Houston Ranked Number One IT Service Economy in Q2

BOSTON, Sept. 4 /PRNewswire/ --Houston surpassedNew York City as the as the largest IT service economy in the second quarter of 2008, according to the Q2 State of the Industry Report from OnForce, the world's largest marketplace for IT service professionals. Examining transactional data from the OnForce market, the report offers a detailed snapshot of IT service spending trends withinthe United States, broken down by state, city and IT categories.

Despite being ranked fourth in overall population,Houston had the greatest number of IT service events during the second quarter of this year. Climbing one spot from its second-place finish in Q1,Houston also topped Chicago, which retained its third-place ranking from Q1. In one of several surprises to emerge from the report,Las Vegas andMiami -- whose populations rank 28th and 43rd in the US, respectively -- rounded out the top five busiest IT service cities, ahead of larger cities such asLos Angeles,Phoenix andSan Antonio.

In addition to the highest volume cities, the report also identified the top states by volume, whereCalifornia,Florida,Texas,New York and Pennsylvania remained in the top five.

Additional highlights from the Q2 report include:

--Franklin, Tenn.;Warwick, R.I.; andSanta Ana, Calif., were the most expensive cities for IT service, at more than 2.5X the national average.

--Washington D.C.,South Dakota andAlaska had the highest hourly rates for IT service among states, whileMaryland,Maine andMontana were the least expensive states for IT services.

-- VoIP continues to be the most expensive service category, actually increasing from Q1.

-- Hourly rates for VoIP work were almost twice the average of all other IT categories in Q2, a substantial increase over its Q1 hourly rates.

"Because we have service professionals nationwide, OnForce is in a unique position to offer highly localized data about the IT service industry," said OnForce CEO Peter Cannone. "This state of the industry report not only provides insight into specific trends and markets, it also enables IT industry executives to be better-informed when making decisions and investments about how and where they can grow their businesses."

The Q2 report reveals the fastest-growing IT service categories were Consumer Electronics, Point of Sale (POS) and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). OnForce attributes this growth to an increase in the number of large rollouts in technologies such as POS kiosks, flat panel TVs and wireless networks. The adoption of such technologies in stores, restaurants, hotels and schools represents a tremendous growth opportunity for VARs and solution providers that have nationwide coverage.

The OnForce marketplace represents the largest concentration of IT service professionals and transactions around the country, with more than 13,000 registered service professionals in the marketplace.

OnForce, which has had more than 750,000 work orders completed through its marketplace since the company's inception, issues the State of the Industry Report every fiscal quarter. The report is available online at www.onforce.com/SOTI/Q208.

About OnForce

OnForce is the world's largest marketplace for IT service professionals. The company enables VARs, solution providers, and IT service firms to find skilled, contract professionals across the U.S. andCanada. The OnForce marketplace has been used to successfully complete more than 750,000 work orders since its inception. The company has more than 5,000 service buyers and 13,000+ technicians who work in a wide variety of categories, including computers, printers, networking, VoIP, point of sale and consumer electronics.

For more information about the U.S. marketplace, visit www.onforce.com

To learn about the Canadian marketplace, visit www.onforce.ca

SOURCE OnForce

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