Maven Wave Partners refreshes theIT Spending & Investment Study, through 2Q 2011, showing that spending on IT workforce continues to grow by 9.1%.

Earlier this year the Maven Wave Partners IT Spending & Investment Study launched revealing that the IT spending squeeze over the past several years ended and predicting that IT investment would expand. The study showed that the IT spending squeeze brought on by the financial crisis of 2008 ended in 4Q 2010. This study resulted in the establishment of two new indices designed to assist clients, market participants, and analysts in tracking the pace and value of IT investment by enterprise:

• The Maven Wave Partners IT Investment Index (the “MIT Index”), a bellwether measure of aggregate spending on information technology
• The Maven Wave Partners IT Value Index (the “MIV Index), tracking corporate earnings in relationship to spending on the Information Technology workforce

Previous 1Q forecast of the MIT Index indicated that hardware and software vendors should see increased activity as corporations begin investing again in productivity and earnings benefits of information technology. Second quarter results meaningfully beat Maven Wave’s forecast:

• Maven Wave projected that the MIT would step back roughly 3% in 2Q while the MIT actually rose to 141.2 an increase of just under 6%
• Unexpected strength in the MIT came from somewhat stronger than expected hardware sales as actual results outperform Maven Wave’s projection by 5.3%
• The MIV finished the second quarter at $20.98 (meaning that a dollar spent on IT workforce resulted in corporate earnings of $20.98)
• The MIV results were in line with our 2Q 2011 forecast of $21.08

“The continued growth of IT spending is an encouraging sign amid the volatile global markets,” said Brian Farrar, partner at Maven Wave Partners.

Overall Maven Wave reiterates our forecast for the performance of the MIT and MIV indices through the end of 2012:

• The MIT Index will increase by between 15% and 20% from its 3Q 2009 low to an all time high by the end of 2012
• The MIV Index will reach $21.80 an increase of over 70% from its 4Q 2008 low by the end of 2012