By the end of the third quarter of 2011 the Longhaus Australian Tech Index had seen a dip of 2.2% (or 3.6 points) to finish at 155.9. This is the first drop in the index since the same quarter period in 2010 and marks the first significant decline since the global financial crisis back in Q2 2009. However, the latest CIO Confidence Poll revealed that in Q4 2011, Australia’s ICT decision makers are still holding a positive outlook over the coming quarter...   The Longhaus Australian Tech Index is a quarterly index based on a propriety model developed to measure the health of the Australian ICT industry. The model measures the Australian ICT industry from the following four (4) dimensions: a) demand forces including ICT spending and ICT importing, b) supply factors including influx volume of venture capital (VC) funding, c) strength of vendors indicated by market value, and employment capacity, and d) consumer factors including internet subscription rates. Collectively, these four (4) dimensions and their accompanying factors indicate the health of the Australian ICT industry. Finally by providing calculated weightings to these indicators and including heuristic views from Australian CIOs, the index provides important insights into lag, lead and predictive indicators of the Australian technology economy.