FRAMINGHAM, MA -- February brought a slight rebound in projected IT spending after declines over the previous three months, CIO magazine said today.

Chief information officers predict spending growth of 5.9% over the next 12 months, up from 5.4% reported during January, according the magazine's monthly poll.

Telecom equipment and infrastructure software had the largest number of CIOs who predict increases.

"The February results are somewhat reassuring" said Gary Beach, group publisher of CXO Media, the company that publishes CIO. "After three straight monthly declines, it is a good sign we are seeing some leveling off. CIOs are now facing
a more constrained environment and must make hard choices between infrastructure maintenance and system upgrades. I believe in the coming months we will see a slow but steady rate of growth. However, unless the CEO and CFO loosen the
purse strings, we will not see explosive growth."

"Although IT spending projections improved modestly from January levels, CIO spending expectations have declined noticeably from last fall," said Chris Whitmore, director IT hardware research for Deutsche Bank Securities. "The upswing
this month in the telecom and infrastructure software markets is one highlight in the data. However, it remains to be seen if this is the beginning of a trend."