“Seattle’s chief technology officer, Bill Schrier, is bracing for a 6 percent budget cut in 2012, bigger than this year’s, a sign of tighter spending that indicates slower sales gains for Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp.,” Dina Bass reports for Bloomberg.

“Schrier is likely to be told to cut even more next year, so he’s delaying upgrades to Microsoft’s Windows 7, cutting services contracts from International Business Machines Corp. and seeking cheaper alternatives to gear from Cisco Systems Inc.,” Bass reports. “Belt-tightening in the biggest city in the Pacific Northwest reflects a larger trend: Financial-services companies such as Western & Southern Financial Group and governments, including the state of California, will cut or leave spending on information technology unchanged next year as economic growth slows.”

Bass reports, “That means some technology bellwethers, including Intel, Microsoft, IBM and Cisco, may suffer.”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Lynn Weiler" for the heads up.]