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TEMPE, AZ – "Following a weak first quarter, the manufacturing sector rebounded in a strong fashion during the second quarter.”

That’s according to Norbert J. Ore, chair of ISM’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. The trade group said June manufacturing expanded at its fastest pace since April 2006.

The May PMI was 56%, the institute reported. New orders were at 60.3%, up 0.7 of a point from the previous month. Production reached 62.9%, up 4.6 points from April. The backlog of orders was up one point, while customers’ inventories were down one point. The data showed inventories were contracting.

According to Ore, business is on strong footing. “This performance appears sustainable in the third quarter due to the current strength in new orders and production," he said.

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in June for the fifth consecutive month, while the overall economy grew for the 68th consecutive month, said ISM.

SAN FRANCISCO – The latest poll of the nation’s CIOs says IT budgets will grow 7.2% during the next year, up from 5.1% in March, says Deutsche Bank. The June poll results rebounded strongly, reversing four consecutive down quarters.

Spending projections improved for all but the largest companies, which DB believes bodes well for improving corporate spending in the second half of the year.

Results for small (101-500) and very small firms (1-100) strengthened in June, with CIOs expecting 11% and 9% growth in the next 12 months (vs. 10% and 2% in March), respectively. Medium firms (501-1,000) were optimistic, expecting 7% growth (vs. 4% in March), while large firms (1,001-5,000) and very large firms (>5,000) were less optimistic, with CIOs expecting 5% growth (vs. 3% and 7% in March, respectively), says the report.

Storage Systems was the top spending priority in the June Poll, with 54.1% of respondents planning to increase spending (vs. 46.3% in March). Security Software took the second spot with 41.6% of respondents planning to increase spending (vs. 43.5% previously), followed by Computer Hardware at 40.8% (vs. 45.5% previously).

Medium-size companies led results for Storage and Computer Hardware for the third consecutive quarter, with 78.6% (vs. 62.5% previously) predicting increased Storage budgets. In addition, Computer Hardware was also a priority for medium-size firms, with 60.0% (vs. 56.3% in March) of CIOs expecting increased spending.

Of the respondents to DB questions, 54.4% said they had implemented server virtualization, while 21.6% cited they were seriously considering it; 7.1%, 15% and 21.3% cited they had reduced server spending by roughly 50%, 30% and 10%, respectively. However, 15% cited they had not reduced server spending through virtualization.