“Look for a noticeable pickup in technology spending next year, for the first time since at least 2001,” writes Karen Talley in today’s Wall Street Journal Online.

“That’s the uptake of a survey by Goldman Sachs & Co. of technology officers responsible for buying information systems like servers, personal computers and software.”

“The results of the survey, published Monday in a report called, ‘At Last The Bleeding Stops,’ indicates that highly depressed conditions are transitioning to slightly improved sentiment, with some of the technology officers even suggesting that this year’s second-half spending outlook has turned up a bit.”

“While the report might be taken by some as being asked to clutch at straws, Goldman says investors should make hay with it. In other words, they should consider the findings a nascent sign of some kind of recovery — and that’s the first time Goldman has found this kind of optimism among executives since beginning the survey in the fall of 2001.”

“The results are based on a survey of 100 senior information technology managers from Fortune 1000 companies.”

“The crux is that spending by technology managers appears to have bottomed out, and there is more talk about spending resuming than there was in the past.”

” ‘Conditions are showing gradual improvement, but the environment remains restrained,’ said Laura Conigliaro, whose technology team at Goldman put the survey results together. ‘An initial look at 2004 shows expectations of modest growth.’ “

“Capital budgets for systems including hardware and software are expected to be up an average 5%, while overall information technology budgets that include staffing are seen rising 3.5%.”

“Wireless local area network connectivity is a high priority, as is software that aids security, storage management and Web applications, the respondents said.”

“The results are welcome, even though they still put the recovery off into 2004, and are to be expected given the first-quarter results and outlooks that companies gave about still-crimped budgets, market watchers at other firms said.”