Overall, Gartner has lowered its estimate for spending to a 3.7-percent increase over the 2011 level, down from its prior projection of growth of 4.6 percent. The research house said the four major technology sectors, computing hardware, enterprise software, IT services and telecommunication equipment and services, will all have slower growth than originally expected. In dollars, the forecast is for $3.8 trillion in IT spending. Last year's level was $3.7 trillion, a 6.9-percent increase from 2010. The strongest growth is expected in telecom equipment for which spending is expected to rise by 6.9 percent. That is followed in order by enterprise software, up 6.4 percent; computing hardware, 5.1 percent; IT services, 3.1 percent; and telecom services, 2.3 percent.