IT leasing and financing to exceed $100bn by 2010

A report by the International Data Corporation, shows a huge growth in the IT leasing and financing market, with software and services financing undergoing particular growth.

The global IT leasing and financing market is expected to be worth over $100 billion by 2010 and grew to $70 billion this year, according to the IDC's Technology Financing Strategies research team.

The report was presented at the end of April and will be released sometime this month.

It shows that hardware leasing and financing, for years the industry's mainstay, will come under increasing pressure from accounting changes, competition and limited increases in IT hardware spending.

Instead, the IDC predicts that software and services financing will take a greater position of prominence, surging from 30 to 50 per cent of the IT leasing and financing market by 2010.

The findings have prompted calls for resellers to move towards end-user financing, giving the industry's core market is expected to shrink.

The IDC argued this could create an important market opportunity for such market providers as GE Capital, HP financial services, IBM Global Financing, Microsoft Financing and the Oracle financing division.