"Two of the world's largest technology vendors surprised Wall Street by posting surging sales and profits in the first-quarter, and signaled brighter days ahead," reported the Wall Street Journal after IBM and Intel posted strong numbers.

"EMC Corp (EMC.N), the top maker of corporate data storage equipment, reported quarterly revenue ahead of Wall Street projections on Wednesday, boosting hopes for a recovery in the technology sector," added Reuters.

What's really surprising is that Wall Street was surprised.

We weren't, and you probably weren't, either.

If you talk to the people in the business world who actually use and buy technology, the spending surge was expected, explained (recovering earnings plus long-delayed purchases = Buying) and categorized.

Or maybe the alleged surprise has more to do with the way big companies manage quarterly earnings for Wall Street than it does with the real insider view of tech-vendor performance.