Web 2.0: Mobile Data and IT Services Drive Growth of German IT Industry

Berlin/San Francisco (ots) - Driven by positive growth rates in
outsourcing services, infrastructure services and mobile data
services, Germany's information and communications technology (ICT)
industry is on track to grow in 2010. ICT in Germany is an important
catalyst for innovation, creating unique market opportunities for
cutting-edge companies. Germany Trade & Invest will have
representatives at this year's Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco,
California, from May 3 - 6 to share information on business
opportunities in Germany's ICT industry.

Germany's ICT market is the largest in Europe and ranked fourth in
the world behind the U.S., China and Japan. With a market volume of
almost EUR 130 billion in 2009, the ICT industry is expected to
record a positive growth rate in 2010. In the IT market, outsourcing
services posted the strongest growth rates in a challenging year,
coming in at approximately five percent. In the telecommunications
market, infrastructure and mobile data services led the way with
growth rates of six and eight percent respectively. The market for
online advertising in Germany also had a record year in 2009. This
growth segment posted over EUR 1.4 billion in revenue.

2010 promises to be a strong year for Germany's ICT industry,
creating a number of opportunities for companies entering the market,
especially in growing areas such as cloud computing, social
networking applications and next generation gaming. With almost 60
million people online, Germany has by far the highest number of
Internet users in Europe. High-speed broadband penetration is
currently at 67 percent, which is expected to grow to 75 percent by
2014.

The success of Germany's IT industry is in large part due to the
country's R&D infrastructure. Public and private R&D funding is
currently stimulating new developments. The Emmy Award-winning
Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) is just one example of
Germany's innovation leaders. The unique research infrastructure in
Germany allows for companies to benefit from collaboration and
partnerships with German research organizations and industry players.

Germany Trade & Invest will be showcasing the latest developments
in Germany's ICT industry at Booth 409 and in a dedicated workshop
session at this year's Web 2.0 in San Francisco. Cutting-edge
innovation on display includes Fraunhofer HHI's Image and Video
Retrieval technology, a novel search technique for multimedia data
including face recognition and temporal video segmentation. The
innovation comes from the institute best known for its contribution
to the H.264 standard for video compression, which serves as the
backbone of video management for iTunes, YouTube, Blu-Ray and several
other video applications.

In addition, Germany Trade & Invest and the Fraunhofer Heinrich
Hertz Institute will be hosting the evening reception "Germany:
Driving the Digital Future" on May 4th at 7 p.m. in the
Intercontinental Hotel. The event will be held in cooperation with
Berlin Partner and Theseus, the research program initiated by the
Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology to bridge research and
practical application of technology. Germany Trade & Invest is the
foreign trade and inward investment promotion agency of the Federal
Republic of Germany. The organization advises foreign companies
looking to expand their business activities to the German market. It
provides information on foreign trade to German companies that seek
to enter foreign markets.

Originaltext: Germany Trade and Invest
digital press kits: http://www.presseportal.de/pm/74441
press kits via RSS: http://www.presseportal.de/rss/pm_74441.rss2

Contact:
Germany Trade & Invest
Eva Henkel
Email: eva.henkel@gtai.com
T: +49(0)30 200099-173
F: +49(0)30 200099-111