Is the tech sector in trouble?

So how bad is the current economic crisis for IT? Can IT weather the storm? Steve Minton, vice president of worldwide IT markets at IDC, says, "Companies are in the mindset of not spending in the next three months and increasing only 1 or 2 percent in the next 12 months. That's quite a change from last year when it was between 7 and 8 percent."

A report issued earlier this month by Gartner said that even though the bailout of banks spares IT from a worst-case scenario, they're still turning budgets downward as they head into 2009. Andrew Bartels, a principal analyst at Forrester Research, said, "We do see a slowdown," but he added that "We're not seeing a replay of the big tech bust of 2001-2002."

Basically, it's anyone's guess right now how bad it will be for IT. But the experts see startups being hurt by the credit crunch, projects put on hold, budgets cut and layoffs for tech workers.

For more on the current economic state:
- check out this InfoWorld.com article

Related Articles:
Number of IT venture deals drops to a 10-year low
Workers anxious in uncertain times
Recession freezes IT budgets