Houston: Despite the political furore over outsourcing of jobs in the US, the trend will continue to be the main source for growth in the IT sector, as its popularity continues with companies of all sizes, an American research analysis firm has said.

According to Gartner, outsourcing will eventually account for 53 per cent of the total global IT services market by the end of 2004, rising to 56 per cent by 2007.

Gartner presented its findings in the 2004 outsourcing summit held in the US this week.

"Outsourcing is becoming the dominant way that enterprises buy IT services," said Allie Young, research vice president for Gartner's sourcing group.

"The outsourcing industry continues to evolve, but the imperatives for enterprises that are considering outsourcing are constant focus on core business, access to critical technical expertise and optimised IT operations," said Young.

Gartner stated that Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is also becoming an area of growth, as it states all-inclusive multi-year outsourcing contracts are being traded in for shorter-term "selective" deals.

The trend towards offshore sourcing is also increasing, Gartner said, as the global delivery model for IT services is becoming known as the cheaper alternative in the industry.

"A global delivery model means that enterprises can use IT resources from anywhere in the world to ensure that they have the right skills at the right price at the right time, with managed risk," said Young.