3 ms·

IBM is such an iconic and Big company and yet I have no idea how they make their money. What are some of their best selling product/services?

by pavs 11y ago

coob 11y ago
Consulting. Company X has Problem Y that can be solved with technology. Company X feels they don't have the know how to do it so they pay IBM to help them do it. IBM has a suite of products/services that have been put together to speed this process up, but they will also put together custom products/services (for a handsome fee).
thorntonbf 11y ago
It's helpful when looking at a modern IBM to consider them as a finance company as opposed to a tech company.
tjakab 11y ago
Mainframes. If you're a bank or an enterprise of a certain size, then a chunk of your annual IT budget goes right to IBM for mainframe maintenance and licensing every year.
- zhte415 11y ago
  Absolutely. I was at a local university, in April, where IBM had donated a mainframe. While the university wasn't sure what to do with it, it was spectacularly iconic, sitting in its own glass walled 200m2 room. After a while, it had the effect of making students getting interested in banking and transaction orientated software engineering, completing the cycle, joining internship programs and maintaining the mainframe paradigm for the next couple of generations. Wouldn't you? A massive mainframe you can play on as a student, no need for a VM, just log right in!
- aus_ 11y ago
  In 2012, The Economist reported that mainframes accounted for about a quarter of IBM's revenue and about half of its profits. [0] [1] IT budgets for large banks and financial firms usually dedicate something like 20% their budget to mainframes, but it usually accounts for about 80% of the firm's workload/processing. [0]: http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/09/ibms-mainframes http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/09/ibms-mainf... [1]: http://blog.nullspace.io/mainframes.html http://blog.nullspace.io/mainframes.html
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- nandhp 11y ago
  Not any more: "Toshiba gobbles IBM's POS biz for $850m" - 17 Apr 2012 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/17/toshiba_buys_ibm_retail_biz_followup/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/17/toshiba_buys_ibm_ret... Starbucks seems to be in the process of upgrading to newer models, and they say Toshiba on them instead of IBM.
- xienze 11y ago
  Nope, they sold the retail stuff to Toshiba years ago.
rogeryu 11y ago
They provide services. You are a big company and need a software system that can manage your oil refinery or factory - they make it. They do hardware, but much less than before. Their DB2 database is a big competitor to Oracle db. They do cloudlike services, but not as a public service available to anyone. Their competitors are Oracle, SAP and big consultancy firms. Think big budgets.
- reilly3000 11y ago
  Bluemix is their public cloud. Doesn't suck.
  - splatcollision 11y ago
    Yep. Actually quite useful.
  - rogeryu 11y ago
    Very good tip! I'm going to try it!
needusername 11y ago
WAS, RAD, DB2, MQ Series
- slantyyz 11y ago
  Cognos

IBM is such an iconic and Big company and yet I have no idea how they make their money. What are some of their best selling product/services?

by pavs 11y ago

IBM is such an iconic and Big company and yet I have no idea how they make their money. What are some of their best selling product/services?

coob 11y ago

Consulting. Company X has Problem Y that can be solved with technology. Company X feels they don't have the know how to do it so they pay IBM to help them do it. IBM has a suite of products/services that have been put together to speed this process up, but they will also put together custom products/services (for a handsome fee).

thorntonbf 11y ago

It's helpful when looking at a modern IBM to consider them as a finance company as opposed to a tech company.

tjakab 11y ago

Mainframes. If you're a bank or an enterprise of a certain size, then a chunk of your annual IT budget goes right to IBM for mainframe maintenance and licensing every year.

zhte415 11y ago
Absolutely. I was at a local university, in April, where IBM had donated a mainframe. While the university wasn't sure what to do with it, it was spectacularly iconic, sitting in its own glass walled 200m2 room. After a while, it had the effect of making students getting interested in banking and transaction orientated software engineering, completing the cycle, joining internship programs and maintaining the mainframe paradigm for the next couple of generations. Wouldn't you? A massive mainframe you can play on as a student, no need for a VM, just log right in!
aus_ 11y ago
In 2012, The Economist reported that mainframes accounted for about a quarter of IBM's revenue and about half of its profits. [0] [1] IT budgets for large banks and financial firms usually dedicate something like 20% their budget to mainframes, but it usually accounts for about 80% of the firm's workload/processing. [0]: http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/09/ibms-mainframes http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/09/ibms-mainf... [1]: http://blog.nullspace.io/mainframes.html http://blog.nullspace.io/mainframes.html

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
nandhp 11y ago
Not any more: "Toshiba gobbles IBM's POS biz for $850m" - 17 Apr 2012 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/17/toshiba_buys_ibm_retail_biz_followup/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/17/toshiba_buys_ibm_ret... Starbucks seems to be in the process of upgrading to newer models, and they say Toshiba on them instead of IBM.
xienze 11y ago
Nope, they sold the retail stuff to Toshiba years ago.

rogeryu 11y ago

They provide services. You are a big company and need a software system that can manage your oil refinery or factory - they make it. They do hardware, but much less than before. Their DB2 database is a big competitor to Oracle db. They do cloudlike services, but not as a public service available to anyone. Their competitors are Oracle, SAP and big consultancy firms. Think big budgets.

reilly3000 11y ago
Bluemix is their public cloud. Doesn't suck.
- splatcollision 11y ago
  Yep. Actually quite useful.
- rogeryu 11y ago
  Very good tip! I'm going to try it!

needusername 11y ago

WAS, RAD, DB2, MQ Series

slantyyz 11y ago
Cognos