CIO Magazine Tech Poll results as highlighted by Computerworld:

IT spending projections declined in March, as CIOs predicted spending increases of 5.1% for the next 12 months, down from 5.8% in December, according to the latest quarterly CIO Magazine Tech Poll.

Asked about spending across specific IT categories, 48.4% of the 124 respondents said they planned to increase spending in data networking equipment, up from 35.3% in December, while 15.3% said they would decrease spending in that category, up from 13.7% in December.

"Our latest poll results suggest IT spending will be subdued this year, with corporate managers likely concerned about weaker economic growth in 2007, said Edward Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research Inc.

In other survey results, 46.3% of the respondents said they would increase spending on storage systems, down from 52.9% in December, while 15.7% said they would decrease spending on storage, up from 10.9% in the last quarterly survey.

In addition, 45.5% of the CIOs said they plan to increase spending on computer hardware, down from 55.8% in December, while 17.9% said they intend to decrease spending in this area, up from 11.7% in December.

When asked about the IT labor pool, 7.3% of the CIOs said labor was plentiful, up from 5.8% in December; 46% said IT labor was available, down from 56.7% in December; and 44.4% said IT professionals are hard to find, up from 35% in December.

Source: 1

Prashanth Rai