"In early 2001, the global IT business slowdown and the dotcom bust altered the situation. Reportedly, Cisco failed to foresee the changing trends in the industry and by mid 2001 had to cope with the problems of excess inventory. As a result, the company had to write off inventory worth $ 2.2 billion in May 2001. Cisco blamed the problems on the 'plunge in technology spending', which Chambers called as unforeseeable as 'a 100-year flood.' Company sources revealed that if its forecasters had been able to see the downturn, the supply chain system would have worked perfectly."

What does 'plunge in technology spending' mean ??