This IDC study forecasts developments in the Western European network life cycle services (NLCS) market and provides an analysis of trends vendors can expect over the 2011–2016 forecast period. Services within NLCS include consulting, integration, managed services (outsourcing), and support. The study presents topline growth for the NLCS market in Western Europe but also gives details of spending by geography as well as service line. It also detailed the key assumptions that IDC took into account in building up this Western European forecast.

"With economic contraction in most of the Western European countries, IDC expects a much reduced growth for Network Life cycle services this year, down from 2.2% in 2011 to 0.7% in 2012," said Lionel Lamy, research director, IDC European Services. "However, many opportunities for stronger growth remain as European enterprise need guidance towards cloud transformation, unified communication, and network virtualization. In a cloud context, the network remains the heart of any enterprise."