For the technology industry, 2009 was a pretty tough year, but Forrester says the tech downturn is now ‘unofficially over’.

The research firm says the global technology industry will see an 8.1 percent increase in IT spending in 2010, with software and computer hardware leading the charge, and IT consulting services following.

After declining 8.2 percent last year, U.S. IT spending will grow 6.6 percent in 2010 to $568 billion, according to Forrester’s latest research report. Global tech spending, which dropped 8.9 percent in 2009, will rise to more than $1.6 trillion in 2010.

Forrester is particularly optimistic about IT spending of businesses and governments in the United States, with Forrester Research VP and principal analyst Andrew Bartels predicting a the tech recovery that will be stronger than the overall economic recovery, with technology spending growing at more than twice the rate of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010.

Bartels said he sees 2010 as poised for a tech spending rebound and the start of a longer growth cycle, especially for technologies involving service-oriented architecture, server and storage virtualization, cloud computing and unified communications.

But the regions where growth is predicted to be the strongest in 2010 (when not measured against local currency) are Western and Central Europe, where tech purchases are forecast to rise by 11.2 percent, boosted by the dollar’s decline against the euro.

Forrester Research expects IT purchases in Canada to grow by 9.9 percent, Asia Pacific by 7.8 percent, and Latin America by 7.7 percent.

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