TROY, NY – (BUSINESS WIRE) – 7/27/04 – What a difference a year makes. The results of GlobalSpec’s Third Annual Industrial Indicator Survey show U.S. users of its Engineering Search Engine have gone from hopeful to bullish in viewing the year ahead.

GlobalSpec offers the engineering and technical community the leading specialized search engine and information resource including The Engineering Web – a unique slice of the World Wide Web focusing solely on engineering-related content.

Of the more than 600 GlobalSpec users who responded, 92% of U.S. respondents said they anticipate their companies’ total revenue for 2004 will be greater than or about the same as that in 2003, up 5% over their expectations at mid-year in 2003. Other indications of an upturn include 92% of U.S. respondents saying spending will increase or remain the same from the first half of 2004 to the second half, and that 82% believe their organizations’ revenue projections are on target or ahead of target. Only 8% say their U.S. organizations will reduce spending during 2004’s latter half compared to 13% in 2003.

“Every indication shows the optimism we saw in last year’s survey has been rewarded in 2004,” says Guy Maser, Vice President of Marketing at GlobalSpec. “There’s generally a good feeling among the often cautious engineering community that the economic slump is over.”

The improving economy has also had an impact on job seekers, according to the GlobalSpec survey. Thirty percent of U.S. respondents stated their companies had increased headcount, compared to just 9% the previous year, the lowest figure since the survey was initiated in 2002. Among U.S. respondents currently employed, 29% said they were working more hours while 65% were working the same hours.

“Some of the ‘soft’ indicators are pointing positively as well,” Maser says. “According to the respondents, R&D spending is up 25% nationally. Even more significantly, 34% of U.S. respondents said their sales and marketing spending has increased this year. Since sales and marketing spending generally lags behind the economy, an increase of roughly one-third shows companies have confidence that this is not a temporary blip but a real shift in the economy.”

The GlobalSpec Annual Industrial Indicator Survey seeks responses from more than 400,000 recipients of GlobalSpec’s Online Engineering Newsletter on a variety of business topics. Responses represent the opinions of the individuals surveyed and are not necessarily those of their organizations.

About GlobalSpec, Inc.

GlobalSpec, Inc. is the leading specialized search engine and information resource for the engineering community. Engineers and technical buyers regularly use GlobalSpec in their work process to search for and locate products and services, learn about suppliers and access comprehensive technical content on standards, patents, materials properties, specifications, designs, application notes and more. GlobalSpec's trademarked search technology, SpecSearch®, allows users to search by specification more than 68 million parts in 1,150,000 product families from more than 11,000 supplier catalogs. Suppliers representing their products and services on GlobalSpec gain a comprehensive marketing program designed to promote their brand and generate, track and manage highly-qualified sales leads. Information about GlobalSpec can be found at www.globalspec.com.

GlobalSpec and SpecSearch are registered trademarks and The Engineering Search Engine is a service mark of GlobalSpec, Inc.

Contact:
Amber Cooleen
Senior Product Marketing Manager
518.880.0200 ext. 5338
E-mail: amber.cooleen@ihs.com

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