Talk everywhere is of how IBM Corp can save the mainframe, but the fact remains that the AS/400 is the company’s only truly solid business with growth potential and the size to make a real difference to the overall picture: personal computers represent profitless volume, the RS/6000 may be a good business but it will be years before it is of a size to count for much in a company still doing $60,000m a year, and the mainframe is in terminal decline while IBM’s efforts to build external chip and storage products businesses are scarcely off the ground as yet so Tuesday’s announcements are of crucial importance – and IBM does really seem to be heading in the right direction,
