New Survey Finds Majority of Small and Medium Businesses Plan to Purchase New Hardware and Software within the Next Six Months

68 Percent to Buy New Laptops, Desktops and Servers; 51 Percent Plan New
Software Purchases; and 33 Percent to Invest in IT Services
AUSTIN, Texas--(Business Wire)--
Small and medium businesses are holding on to their servers and laptops longer
these days, according to a new survey by Spiceworks, Inc. But most are also
planning to make significant investments in new hardware and software over the
next six months.

These findings were uncovered in a Q3 2009 survey of over 1,000 IT
professionals, which was designed to investigate current technology purchasing,
usage and staffing trends among small and medium businesses (SMBs) worldwide.
The survey was fielded in July and August by the Spiceworks Voice of ITTM market
research program, consisting of SMB IT professionals that are among the 750,000
who use the free Spiceworks IT Desktop to manage their computer networks. Survey
result highlights include:

* Small and medium businesses are squeezing an extra year out of their hardware.
The average planned lifespan of hardware, which includes desktops, laptops and
servers, increased 26 percent from 40 months to 50 months.
* Despite using hardware for a longer period of time,68 percent of SMBs plan to
add new hardware to their networks within the next six months. Among hardware
purchasing priorities, 56 percent plan to buy desktops, 55 percent plan to
purchases laptops, 45 percent plan new server purchases, 31 percent plan to add
printers, and 27 percent plan to add new network devices. Only 13 percent have
their eyes on netbooks.

* The average new hardware order is expected to include 13 desktops, 10 laptops
and 2 servers
* Hardware remains the biggest IT budget item with SMBs expecting to spend 37
percent of their annual budgets refreshing and expanding physical
infrastructure

* 51 percent are planning new software purchases. Security and anti-spam
solutions top the list with 32 percent of SMBs planning such purchases within
the next six months. Of these, just over 1 in 3 (35 percent) plan to buy
cloud-based security and anti-spam offerings.
* 44 percent are using virtualization solutions. Within small and medium
business networks, 21 percent of their total server computing capacity is
virtualized. Over the next six months, 30 percent of SMBs plan to deploy or
expand virtualization in their networks.
* 25 percent are planning backup and recovery purchases within the next six
months. Of these, 75 percent plan to store data on premise and 25 percent plan
to utilize cloud-based storage solutions. 42 percent of data is slated to be
stored on network-attached storage (NAS) or storage area network (SAN) devices.
38 percent will be stored in direct-attached and local storage, 7 percent is
planned to be hosted offsite, and 13 percent on tape and other media.
* 57 percent currently use one or more "cloud computing" services. The three
most popular cloud computing services in use or on the purchase list include
anti-spam (43 percent), hosted email (25 percent), and online backup (20
percent).
* Small and medium business IT budgets took a beating in 2009. 39 percent cut
2009 budgets from 2008 levels with the average cut being 22 percent. 31 percent
kept budgets the same, and 30 percent actually grew their budgets this year by
27 percent. Most did feel some impact from the economy this year with 60 percent
having delayed or canceled at least one project so far in 2009.
* IT hiring among small and medium businesses is poised to grow. While many
technology departments are holding staff sizes steady, 22 percent plan to hire
additional full-time or part-time staff, while only 3 percent plan to further
reduce staff over the next six months.

"It`s good to see small and medium businesses showing positive signs of growth
in technology spending," says Jay Hallberg, co-founder and vice president of
Marketing for Spiceworks. "Most are clearly ready to buy and it will be
interesting to watch how these plans play out among different geographies,
industries and company sizes. We will track these and other technology trends of
interest in future studies."

The majority of the 1,130 survey respondents were IT professionals representing
technology teams of one to five people that support companies with fewer than
500 employees and with annual technology budgets of $108,000. The Spiceworks
Voice of ITTM market research program publishes data collected from a panel of
small and medium business technology professionals that are among the 750,000
users of the free Spiceworks IT Desktop. Survey panelists opt-in to answer
questions on technology trends important to small and medium businesses. For
more information on this survey and for a complete list of survey results, visit
http://www.spiceworks.com/voice-of-it. To receive updates on future research,
follow Spiceworks Voice of ITTM on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/VoiceOfIT
or @VoiceOfIT, and sign up for Spiceworks Voice of ITTM research e-mails at
marketresearch@spiceworks.com.

About the Spiceworks IT Desktop

TheSpiceworks IT Desktop is a free IT management application designed for small
and medium organizations with up to 500 devices. It is the first business
application to embed crowdsourcing, social networking and community
collaboration features directly into an IT professional`s daily workflow. More
than 750,000 IT professionals and 70,000 managed service providers (MSPs) in 196
countries worldwide rely on Spiceworks to support 25 million employees and
manage 37 million technology devices.

To follow Spiceworks on Twitter go to http://twitter.com/spiceworks. To connect
with Spiceworks on Facebook visit
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spiceworks/15382903707.

About Spiceworks

Founded by network and systems management software pioneers, Spiceworks develops
the first free social IT management application that incorporates crowdsourcing
to help over 750,000 small and medium businesses and 70,000 managed service
providers (MSPs) simplify everything IT. Spiceworks makes it easy for IT pros to
manage their networks, collaborate to solve technology problems, and find the
best practices, products and services they need day-to-day. Through its Voice of
ITTM market research program, the company also publishes data on important
technology usage, staffing and purchasing trends by small and medium businesses
worldwide. Spiceworks is a privately held company headquartered in Austin, Texas
with funding from Austin Ventures and Shasta Ventures. For more information
visit www.spiceworks.com.

Spiceworks and Voice of IT are trademarks of Spiceworks, Inc. All other names
may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

For Spiceworks
Karl Scholz, 512-493-0909
karl.scholz@virtualprdirector.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009