In April, Forrester predicted that 2010 U.S. IT spending would grow 8.4 percent and global spending would grow by 7.7 percent.

According to Forrester’s report (excerpt):

Computer equipment and software will be the strongest product categories, with PCs, peripherals, and storage equipment leading the computer category and operating system software and applications setting the pace for software.

At that time, I asked TechRepublic members if their organizations had 2010 upgrade plans for three types of hardware–desktop/laptop, servers, and storage. Over 350 people responded to the polls, and as the following charts show, most reported having plans to upgrade.

Specifically, 63 percent reported planning for a desktop/laptop upgrade, 55 percent for servers, and the vote was split evenly on storage equipment.

Gartner lowers second-half growth predictions

But, the sluggish economic recovery may be putting a slight crimp in the upgrade plans of some IT departments. On Tuesday, Gartner lowered its estimate for growth in second-half PC shipments to 15.3 percent — 2 percent less than the company predicted in May. The market research firm believes worldwide PC shipments will grow by 19.2 percent for the year, but uncertainty in the U.S. and Western Europe could slow growth in the second half of the year.

Gartner analysts however, believe companies won’t be able to delay PC replacements much longer.

"Businesses that delay replacing much longer risk alienating employees, burdening themselves with more service requests and support costs, and ultimately facing higher migration costs when they eventually migrate to Windows 7," Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, said in a press release. "The bottom line is that businesses need to refresh their PCs sooner rather than later. Thus, the full bloom of the long-awaited professional PC refresh can’t be more than a few quarters ahead.”

Pulling back or full steam ahead?

Did your IT department follow through with its original hardware upgrade plans? If not, which projects did you postpone or cancel?

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