 280 856 472


1,721 3,751


2012


Growth (%) 4.3 5.0 1.3 6.9 1.0 2.5


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