Slowing U.S. Sales Hurt IBM's First Quarter
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

IBM reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2007 today, kicking off the earnings season for the year for the major players in the IT market. Big Blue's sales were just a hair over $22 billion, up 6.6 percent, with net income of $1.8 billion, up 8 percent. The interesting news is that sales were flat in the United States, and as you might expect, sales in the booming Asia/Pacific region helped give IBM growth. Europe, which is often a problem area when it comes to growth for IBM, helped out this time, too, thanks in large part to the strength of the euro against the dollar. READ MORE >

Top Mainframe Stories from Around the Web

(SearchDataCenter) Users of the somewhat dated 31-bit mainframe operating systems are coming face to face with the 64-bit world now that IBM has dropped its support of z/OS 1.4 and 1.5. Those customers can buy new hardware, go off of support, or transition to another platform. READ MORE >

(Enterprise Systems) To those who say the mainframe is a fish out of water when it comes to any company's overall information management strategy, SAS says you couldn't be more wrong. SAS makes business intelligence and data mining software that runs on z/OS, as well as Linux, OpenVMS, Unix, and Windows, and officials there say the future is promising for the mainframe. READ MORE >

(CM Crossroads) Ryan Lloyd, the application lifecycle management product manager at software vendor MKS, provides his view of reducing much of the complexity involved in application development, particularly in light of the recent trends toward application modernization and service oriented architectures. His key points include increasing levels of collaboration, efficiency, and compliance. READ MORE >

(Fujitsu Siemens Computers) At the same time that mountains of data keep piling up, companies are seeking ways to hold down storage costs. The combined efforts of Fujitsu Siemens and CA in a disk-to-disk-to-tape architecture makes a claim for reducing costs and adding simplified administration of data backup for z/OS users. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

See our full calendar of events at
http://www.itjungle.com/big/big-calendar.html

April 23-27 -- Orlando, Florida - IBM system management products are the highlight of the Automated Operations Technical Council conference, where sessions are presented by representatives from IBM software development teams and their customers. The focus is on the mainframe environment, but extends out into the enterprise. The AOTC is a closed conference, with attendance by invitation only. Contact your IBM field representative for more details and an opportunity to attend. LEARN MORE >

May 6-10 -- San Jose, California - The International DB2 Users Group conference, known as IDUG 2007 North America, offers training and education on topics that include including DB2 for Linux, Unix, Windows; DB2 for z/OS; Informix; Java; Websphere; and XML. LEARN MORE >

May 18-22 -- Green Bay, Wisconsin - The WAVV Conference for users of the VSE, VM, and Linux operating systems, will include session topics such as z/VSE Version 4 features and benefits, SOA and interoperability, new workloads for the System z9 Business Class server, and integration of z/VSE processes into distributed environments. The event will be held at the Regency Suites Hotel. LEARN MORE >

May 20-25 -- Orlando, Florida - IBM's Impact 2007 conference features WebSphere and service oriented architecture (SOA) as the stars. Hear the story from IBM, analysts, and companies that have implemented SOA. There will be 325 sessions and labs and three separate tracks are designed for business leaders, IT executives, and technical personnel. LEARN MORE >