Worldwide IT services market grew 6.7% year-on-year in 2004 to touch $607.8 billion, according to a study.While the IT services market was $569.6 billion in 2003, it remained just 2.2% in 2004 due to decline in value of dollar, according to analyst firm Gartner.IBM continued to lead the worldwide IT services industry with revenues from services at $46.4 billion, which accounts for 7.6% of global sales. Accenture showed the strongest growth among the top six vendors, and its revenue soared 16.4% to $14.1 billion.Following IBM on the top vendors lisit was EDS with revenues of $20.6 billion, Fujitsu with sales of $16.8 billion was placed third on the list and Hewlett Packard followed it with revenues of $14.19 bn."Outsourcing was the growth driver for IBM and HP in 2004 while Accenture experienced equivalent increases in both the outsourcing and consulting segments," said Kathryn Hale, principal analyst for Gartner's worldwide IT services group."Computer Sciences and EDS each have a strong concentration of revenue in the United States, which impacted global growth for both companies in a year the dollar declined," she said.CSC earned $14 billion from services business.Fujitsu's outsourcing business grew in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, but the weak economic recovery in Japan, and the impact of the company's restructuring efforts resulted in a growth rate slightly below the industry average, Gartner said.
