Along those lines, the results of CDW's annual IT Industry Straw Poll, released Thursday, indicated that 60 percent of IT leaders surveyed predict overall IT spending within customer bases will remain about the same or grow in 2009. But 78 percent of respondents -- a base of 273 IT leaders nationwide conducted at CDW's Partner Summit in Las Vegas -- agreed that a weakened economy will be their company's biggest challenge in the coming months.

Among vertical market segments, CDW concluded that health care and energy will see the most robust growth -- 59 percent of those surveyed picked one or both of those has having the best growth potential for the new year. Government was also frequently cited (a 40 percent figure), and a majority of respondents also believed there will be continuing rough patches for financial services and retail.

In specific technology areas, unsurprisingly the market for virtualization was ranked as having the strongest growth potential, at 34 percent. Security came in next at 32 percent, and storage at 31 percent. Wireless solutions, business continuity and unified communications were next, all in the 20 percent bracket.

CDW executives said in a statement that the straw poll matches up to results of CDW's most recent IT Monitor, a separate, bimonthly survey CDW issues to technology leaders.

According to CDW, the IT Monitor suggested IT decision makers were most interested in cost management for 2009 (41 percent), followed by growing market share (35 percent) and employee retention (20 percent).