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March 29, 2011 – More than 1,900 mergers and acquisitions took place in the information and communications technology sector in 2010 at a value totaling more than $200 billion, according to the latest IDC report. The research found M&A activity in the information and communications technology sector made a strong rebound in 2010 as the global economy recovered and IT spending grew from the recession of 2008-2009.

2010’s majority of M&A deals, according to IDC findings, were concentrated in application-related areas, including enterprise applications (586 deals) and Internet applications (421 deals). Activity also surged in the infrastructure segment where there were more than 219 deals led by strong interest in security and storage companies.

Intel's $7.7 billion deal for McAfee and SAP's acquisition of Sybase ($5.8 billion) were the largest megadeals in the infrastructure segment. The companies with the most M&As included Google, which made 27 deals in 2010, and AOL and Facebook with 9 deals each. Among the major IT vendors, Cisco, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Oracle and VMware all made acquisitions.

"The renewed confidence accompanying the recovery in IT spending helped to make 2010 a turnaround year for technology M&A activity," said Dan Yachin, research director, Emerging Technologies at IDC in the announcement.

2011 should follow as an active year, IDC expects. Companies will be more likely to make strategic investments in areas like converged infrastructure, mobile, analytics and pervasive computing, the report indicates.

The IDC study, 2010 Tech M&A Analysis Report, provides an overview of M&A deals and trends across enterprise IT infrastructure, telecommunications, enterprise applications, IT services, semiconductors and components, Internet and mobile.

Valerie Valentine is senior editor for Information Management. You can follow her on Twitter at @va1va1entine or via email at valerie.valentine@sourcemedia.com.