SAN FRANCISCO -- A December poll of the nation's CIOs revealed IT budgets will grow 8% over the next 12 months, up from 6% in November.

Spending projections were up in most categories month over month with modest declines in security software and telecom equipment, said Chris Whitmore, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, which cosponsors the monthly poll.


Overall, 54% of CIOs expect a modest pickup in IT spending in 2006, 15% expect to spend more than in 2005, 8% expected to spend less, and 22% were uncertain.

Eight percent of CIOs at the largest firms (more than 5,000 employees) predicting increased spending in December, up from 2% sequentially to the highest level in two years.

At the smallest firms (1 to 100 employees), 17% of CIOs reported increased spending, up from 11% last month).

Six percent of CIOs at medium-sized firms forecast spending hikes, down two points from November.

Security software remains the top spending priority, with 50.9% of respondents planning to increase spending, down from 53.2% in November.

Meanwhile, 47.3% of panelists plan to increase spending on computer hardware, up from 45.7% last month.

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