Contrary to popular perception, information technology is neither unknown nor a dark art in southern Italy. Despite the traditional economic divide between north and south, the market research firm, Teknibank, claims that southern Italy comprising Basilicato, Calabria, Campania, Puglia, Sardegna and Sicilia – counted 127,000 companies in 1990 as information technology users. That number is expected to grow to 325,000 by 1995, 47% of which will be hardware, down from an anticipated 51% in 1992. The commercial sector accounts for 40% of the companies using computers, but Teknibank claims that this sector is least able to sanction big increases in computer spending. The transport industry, however, is one of the most active sectors, with an anticipated growth in computing investment of 11.5% through until 1995.
