Here's an interesting take on the current state of the telecom sector: According to Gartner Inc. , the global market for telecom equipment is set to grow by 10.8 percent year-on-year to be worth $377 billion in 2012.

What's more, it's expected to grow by a further 8.3 percent next year to be worth $408 billion.

That's an outlook that clearly favors companies in the wireless networks sector, where a great deal of investment is headed currently (at least in North America), as noted recently by Jefferies & Company Inc. (See US Carrier Capex: Wireless Squeezing Wireline.)

For vendors with a wireline focus, such growth numbers look like wishful thinking. I'm thinking particularly of Acme Packet Inc. (Nasdaq: APKT) right now only because its sales warning is still fresh in my mind. (See Acme Packet Points to Capex Weakness.)

But there are plenty of other vendors that might also be wondering where those extra purchase orders are going.

Gartner's forecast is set out below, showing positive developments for other broad technology sectors and for telecom services too.

Table 1: Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (billions of US dollars)

If Gartner is right, which companies are set to benefit most from this upturn? All thoughts welcome on the message boards below.

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading