Gartner forecast worldwide IT spending of $3.6 trillion in 2011, up from $3.4 trillion last year. It raised its previous forecast of 5.1 percent growth to 5.6 percent.

"This stable forecast outlook comes despite political unrest in the Middle East, while the impact on IT markets of the recent natural disasters in Japan is yet to be fully understood," Gartner said.

The Middle East share of global IT spending is around two percent, according to Gartner.

"While the political unrest affecting many countries in the region may well dent IT spending levels, any impact would be insignificant at the global level," Gartner research vice president Richard Gordon said in a news release.

"We had largely completed our forecast by the time the recent natural disasters in Japan occurred, and we are still evaluating their likely impact on our forecast," Gordon said.

"On this point, we are looking at two potential effects on IT markets as a result of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan: consequences of disruptions in the global electronics supply chain and impacts on IT demand," he said.

Gartner said that, beginning this quarter, it was adding tablet computers to its computing hardware spending estimates, a move which lifted the computing hardware growth outlook from 7.5 percent to 9.5 percent for the year.

"Absent the addition of media tablets, the forecast would have slightly declined in constant-dollar terms; however, with their addition, there's virtually no change in underlying forecast growth at the level of overall IT," Gordon said.

"The addition of media tablets, reinforced by an expected additional decline in the value of the dollar, accounts for the increase in top-line growth," he said.

Gartner projected worldwide spending on tablets to reach $29.4 billion in 2011, up from $9.6 billion in 2010, when Apple was the only significant player in the market.

Gartner said global spending on tablets is expected to increase at an annual average rate of 52 percent through 2015.

Worldwide telecom spending is expected to increase 4.9 percent this year to $2.11 trillion, IT services spending is forecast to grow 5.0 percent to $824 billion while enterprise software spending is expected to rise $7.6 billion to $255 billion.

earlier related report
Japan industrial production up before quake
Osaka (AFP) March 30, 2011 - Japan's industrial production rose for a fourth straight month in February, data showed Wednesday, in another sign the economy was picking up before a devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Factory output increased a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent in February from the previous month as production of machinery increased, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.

The result beat the median forecast for a 0.2 percent drop in a poll of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and the Nikkei and marked the fourth straight month of gains following a 1.3 percent rise in January.

Recent data has bolstered the view that before the March 11 quake, Japan's economy was staging a rebound after contracting in the October-December quarter. Unemployment fell to its lowest level in two years in February.

However, the earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit northeastern and eastern regions is expected to severely impact production in the next few months, amid power outages and supply chain disruption.

Around 28,000 people are confirmed dead or listed as missing in Japan following the disaster.

Infrastructure along the northeast coast has been shattered, while rolling power outages have hit production with companies closing plants temporarily.

Exports of key components and equipment used in the assembly of goods abroad have also been hit, sending shockwaves across global markets.

Factory damage and continuing power outages mean industrial output will likely fall 3-4 percent on-month in March, and 1-2 percent in April, smothering economic growth ahead, said Takuji Aida, senior economist at UBS Securities Japan.

"The auto sector is the biggest concern, given its centrality to manufacturing and exports, and the severity of some of the production cuts there," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

Japan last week said the cost of rebuilding after the twin disaster could hit 25 trillion yen ($309 billion), more than double the 1995 Kobe earthquake and nearly four times more than Hurricane Katrina in the United States.

The estimate does not account for wider issues such as how radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which was crippled by the quake, will affect food and water supply, amid a deepening contamination scare.

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