Mchenry County is working to prepare its residents for the coming of the internet of things. To do so, MCEDC and McHenry County are helping to promote and facilitate the establishment of fiber optic connections laid throughout the county and are actively assisting the county to facilitate 5G capabilities.
The United States has the most advanced software and information technology (IT) services industry in the world. More than a quarter of the $3.8 trillion global IT market is in the United States. The industry accounts for $1.14 trillion of U.S. value-added GDP and 10.5 million jobs. The number of jobs created directly by the software industry has increased 14.6 percent since 2014. There are more than 100,000 software and IT services companies in the United States, and more than 99 percent are small and medium-sized firms (under 500 employees). This total includes software publishers, suppliers of custom computer programming services, computer systems design firms, and facilities management companies. The industry draws on a highly educated and skilled U.S. workforce of nearly two million people, a number which has continued to grow during the past decade.
U.S. software firms operate a mature, harmonized market and have a reputation for producing reliable and effective solutions that accelerate quickly to the marketplace. International companies in the industry have shown a keen interest in the U.S. market because of its strong intellectual property rights laws and enforcement. U.S. companies lead the world’s packaged and custom-software markets, and are competitive in nearly all other market segments with a stable overseas market share.
