Interop today released the results of a pre-show survey that indicates 48 percent of attendees at the upcoming event in New York intend to increase spending on technologies in 2011, signaling increased budgets for the business technology industry. The Interop New York 2010 pre-show survey goes on to reveal that 96 percent of pre-registered attendees are active purchasers within their companies, whose priorities include cloud computing, virtualization, IT security, data centers, network upgrades, and wireless/mobility. Interop New York is happening October 18-22 at the Javits Convention Center. For more information see http://www.interop.com/newyork

"Interop attendees are ready to spend," said Lenny Heymann, General Manager of Interop.  "With a comprehensive range of technologies on display at Interop, it continues to be a place where active and qualified buyers come to plan their purchases for the coming year, especially in priority areas like cloud computing and virtualization."

The Interop survey polled over 300 pre-registered Interop New York 2010 attendees via email and found the following top line results:

Active Buyer Trends

• 91 percent of Interop New York attendees' 2011 IT budgets will increase or stay the same compared with 2010
  • 48 percent of attendees' 2011 budgets will increase, while only 9 percent will decrease compared with 2010

Active Buyer Profile and Interest Areas

• 96 percent of Interop attendees are active in their company's IT purchase process
• Cloud computing is a growing priority area this year
  • 46 percent have specified cloud applications/services as a priority initiative for the next year, up 100 percent from last year's 23 percent
  • 72 percent are currently using, planning to use or considering private clouds, while 66 percent are currently using, planning to use or considering public clouds
• 54 percent of attendees specified security is a top priority for 2011, once again ranking as the #1 focus area for projects
• 52 percent of attendees specified server virtualization as a top priority initiative in the coming year, up from 31 percent a year ago
• 45 percent of attendees specified data center upgrades and optimization as a top priority, up from 44 percent a year ago
• The four fastest growing priority categories vs. a year ago are:  cloud applications/services, desktop virtualization, collaboration/Enterprise 2.0 and server virtualization  

The pre-show survey confirms that Interop attendees are active buyers in the market, significantly more likely to be involved in purchasing key business technologies including cloud computing, virtualization, IT security, data centers, wireless/mobility and network storage than the IT community at large. Interop New York presents a platform for attendees to identify new products, stay up to date on industry trends and interact with a wide range of products and vendors in one place, providing a deep-dive look into the most powerful innovations and solutions in the industry.

As the leading global business technology event, Interop New York 2010 will offer a multi-track conference, a major expo show floor, and many networking opportunities.  The event welcomes more than 150 exhibitors, showcasing the full range of IT solutions this year, including Amazon Web Services, Astaro, AT&T, Avistar, Brocade, Cisco, Dell, EMC, Emerson Network Power, Emulex, Enterasys, Force10 Networks, HP, LifeSize, McAfee, Microsoft, OPNET, Polycom, Rackspace, Riverbed, ScienceLogic, Terremark, Tri-Geo Network Security, Vu Technologies and Xirrus.  In addition to the comprehensive expo show floor, Interop New York will feature focused workshops like CIO Boot Camp, Enterprise Cloud Summit and Virtualization Days.