Taiwan's software market demand to exceed NT$160 B. in 2005: III

Taipei, Jan. 31, 2005 (CENS)--Taiwan's software market demand is expected to grow by 5.1% to outstrip NT$160 billion (US$5.02 billion at US$1: NT$31.9) in 2005, according to Market Intelligence Center (MIC) under the Institute for Information Industry (III).

MIC also predicted the market demand for 2006 to grow 6.6% from this year to NT$177.8 billion (US$5.57 billion).

According to III, Taiwan's information software market is expected to slightly trend upward from 2004 to 2007, with Internet services expected to enjoy an annual growth of over 10% during the period, higher than the growth rates for project services and software products.

In addition, the institute said, the information-security market is expected to generate a market value of over NT$11 billion (US$344.83 million) this year, and post a compound annual growth of 23% in the next three years to reach about NT$17 billon, or US$532.92 million, in 2007.

In 2007, the market demand for information-security services is expected to outstrip that for information-security products, and the demand for integrated information-security products is anticipated to increase gradually.

Last year, III said, the production value of the free software line in Taiwan rose sharply to NT$33.5 billion (US$1.05 billion) in 2004 from 2003's NT$13.5 billion (US$423.2 million), including the output value of both Linux operating-system and embedded software products.

III predicted the free software line in Taiwan to enjoy a compound annual growth rate of 77.6% during the 2002-2006 period.