Modernisation drives transport IT

Sector to spend £4.4bn by 2009, says IDC

Modernisation pressures are pushing growth in IT investment in the transport sector, research shows.

Analyst IDC says global IT spending in transport reached $6.4bn (£3.6bn) in 2005, and predicts it will reach $7.7bn (£4.4bn) by 2009.

Ivano Ortis, programme manager at IDC's European vertical markets office, says all areas of the transportation industry are now looking to integrate and standardise enterprise IT platforms.

'What we are seeing is that transport organisations are really moving beyond their traditional conservative approach to IT investment,' Ortis said. 'They are looking at it as a way to free up budgetary constraints and be more strategic in their investments.'

The IDC report also says security spending within the sector is likely to increase.

Western Europe is still at a very early stage of development with transport security technology, Ortis says.

'There is a new emphasis on security investment across all sub-segments of the transport industry for obvious reasons,' he said.

'In the very short term, the impact on IT spending will be negligible, but we expect a more long-term impact coming from technologies like biometrics and explosives detection kits, possibly linked with radio frequency chip sensor networks.'