Top technology projects, now to mid-2007

ZDNet Research has pulled together the latest findings from our monthly IT Priorities survey of IT professionals. Below are the key highlights from the three time frames we look at; current; 12-months; and 24-months out:  

Trends in current IT projects

• 20 percent of current IT spending is devoted to software infrastructure
• Hardware upgrades are currently 20% of spending
• Security spending has dropped over the last several months, but averaged 15 percent during last 12 months
• Top projects include VoIP, server upgrades, virus defense, and ERP

Trends in 12-month planned IT initiatives

• Roughly one quarter of 12-month plans involve wired & wireless networking solutions
• 15 percent of 12-month IT Plans are focused on software and hardware, respectively
• Security projects comprise roughly 10 percent of future plans
• Top initiatives: VoIP, SAN, CRM, and business process management

Trends in 24-month technologies

• Networking technologies will be the most impacting technologies 24-months out
• Security technologies are considered most important by 15 percent of managers
• 10 percent of IT managers rate software infrastructure most important
• Most impactingl trends: wireless networks, blade servers, directory services, and outsourcing 

More details from these data to follow...