FRAMINGHAM, Mass., February 4, 2010 – After three quarters of steady upward movement, both IDC FutureScan indicators dropped slightly this month. However, the outlook remains positive as the indicators continue to suggest further gains in IT spending over the next 12 months. At the moment, IDC's Worldwide Black Book forecast for U.S. IT spending growth in 2010 is 2.8%, midway between the two indicators.

The Buyer Intent metric for February is 1003, which is down from 1023 in January. While the Line of Business executives surveyed by IDC maintained their positive outlook for the year ahead, the CIOs polled slipped back into negative territory this month. Buyer Intent reflects market demand for IT products and services over the next 12 months.

The Market Indicators number for February, which combines input from economic and IT industry revenue forecasts, was 1055, down from 1083 in January. For the first time in almost a year, the revenue forecast indicator scored higher than the macroeconomic indicator, largely due to last month's dip in the stock market and a more difficult year-over-year comparison.

"An adjustment in the market indicators was more or less inevitable because it is based on comparison to conditions in the past. As the past got worse, the indicators went up," noted John Gantz, IDC's Chief Research Officer. "The good news is that the macroeconomic forecasts are relatively stable. And the buyer intent indicator, the result of a survey, is subject to both polling variances and, it looks like, the winter doldrums. But enough external indicators are positive, that we will consider the buyer intent trajectory to be, by and large, upward. IT budgets will pick up sooner or later."

FutureScan is a set of market metrics that measure supply and demand in the IT industry based on leading indicators and customer surveys. Values reflect expectations of future growth, with an index value of 1000 indicating zero growth and each additional 10 points representing roughly 1% of expected growth or contraction.

FutureScan results for January and prior months can be viewed at www.idc.com/futurescan.

For more information about FutureScan, or any other products from IDC's Global Research Organization, please contact Michael Shirer at 508-988-7982 or mshirer@idc.com.

Contact