The pending purchase by research group Gartner of its smaller rival Meta Group for $162 million offers a rare glimpse into the IT analysis market - one that is difficult to measure as these experts spend all their time analysing other markets. On the face of it, the merger makes sense. The companies share a common customer base, and both offer fairly similar services. Why Gartner is paying a premium for Meta is up for conjecture. But there are clues in the way the IT wind is blowing.

One reason could be a conviction that the market the two compete in is shrinking and a perceived need to do the deal quickly and smoothly. As IT becomes more of a commodity, and systems and processes are standardised, so too become the problems and issues faced by CIOs and the like. Furthermore, a new generation of IT executive is appearing, one weaned on a diet of acronyms and "new" technologies that confounded many of there predecessors.

A pointer to this reasoning comes from a Gartner research note titled Telcos Should Take a Bottom-up Approach to IT Services. While the note gives ad-vice on how telecommunications companies should approach the IT services market, it also offers a glimpse of the issues facing consulting firms.