• IBM’s Systems Biz Returns To Profitability In Q2

  July 22, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Big Blue had a tough first quarter, but things got a little bit better in the second three months of 2013 and the company’s top brass are feeling pretty good about the prospects for business in the second half of this year. This is the picture that IBM is painting despite some rough currency fluctuations that do not play in its favor and continuing difficulties in the RISC/Unix and X86 server segments. And there is tough competition in the storage business, too. In the quarter ended in June, IBM once again did not grow its revenues and once again focused,

  …

  Read more

• RPG Teams Picking Up Mobile Development Skills

  July 22, 2013 Dan Burger

  Finding mobile development skills on an RPG development team is sort of like finding a homemade lemonade stand on a hot summer day in Cleveland. They’re out there. They’re a welcome relief. But they are rare. Not as rare as they used to be, however. And the numbers are growing quite nicely. I have not seen any mobile developer guesstimates for RPGers, but the mobile projects keep multiplying and there is little reason to believe the projects won’t increase in quantity and quality for years to come. How are IBM midrange shops handling this and how will they handle it

  …

  Read more

• As I See It: Searching for the Perfect Question

  July 22, 2013 Victor Rozek

  Lying to get a job used to be a lot easier. There was a time when a fluffed-up resume was enough to get you an interview. A proper display of earnestness, a dash of personal charm, and a retelling of your exaggerated accomplishments would pretty much guarantee that you could keep living indoors. Back then, resume claims were seldom checked, and what checking occurred was not very useful. By law, companies could only verify employment, and unless you could cajole someone into speaking off the record, you learned nothing illuminating about the applicant. At the end of the day, hiring

  …

  Read more

• PureSystems Sales Break 6,000, And IBM Names New GM

  July 22, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Two weeks ago, we told you that Andy Monshaw, the long-time head of IBM‘s Storage Systems Division and more recently the general manager of the PureSystems modular systems business, had left Big Blue. Due to the Independence Day holiday in the United States, IBM was unable to confirm Monshaw’s departure, but last week Big Blue said that Monshaw had indeed left the company and that a new executive had been tapped to replace him. The new general manager of the PureSystems product line is Andrew Sotiropoulos, who has been around many IBM divisions and groups over the years and

  …

  Read more

• Sirius Considers Expanding Its Power Cloud Capacity

  July 22, 2013 Dan Burger

  Sirius Computer Solutions launched its Power Cloud just about a year ago. It created two cloud environments specifically for small to midsize IBM midrange shops. Those two clouds are three-quarters full now, says Jay Johnson, director of managed services for Sirius, and the company is evaluating an investment in more cloud capacity. The existing multi-tenant clouds are built on Power 720 boxes. The next configuration may include a PureFlex system. Although 90 percent of the Power Cloud workload is IBM i-based and the growth trajectory is i-based, Johnson says there are customers interested in the capability to include AIX and

  …

  Read more

• IBM Pushes Out Power, Mainframe Microcode Lockdown To 2014

  July 22, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  It looks like IBM is getting pushback from customers and partners who are not happy about an announcement it made earlier this year to lock down access to licensed internal code for System z mainframes, Power Systems, and various storage arrays based on Power7 machinery. As The Four Hundred reported back in February, in announcement letter 113-027, IBM said that it was tweaking the licensing of the machine code, often called licensed internal code or microcode, for selected high-end servers based on Power and System z processors. IBM has revised the terms and conditions to machine code on these

  …

  Read more

• App Supporter Rimini Street Posts Another Record Quarter

  July 22, 2013 Dan Burger

  Third-party maintenance and support contracts seem to be a good alternative for companies feeling the pointy stick from the likes of Oracle and SAP. The popularity of that choice is readily apparent. For instance, Rimini Street, a third-party provider, just announced another record-breaking second quarter, noting 57 new client transactions and a 165 percent increase in new sales. This isn’t the first time Rimini has reported impressive increases in its business. It is the 13th consecutive quarter of financial gains. Its total invoicing for the second quarter of 2013 totaled $15.7 million, which it pegs as a 64

  …

  Read more

• Cloudy Software Jump Saves SAP’s Second Quarter

  July 22, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  German software giant SAP has turned in a mixed second quarter, and as it turns out, the mix was just right. Between perpetual software license sales and cloud-style subscriptions, that is. In the quarter ended in June, SAP’s software license sales took a 7 percent dive to €982 million, which would be pretty bad news under normal circumstances. However, its cloud software subscription sales exploded by 206 percent (that means more than tripled) to €159 million, saving the day. Add it all up, and software license and cloud subscription sales together rose by 3 percent to €1.14 billion, and at

  …

  Read more

• Working Vacations On The Rise For Americans

  July 22, 2013 Jenny Thomas

  Vacations are supposed to be a time to get away from it all to recharge your body and mind. But before you head out, don’t forget you won’t be the only one in need of recharging and grab all your cords and wires since all of your electronic devices will need to power up, too. According to a new survey by TeamViewer, a provider of remote control and online meetings software, the definition of “vacation” continues to be redefined for a growing number of Americans. In fact, 61 percent of employed Americans polled by TeamViewer say they will work

  …

  Read more

• What Is IBM Going To Do With Its Systems Business?

  July 15, 2013 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  I don’t pull the intuition card very often, but in this case, I can feel it in my skinny little bones. Something is up at IBM, and I think we can expect to see some big changes in its systems business in the coming months. This is not just a hunch, but the reading of the executive tea leaves combined with a hunch and observations of IBM for over three decades now. You get a feel for when Big Blue is ripe for change if you have been doing this long enough, and we have a new CEO who

  …

  Read more

Previous Articles Next Articles