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Consulting firm forecasts IT spending

February 17, 2002

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SAN JOSE, Calif. - The great kiosk expansion in the airline industry will probably find itself grounded on the tarmac in 2002, according to a report on information technology released by research firm Gartner Inc.'s Dataquest division on Jan. 15.

But the good news for technology firms is that growth, while sluggish over the next year, will regain solid footing and grow by more than 55 percent by 2005. According to the report, IT services for the transportation sector was a $13.2 billion industry in 2001. That is expected to grow to $20.5 billion in 2005.

The airline and railway sectors experienced growth in 2001, in part because of a shift toward consulting and security-oriented applications. But Robert Goodwin, Gartner Dataquest Global Industries Practice vice president, warned that growth in those areas would wane as the transportation industry moves beyond the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Last year, check-in kiosks and wireless network implementation in the airports were the impetus for growth in consulting and development and integration services," Goodwin said in a news release, "but these implementations will slow in 2002."

IT external services spending grew 5 percent in 2001, to $254 billion, and is expected to grow by another 8 percent this year, to $276 billion.