The latest figures from U.K. communications watchdog Ofcom show a dramatic increase in the adoption of digital technology in the U.K. -- Ofcom's second-annual Communications Market report found that more than 60 percent of U.K. households now have digital TV, while sales of DAB radio sets increased to more than 1.5 million early this year. Each month, approximately 250,000 households switch to digital TV, a boom driven by Freeview, which has increased its total subscriber numbers to more than 4.6 million households. For the first time ever, more households (30 percent) have broadband connections than dial-up Internet, leading the regulator to predict that, by the year 2010, more people will watch TV on the Internet than on analog TV. "This report shows that U.K. households are now accelerating into the digital age," said Ofcom's Ed Richards. "In parallel, industries formed over decades are being reshaped by digital broadcasting and broadband with every month that passes."
Gartner's latest worldwide IT spending forecast exposes a trend every CIO has already felt in budget negotiations. Total spending will climb 14.2 percent in 2026, reaching $6.37 trillion. It seems that the IT infrastructure market is simply having a strong year. However, the more useful insight is how unevenly that growth is distributed. The Headline Number vs. The Real Story Data center systems and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) are absorbing capital at a pace several multiples faster than devices, communications services, and traditional IT services. This is not incremental growth spread across a healthy portfolio. It is a wholesale reallocation of enterprise technology budgets toward AI infrastructure, made on the expectation that demand for AI workloads will justify the outlay before that demand has been fully proven. Where the Money is Going Data center systems are forecast to grow 62.5 percent in 2026, that's up from 51.6 percent growth in 2025, reaching $822 billion....