VANCOUVER, Wash. --(Business Wire)-- Feb. 14, 2006 -- Worldwide spending on hardware, software, and services for 3D visualization, simulation, and training will reach $22.1 billion in 2006 and grow to $31.5 billion by 2011, according to Acacia Research Group's latest market study, Opportunities in Visualization, Simulation, & Training 2006-2011.

Time pressures on businesses and employees continue to mount. Increasing regulation, traveling and resource limitations compel many to work longer hours. For many roles, productivity is difficult to measure, so improvements might not be as simple as making a greater number of appointments, but making more beneficial decisions. A better understanding of whether productivity has been improved might be gained from assessing whether an individual employee has more control over managing their time, or if wasted gaps can be filled with useful activity. Technology can rarely increase productivity by itself, but gives the individual employee the means to increase it themselves, if they are sufficiently committed and willing to do so.

Read on for our analysis of leading technology trends, our hopes and expectations for 2006, and our picks for the top IT products of 2005

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Express Managed Services are go

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Is the EU in a position to achieve its i2010 goals? A recent report by the European Commission noted that “Europe is not investing in productivity enhancing ICT as much as the USA”. The report also claimed that the situation is worse for SMBs than for enterprises. Comparing the data from two recent Quocirca studies underlines the problem and shows the price European SMBs are paying for this.

A new primary research study from TelecomWeb news break’s sister company InfoTech shows a recent shift in those making purchasing decisions for IP telephony (IPT) among businesses in the mid-market may have a significant effect on which vendors dominate the market.

A new study published by data and marketing specialists CDMS has revealed that 34% of top UK companies are not complying with the EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications, eighteen months after it became law in the UK in December 2003.