According to a SpiceWorks report released today, Information Technology related budgets at small and medium sized businesses are up over 4% vs. figures announced for January through June 2010. Notable high spending points points are in the areas of virtualization as well as optimistic staffing increases, especially in companies with under 20 employees. Over 3,011 IT professionals from over 117 countries were surveyed by SpiceWorks between July and August 2010 to come up with this data. Key highlights from the survey: IT Budgets for the second half of 2010 increased 4 percent over figures reported in the first half of the year. The average annual IT budget for small and medium businesses is now $121,770, vs. $117,200 in the first half of 2010. Increasing virtualization for efficiency and security is a key focal point for budgeting, as 68% of IT professionals plan to utilize some form of virtualization by the end of 2010 vs. 63% reported for the first half of 2010. 20% of small to medium sized businesses plan to add full-time IT staff by the end of 2010, the most notable growth being in companies with less than 20 employees, 23% of companies with less than 20 employees. Less money is being spent on hardware, with 42% of IT budgets for the remainder of the year allocated to hardware purchases, down from the 47% reported for the first half of 2010. 35% of IT budgets for the second half of 2010 are allocated to software purchases. 34% plan to tackle server operating system upgrades before year-end, antivirus/anti-spam software is a popular choice with 67% of respondents planning to buy new, upgrade or renew. Amidst recent reports that venture investment in IT has stagnated, the sector seems to be growing, at least as far as company spending is concerned. You can find a PDF of the completed survey here. 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7Authors: Alexia Tsotsis