Poll: IT Managers Bemoan Weak Dollar

The recent earnings season has been tough for a number of vendors, with shaky government business and an uncertain economic climate stinging the likes of Enterasys Networks Inc. (NYSE: ETS) and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM). (See IBM Reports Q1 Results.)

Shifting budgets on Capitol Hill to cope with the Iraq war effort are causing hardship in the marketplace, with switch vendor Enterasys feeling the heat, so we thought we would find out how your business is going with the latest NDCF poll (see War Fogs Foundry's Numbers and Pork City Payouts).

Surprisingly, only around a quarter of respondents cited events in Iraq as the largest external factor affecting their business. The overwhelming majority (63 percent) pointed to the ongoing weak dollar as the largest hurdle that is currently in their path.

But the Middle East clearly influences other parts of the global economic climate -- just under a quarter of respondents cited oil prices as the biggest threat to their business in the near future. Cyber-security threats and post-tsunami economic uncertainty were identified by 16 percent of respondents.

But it is not just IT vendors feeling the strain of recent events. At this weeks Interop show, Foundry vice president Bob Schiff told NDCF that uncertainty in government procurement is having a knock-on effect through the economy. “The situation in Iraq has slowed things down overall,” he says. “The government impacts other suppliers, not just Foundry.”So, when does Schiff think this market will return? “We think that there are programs and projects that will resurface, but whether it’s at the end of the quarter, the end of the year, or early next year, it’s difficult to say.”

In the meantime, the company is looking to diversify by increasing its footprint in the service provider and enterprise spaces, according to Schiff. Foundry has added 15 new sales teams to support this approach, he added.

Why not tell us how you feel about the economic outlook? Take our new poll here.

— James Rogers, Site Editor, Next-Gen Data Center Forum