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ZDNet study: Web technology slips to number six IT priority

This month's IT Priorities results show that projects revolving around Web Technology, which include implementations like Web services, portals, and e-commerce, have taken a back seat to five other major areas of IT investment; wired and wireless networking (no. 1), hardware upgrades (no.
Written by Natalie Gagliordi, Contributor

This month's IT Priorities results show that projects revolving around Web Technology, which include implementations like Web services, portals, and e-commerce, have taken a back seat to five other major areas of IT investment; wired and wireless networking (no. 1), hardware upgrades (no. 2), software infrastructure (no. 3), IT management (no. 4), and security (no. 5). 

The swap between Web technology and IT management (4th to 6th) indicates that as the end of the year looms, businesses are shifting resources to make sure that they have the delivery of their IT services in check and have requirements such as regulatory compliance squared away before readying their applications for the still vague world of SOA and Web 2.0. 

Our data shows some other changes as well from last month. Software infrastructure is back in the no. 3 spot as hardware upgrades made some gains. Wired and Wireless, as usual, is at the top.

But looking at 12-month trending data, however, we see that actual spending does not always match what IT professionals forecast (our overall rankings are determined by current information technology project or implementations and the most important technology initiative plans over the next 12 months).

Software infrastructure projects averaged 22% of IT spending in the last 12 months, followed by wired & wireless networking with 17% of spending during the same timeframe.  But over next 12 months, software project spending is expected to dip to 17% of spending, and wired & wireless networking solutions are expected to increase to an average of 24%.

Server projects averaged 48% of hardware spending in the last 12 months, with 18% of spending on storage projects for the same time frame. In hardware, average spending for server solutions is expected to decrease slightly over the next 12 months, while spending on storage projects is expected to rise to an average of 24% for the coming year.

Security spending for countering cyberthreats averaged 38% in the last 12 months but is expected to decrease over the next 12 months, reaching an average of 26%. Our data shows that authentication/encryption spending is expected to increase to an average of 23% of security spending for the coming year.

And in networking, not much has changed from last month. VoIP projects averaged 26% of networking spending in the last year and are expected to increase over the next 12 months, reaching an average of 29% for the coming year, while other networking technologies climb to 31% of IT spending.

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