The Federal Association of German Information, Communication and New Media has released a research report a few days ago that this year the global information technology (IT) market will expand by 4.8% to 2.6 trillion euros. Among them, the EU's information technology market will expand by 1.7% to 639 billion euros.

The report also predicts that the global communications equipment market, including the smart phone market, will grow especially fast this year. The growth rate will reach 11.5%, and the information technology hardware market will also expand by 4.9%.

The chairman of the association, Scheer, said that last year the German information technology market picked up and the market size increased by 2% to 142.7 billion euros. This year, as the economic situation continues to improve, the German information technology market is expected to increase by another 2%. Next year, driven by the development of cloud computing technology and changes in business models, the German market will grow further by 2%.

Cloud computing technology is the focus of the 2011 Hannover Information and Communication Technology Expo in Germany. According to the Federal Association for Information, Communications and New Media in Germany, the German cloud computing market will reach 3.5 billion euros this year, an increase of 55% from the previous year. The German market is expected to maintain double-digit growth in the coming years. Experts predict that by 2015, the market size in Germany will reach 13 billion euros.

The Federal Association of German Information, Communication and New Media is the spokesperson for more than 1,350 information and communication companies in the country. The association’s corporate members account for approximately 90% of the German information technology market.