CA Technologies has said that its partners are expecting a bright year ahead, with 54% expecting a boost in customers' IT spending, “in contrast to the preceding year when budgets were predominantly flat.”

The CA Technologies Channel Index reports that growth will be seen in cloud computing and virtualisation management.

Spending on cloud is set to continue its upward trend of the last two years with 60% of partners expect a rise, compared to 48% last year.

70% expect increased investment in virtualisation management.

David Griffiths, VP Partners, Alliances and MSPs in Europe, CA, explained, “The Index shows that many of our European partners are looking forward to an improved economy. With increased spending in cloud computing, our partners our capitalising on the huge opportunity it provides for growth. CA Technologies is helping its partners assist their customers with their journey to the cloud by acting as a single point of management for this environment."

CA says that different industries are transitioning to the cloud economy at different speeds.

IT/telecoms companies are said to be adopting cloud computing the fastest (66%), followed by the media/internet (57%).

Partners identified the public sector (14%) as showing least inclination to move to cloud, the company says.