By Serene Luo

INTERNET security company Symantec said on Thursday that most small- and medium-sized businesses in the Asia-Pacific, including Japan, would continue paying for Information Technology needs despite the downturn.

About 57 per cent of the 600 companies interviewed over the phone in this part of the world said their budgets for IT would be higher this year, while another 27 per cent of them would have the same budgets as last year.

'Though SMEs don't usually have a lot of budget, and not even full-time, specialised employees who take care of IT, they say this is important,' Mr Alex Ong, the company's sales director for commercial accounts in Singapore, said.

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