According to the new IDC Worldwide Black Book, the surge was driven by pent-up demand for hardware upgrades and infrastructure investment after the financial crisis and global recession of 2009.
Hardware spending led the way, as 2010 saw IT spending on computer systems, peripherals, storage, mobile devices and network equipment increase by 16 percent to more than $661 billion, the fastest rate of growth for hardware investment since 1996. Storage spending grew by 14 percent, servers by 9 percent, and PCs by 11 percent. Spending on software and services returned to positive growth of 4 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
Stephen Minton, vice president of IDC's IT markets and strategies group, was quoted in the announcement to explain that with business markets cycling back toward growth, many organizations upgraded mission-critical systems and infrastructure last year.
"Like the global economy, the global IT industry performed better than expected in 2010," said Minton. "While downside macroeconomic risks are still present, we entered 2011 on the back of a resounding rebound for the technology industry," he said.
The pace of recovery was more robust than after any previous economic recession, IDC found in their research. The overall IT market will grow by 7 percent this year to $1.65 trillion, predicts IDC, with another year of double-digit growth for hardware spending (10 percent), while software and services markets will increase by 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively. High levels of unemployment will continue to inhibit overall IT investment in many countries, but positive drivers include adoption of cloud computing, mobile devices and investment in analytics software.
Read recent stories from Information Management on the IT market and IT job market.
Valerie Valentine is senior editor for Information Management. You can follow her on Twitter at @va1va1entine or via email at valerie.valentine@sourcemedia.com.
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