Independent technology analyst Ovum has predicted the Asia-Pacific software market will ‘burst into life’ this year, reaching as high as $US46 billion ($NZ56.5) or 8.4% growth.

The research says the sector will finally start to feel the effects of the recovery from the Global Economic Crisis, after experiencing no growth at all in 2010.

According to Ovum chief analyst, Tim Jennings, "The emphasis of IT investment is moving on from the traditional area of back-office automation and transaction processing, towards the exploitation of information to add value to the business.”

Jennings offers cloud computing and mobile technology as examples .

"The mobile revolution will generate strong demand for mobile applications, as well as for the development and management platforms to support this shift.

"Although it is still relatively early days for cloud computing, growth will accelerate over the next five years, as organisations move further towards a software-as-a-service model and take their data centers towards the hybrid combination of public and private cloud infrastructure.”

Photo from here.

The report cites China and India as the main centres for growth, but adds that Australia, Japan and South Korea should all experience expansion as well.

Analysing the vendors in the region, Ovum says although Microsoft remains the leading software company, the giant is not keeping pace with the rest of the market.

Ovum principal analyst, Richard Edwards, says, "It is doing just enough to stay in the game, but it is not a star performer.”