FRAMINGHAM, MA -- A monthly poll of the nation's top information officers revealed strong signs of growth in projected IT spending.

In the April poll by CIO Magazine, released today, respondents predict spending will grow 7.9% during the next 12 months, up from 6.4% last month.

The poll was conducted from April 7-14. It marks the third consecutive month that CIOs predicted increasing spending.

Growth is forecast for software, and for equipment for telecom and data networking.

"IT budgets are starting to bloom along with the tulips," says Dr. Ed Yardeni, chief investment strategist for Oak Associates. "April's poll results suggest business may be warming up to more technology spending in the spring."

"While overall projections from CIOs are more positive this month, spending projections for computer hardware fell slightly and storage was flat," says Chris Whitmore, director, IT hardware research for Deutsche Bank. "We continue to expect most areas of hardware to experience slower growth in 2005 versus 2004. We believe the combination of rising interest rates, slowing economic growth and an aging replacement cycle will all dampen hardware growth this year." DB forecasts IT spend to grow 4 to 5% this year, versus 6% in 2004.

CIOs of companies osf less than 100 employees projected spending to rise 16.5%, versus 8.4% last month. Companies of 5,000 or more employees increased projections to 6%, versus 5% in March.

PHILADELPHIA - Kimball  Electronics Group, an EMS company with divisions worldwide, plans to purchase Aegis Industrial Software Corp. NPI and MES software modules for all divisions. Kimball's goal is to first integrate all operations at their headquarters in Jasper, IN, and then expand the software interface to their divisions worldwide within one year.

Greg Carmer, CAD/CAM engineering & document control manager at Kimball said, "We're beginning an international rollout. We have plants in Poland, Thailand and Mexico, two plants in Jasper and one in Auburn, Indiana. We're 'going live' with the software in Thailand by the end of June following the successful implementation at Poland in March. We're doing a phased approach to the software, choosing those plants that would most benefit from the capabilities - those with the most urgent business needs."

Kimball selected Aegis CircuitCAM, CheckPoint, Fusion iServer and iView modules with multiple machine interfaces for this project.

TEMPE, AZ - New orders and backlogs for manufacturers grew for the 23d straight month in April although the rate of growth slipped again. New orders were down 3.4 points and inventories fell 6.2 points, yet production rose 0.2 points, said the Institute for Supply Management.

The Electronic Components and Equipment sector failed to grow during the month.

The 23-month streak marks the longest period of growth in 16 years. "However, ISM chairman Norbert Ore said, "the rate of growth slowed to its lowest level since July 2003. The trend is definitely toward a slower pace of growth, and that should relieve some of the pricing pressure that the sector has experienced during 2004 and 2005."

The PMI measure of economic activity fell for the fifth month in a row, slipping 1.9 points sequentially to 53.3%. Employment was down 1 point, to 52.3%.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL - Jabil Circuits Inc. will close a recently acquired factory next month and cut 83 workers, a news report said today.

The Rocklin, CA, manufacturing plant, acquired by Jabil from Varian Electronics in February, employs 90, but seven employees are expected to be reassigned within the company.

Jabil purchased the Rocklin site as part of an $195 million acquisition of several factories from Varian.