Remote Branch Spending to Grow 6% by 2011

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- The remote branch market is evolving into one of the key IT battlegrounds, a new study from IDC shows. According to this special market analysis report published by IDC's Enterprise Infrastructure group, worldwide remote branch spending will increase at a 6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from $19.4 billion in 2007 to $24.2 billion in 2011.

"Inherent in the nature of the remote branch is the desire of the business to be closest to its end customer, whether it is a retail operation that needs multiple points of sale or a hospital that wants to deliver timely patient care," said Lucinda Borovick, research vice president, Datacenter Networks. "Because the remote branch is the location within an organization that is closest to the end customer, it is the point where the IT organization must be able to deliver the services that meet the fluid needs of the business. The remote branch is globally dispersed and provides an opportunity for IT to bring business value to the organization. We believe the number of remote branches will grow over the forecast period."

IDC