Power6: Later in 2007 Rather than Sooner?
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

There is some hubbub in the server market that IBM's Power6 processors have shifted to a later ship date than perhaps Big Blue had planned. It is hard to say for sure exactly what is going on, since IBM does not provide future ship dates for products that are not announced and has vagued up the product roadmaps it shows partners and customers in recent weeks. But IBM's press relations and top executives have said repeatedly that Power6 will ship in systems in the second half of 2007. READ MORE >

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

IBM reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2007 last Tuesday, 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 >

Reader Feedback on User-Priced System i Boxes
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

It is hard to say for sure how the new user-priced System i 515 and 525 servers will do in the market. I am optimistic that the machines can do a better job of competing in certain situations, particularly among customers who might otherwise install ERP-style software on Windows machines or, worse still, move off the System i5 to a Windows box as part of an ERP upgrade. Having not done the math yet myself on how the boxes compare, I think it is appropriate to share with you some of the initial reader feedback we have received. READ MORE >

As I See It: Induced Labor
by Victor Rozek

I've been reading a lot lately about the great American labor shortage. Boomers are beginning to retire and expire, the theory goes, and corporations are scrambling to find sufficient legions of white-collar professionals to fill the void. Having looked in all the closets and finding no professionals lurking within, they have little choice but to continue outsourcing high-tech jobs and taking reluctant advantage of foreign labor through the H-1B program. READ MORE >