In the Western European services market, one-third of the top 50 vendors are U.S.-based service providers. The remaining two-thirds are European. But whereas the U.S.-based vendors are largely pan-European, the European-based vendors are much more concentrated around one or a few countries, and often find it difficult to gain share in other countries. "This will be critical for European-based service providers," said senior IDC analyst, Mette Ahorlu. "Growth in the European market today has two sources - one is organic growth and is about winning new contracts; the other is acquisitions. With very few exceptions, service providers with high growth have made acquisitions. This study of the top 50 European vendors shows that French, U.K., and Nordic companies are the best players in this game, while German companies need to speed up if they want to play on the international scene. And doing so is necessary. Midsize service providers experienced lower growth than others in 2004, and may easily become targets for acquisitions themselves."