This IDC study is a multidimensional market sizing and forecast document for hardware support and deployment services. In addition to sizing the market, it discusses the key trends shaping the market and driving its growth. Market sizing and trend information are provided by region and include support service for servers, networking equipment, client devices, storage, and peripherals.

Because of the slow-moving nature of the hardware support and deployment services market and the dependence of the market on the installed base of equipment (generally a five-year useful life), the increase in IT spending for 2011 does little to swing the entire size of the maintenance market. "The support services market is not prone to dramatic market swings," said Rob Brothers, research director, Software and Hardware Support Services. "Looking at a five-year life cycle with a one-year bump in the road is not going to create large changes in the dollar value of maintenance contracts. What is dramatically changing is how organizations are delivering and handling service issues in these newly virtualized environments."