The end of the year means at least one certainty beyond holiday shopping and empty wallets: Predictions for the coming year. That's where the market research firm IDC comes in, with its forecast for 2010 built around assumptions of a return to growth next year.

Much of the report, IDC Predictions 2010: Recovery and Transformation authored by IDC's chief analyst Frank Gens, can be summed up in a word: recovery.

IDC predicts a growth rate of 3.2% in the IT industry in 2010, with a return to 2008 spending levels (the period before things went off the rails) to about $1.5 trillion. Emerging markets will lead the way, with spending by the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) growing 8% to 13%.

For IDC, such developments will pave the way for a second key term: "transformation". The research firm believes that businesses will emerge from the technological coma has paralyzed global spending and begin spending on the new technologies vendors have been crowing about in recent years.

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