War will leave IT in shell shock

Technology companies have warned that the risk of war against Iraq could blight their optimistic business forecasts.

SAP, Europe's largest software maker, predicted that war would be bad for the economy in general, but admitted that it had no idea what effect there would be on the IT industry.

Data storage specialist EMC cautioned that the troubled economy would not settle down until the US made a decision on Iraq one way or another.

But US resellers have claimed that there has been no sign yet that war worries have cut into orders.

Roy Vallee, chairman and chief executive of distributor Avnet, predicted that there could be a short-term negative effect if the US went to war.

"I would anticipate that once a war commences there could be a temporary downtick in business," he told the Reuters news agency.

But once the war is over there should be a temporary surge in business, which is what happened after the Gulf War, he added.