Two of the areas marked out for double digit growth at IBM are software and maintenance revenues, and now that the company breaks these out separately, it is possible to discern that while software is well on track, growing a handsome 23% to $1,530m in the quarter to June, the surge of interest that has been generated by the third party maintenance business is emphatically taking its toll, and IBM’s maintenance arm grew by only 5.6% to $1,930m. Second quarter sales were up 4% at $8,150m, but rentals and other services plunged 18% to $832m. And once again, turnover would actually have fallen in the quarter but for the beneficial impact of foreign currency translations into devalued dollars.
IBM FIGURES SHOW THE EFFECTS OF THIRD PARTY MAINTENANCE COMPETITION
