Members of Italian information technology organizations: Anasin for software; Assinform for hardware, were stunned by the results of a recent study from the national statistical institute Istat that showed the country with an informatics sector worth twice previous estimates. A silently marching army, was how the Italian business journal Il Sole-24 Ore referred to the study’s results. Until the study was presented to Anasin and Assinform in Naples a few weeks ago, the two groups consistently said Italy’s information technology sector comprised about 4,000 companies, billed about $8bn annually, and employed 85,000 people. In fact, said Istat research director Mario Antonio Greco, Italy includes over 30,000 computer-related companies that bill more like $16bn a year and employ 180,000 people. A possible explanation for the long-standing discrepancy: Istat included in its count companies that provide data entry and data processing – 16,000. Overall, software supply and systems consulting accounted for 60% of revenues, said Greco, which were up by 7.3% over last year.
