TROY, NY - (BUSINESS WIRE) - 9/14/06 - – Use of traditional media by engineering, technical and industrial professionals continues to lose ground to online resources, according to respondents of the GlobalSpec Engineering Trends Survey. This fifth annual study surveyed respondents involved in the purchasing of technical products or services to determine Internet usage patterns.

91 percent of respondents reported using the Internet to find components and suppliers, while 90 percent indicated that they have obtained product specifications online. Additionally, 82 percent reported using the Internet for research, compared to 68 percent a year ago. This audience is also spending more time online for work purposes; 45 percent of respondents reported spending six or more hours per week online.

Results of the survey also indicate that engineers prefer to contact suppliers using online methods, yet many suppliers are not meeting expectations with their responses. 42 percent of engineers prefer to contact suppliers and manufacturers by visiting them on the Web, and another 36 percent prefer e-mail. But 40 percent of respondents indicated that they typically wait between 3-7 days to receive the information they request via e-mail, and 5 percent wait even longer.

While engineers continue to use the Internet frequently for work purposes, some new media has not yet been widely adopted by this audience. For example, survey results show that 84 percent of respondents reported never viewing a podcast for work-related purposes. However, 39 percent of engineers reported viewing a Webinar or Webcast in the past year, showing an increased acceptance of this medium among the technical community.

Additional findings from the GlobalSpec Fifth Annual Engineering Trends Survey include:

• 56 percent of respondents state that specifications are the most valuable information when searching for products and components
• 79 percent use two or more search engines when using the Internet for work-related purposes
• 51 percent of respondents reported attending no trade shows in the last 12 months

Access the survey results at http://www.globalspec.com/GSSurveyResults0706

About GlobalSpec, Inc.
GlobalSpec, Inc. is the leading specialized vertical search, information services and e-publishing company serving the engineering, technical and industrial communities. GlobalSpec users benefit from domain-expert search engines, a broad range of proprietary and aggregated Web-based content and over 40 product-centric e-newsletters – helping them search for and locate products and services, learn about suppliers and access comprehensive technical content. SpecSearch®, GlobalSpec's trademarked search technology, allows users to search by specification more than 138 million parts in 1,800,000 product families from more than 20,000 supplier catalogs. For suppliers, GlobalSpec offers highly filtered sales and marketing opportunities, product promotion and brand advertising platforms, and a wide range of e-media advertising and marketing solutions.

GlobalSpec, SpecSearch, The Engineering Search Engine and The Engineering Web are registered trademarks of GlobalSpec, Inc.

Contact:
Amber Devin
Marketing Manager
518.880.0200 ext. 5338
E-mail: adevin@globalspec.com

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