US puts faith in established IT brands

US IT directors are putting their faith in established brands as budgets remain flat. But the merger between Hewlett Packard (HP) and Compaq has left some with doubts.

Research from financial brokers Goldman Sachs has showed that 47 per cent of IT directors expected budgets to stay flat.

This tightening of belts has led US enterprises to put their faith in market leaders, with firms such as Microsoft, IBM and Dell all predicted to increase their market share.

But while these companies topped the list of those likely to increase market share, Compaq and HP are set to lose out.

The main priorities for firms will be security, storage, disaster recovery, data networking and database software.

Overall IT spending will remain below 'normal' levels during 2002, but there may be a loosening of purse strings towards the year end, according to the Goldman Sachs report.

The chairmen of Microsoft and EMC told the World Economic Forum earlier this week in New York that they were not hopeful of a recovery this year.

Goldman Sachs polled 100 senior IT executives from large US firms.