Following a period of declining IT investment in the Nordic region in 2002?2003, spending on software, IT services, and hardware is believed to have returned to positive growth again last year. IDC believes IT spending increased by almost 6% in 2004. The strongest markets in the region were Finland and Norway. Thanks to a slower hardware market in 2005, IDC expects growth in total IT spending to reach between 4% and 5% in 2005, then to pick up again to 6% in 2006, with no major fluctuations over the next three years.