Investment in Virtualisation and Green IT Projects by Australian Businesses Will Increase, Despite Global Fall in IT Spending

Results of New Gartner Survey To Be Discussed At Upcoming Infrastructure, Operations & Data Centre Summit In Sydney, 5-6 May 2009

Sydney, Australia, Despite the global recession, IT spending in infrastructure and operations projects is expected to remain strong amongst Australian companies throughout 2009, according to a new Gartner survey.

Although IT spending is expected to fall globally, most Australian companies say projects addressing operational efficiency in IT infrastructure and the data centre, including virtualisation and green IT projects, remain a priority. Overall, only 26 percent of Australian respondents said their organisation had cancelled any IT projects since October 2008, in light of the state of the economy.

In February and March 2009, Gartner surveyed 102 Australian respondents responsible for IT spending as part of a global survey about the impact of the economic downturn on technology decisions. The majority of respondents expect their organisation’s IT hardware investments including client computing, printing devices, storage and servers to stay the same in the fiscal year 2009 compared to 2008.

However 50 percent of respondents surveyed about their organisation’s planned investments in virtualisation technology anticipate an increase in spending from 2008 to 2009, with another 41 percent anticipating it will remain the same. Only 9 percent of respondents anticipate a year on year decrease in virtualisation technology investments in 2009. Similarly 51 percent of those surveyed expect green IT investments to remain the same, with another 38 percent expecting increased investment in this area during 2009. Most notably 95 percent of respondents will increase investment in consolidation of servers through virtualisation in order to reduce overall power consumption.

Speaking in advance of the Gartner Infrastructure Operations and Data Centre Summit in Sydney on 5-6 May, conference chair and Gartner managing vice president Matthew Boon said, “IT infrastructure remains the biggest area for IT spending within Australian and New Zealand organisations and it also represents the biggest opportunity to drive operational efficiencies and minimise costs. It’s clear that technologies like virtualisation can help companies stay ahead of the curve amidst the doom the gloom and help position businesses to take advantage of the upturn when it finally comes.

“It’s also good to see that green IT projects are not being shelved due to the downturn. These kinds of projects are win-win investments as they drive both operational efficiency and reduce power consumption as well as reducing overall carbon footprints. As Australian businesses prepare for the Government’s proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in 2010, implementing carbon reducing technologies will become increasingly compelling,” continued Boon.

Other technology investments that will attract increased spending this year include audio, video and web conferencing (49 percent), collaboration tools like application sharing (45 percent) and Voice over IP (44 percent). Only 11 percent of respondents expected to increase spending on cloud computing, which Gartner attributes to a lack of understanding of what the technology can deliver. In the survey, 20 percent of respondents had not heard of cloud computing and a further 26 percent said they had heard of the term but didn’t know what it means.

Now in its fourth year in Australia, the Gartner Infrastructure, Operations and Data Centre Summit is designed to help IT managers take control over a new set of challenges, through operational transformation, virtualisation, disaster recovery, storage and server consolidation, systems management and improved use of power and cooling. Leading Gartner analysts will provide new research insights, case studies and best practice advice. For more information and a full agenda, please visit www.gartner.com/ap/datacentre

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the indispensable partner to 60,000 clients in 10,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in 80 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.