iSeries Sales Down 18 Percent in Q4 as Users Await i5s and V5R4
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Last week, IBM reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year in 2005, and as is usually the case for a large, multinational corporation with a complex set of product lines, Big Blue had plenty of ups and downs in the quarter and is finding it hard to generate revenue growth even as it manages to squeeze profits out of those products. But, the company, with over $88.3 billion in sales (excluding its divested PC and disk drive businesses) and $8.7 billion in net income for 2005, is still by a smidgen the largest IT supplier in the world, just ahead of Hewlett-Packard. READ MORE >

IBM Reshuffles Systems and Technology Executives
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

It's a new year, and one with its own challenges. And big companies like IBM like to cross-train their top executives to sit in various regions and management, development, and sales jobs throughout their careers so they can have seasoned, well-rounded executives running their groups and divisions. And that is why IBM last week rejiggered its organizational chart and moved around some of its key executives within the Systems and Technology Group, which makes processors and servers and develops operating systems. READ MORE >

The Job Market in 2006, Part 1: Are iSeries Shops Hiring?
by Mary Lou Roberts

Last week, for a brief moment that most of us (except the short-sellers) hope will return soon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke 11,000. In and of itself, the Dow is not necessarily an indicator of employment. To be sure, stocks frequently rise when companies announce major layoffs and restructuring plans. But a steadily increasing stock market can certainly show confidence in the economy, and generally speaking, when the economy does well, hiring goes up. READ MORE >

A Little More Insight into IBM's Server Sales in Q4 and 2005
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

While IBM provides a fair amount of detail concerning the growth and declines in its dozens of key product lines, it has very rarely only talked about the absolute revenue figures for any key product line--and certainly not since the Securities and Exchange Commission instituted regulations in the last decade that do not allow selective disclosure. Which means IBM never talks specifically about how any of its groups, divisions, and units are doing in terms of dollars and cents. READ MORE >