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IDC sees 14pc jump in Ireland's IT spend
Thursday, April 20 2000
by Dominic Phelan


A survey by Swiss management school IMD has also named Ireland as having the
fastest-growing economy of 47 nations.

A new IDC study of IT spending in Europe has found that Ireland is one of the
fastest-growing regions for technology purchases, with an annual growth rate of
14pc. This compares to an average IT spend increase of 10pc reported in the IDC
"European Black Book." 



The IDC results show that USD1.8bn was spent in total last year on IT
infrastructure, both by companies and the consumer market but that the higher
figure of USD3.2bn also applies if telecoms is included. This breaks down into
categories such as USD167m on PC, USD241m on software and USD550m on servers. 



"The strong Irish economy is a factor in this, with the growing number of IT
companies investing in software and hardware," said Stephen Minton, IDC's
research manager and author of the report.



"One of the reasons for Ireland's strong showing is the fact that it is an
emerging economy…in the long term its overall IT spend in relation to the rest of
Europe will level off. When that happens it will show the 'standard' IT spend."



IDC said the Irish results showed that the investment was being made by both
indigenous companies and multi-nationals. The Black Book showed that the European
countries that are members of the EU had a relatively integrated IT
infrastructure. But when it comes to attracting multi-national funding, Ireland
should keep an eye on other strong IT countries, such as France.



"Ireland has done well in the past but will have to look over its shoulder.
There is competition for funds and if your economic situation changes IT
companies will look elsewhere," Minton said.



In a separate survey published Wednesday, Swiss management school IMD has named
Ireland as having the fastest-growing economy from among 47 nations. The results,
which show Ireland moving from 11th to 7th in the rankings, were published in
IMD's World Competitiveness Yearbook.