During the past three to five years (depending on the industry in question), IT budgets have been modest at best. There has been a great deal more Band-Aids placed on them than shiny new hardware and software purchased. At the same time, not a lot of new stuff has come on the market. Mainly, the past few years have been all about incremental improvements to the old hardware and software. What little new technology was released did not see significant adoption.
A prime example of this is 10 Gbit Ethernet. Its sales trends and pricing, which is generally a function of sales volume, tell us a great deal. 10 Gbit Ethernet pricing has finally dropped, and those (including me) who predicted high adoption and low pricing back in 2007 and 2008 were wrong. It is only now that we may be seeing the light at the end of this very long and deep recession.