The current recession and credit crunch deeply affected IT spending in the last quarter of 2008 and into 2009. Despite this bleak overall picture, Forrester forecasts 4% growth in nonapplication software products (e.g., storage management, middleware), which leads us to stand by our 2009 IT management software (ITMS) growth forecast of 9.5%. Software investments in ITMS do better than the rest of IT investments because they fundamentally address IT productivity and the reduction of operating costs. Short-term benefits obviously favor tactical solutions over strategic initiatives with long-term gains. In this context, an analysis of the four megavendors - BMC Software, CA, HP Software, and IBM Tivoli - is especially significant. Although not intended as a direct comparison of the four companies, Forrester's strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) analysis for Q3 2009 regroups the market contenders by categories for an easier evaluation to enable vendor strategy professionals to substantiate decisions about their partnership and go-to-market strategies.