Tech Execs Plan for Economic Troubles

Indeed, telecoms company Telstra Corp Ltd said the Australian economy was booming. “They can’t hire enough people,” Chief Executive Sol Trujillo said.

In addition, many technology executives cling firmly to the belief that their products are must-haves—whether they are cell phones that are kept when home phones are canceled, software to make vast computer “server farms” handle more work with less energy, or services to fend off vicious new attacks from hackers who are trying to steal money rather than just make trouble.

“We’ve seen no slowdown economically in IT (information technology) spending related to security. It’s been a nice opportunity,” said Dave Dewalt, chief executive of McAfee Inc. “Am I nervous? Do I read the headlines, too? Yes.”

(Reporrting by Peter Henderson. Additional reporting by Kirby Chien in Tokyo and Tova Cohen and Georgina Prodhan in Paris)