The nascent economic recovery will help increase worldwide IT spending in 2010 compared to 2009, but it may be a while before that spending reaches the levels experienced in 2008.

That's the conclusion of the Worldwide IT Spending Forecast, a report from analyst firm Gartner, which assumes the economy starts a tentative recovery by the end of 2009.

Gartner predicted worldwide IT spending in 2010 to be about $3.3 trillion, up about 3.3 percent over the estimated spending of $3.2 trillion in 2009. However, Gartner said, spending actually peaked in 2008 at $3.4 trillion.

The picture is slightly better in the U.S., where IT spending in 2010 is expected to rise to $958 billion, which is slightly above the previous peak of $957 billion reached in 2008 and well above the $932 billion spent in 2009.

Read more in the December 3, 2009 Channel Web