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This is true, but they've been milking it for 40 years, and it's in permanent decline. Mainframe sales are not worth anything like what they were in the 1980s.
by scholia 12y ago
This is true, but they've been milking it for 40 years, and it's in permanent decline. Mainframe sales are not worth anything like what they were in the 1980s.
Further, a big chunk of IBM's server business is running its own Unix. That market is also in decline, and easier to switch away from. See http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh030314-story06.html http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh030314-story06.html
- josho 12y agoI remember back in the Sam Palmisano days (mid to late 2000s) watching him present in an internal all hands meeting (I'm a past Software Group IBM employee). He spoke briefly about mainframe margins, he didn't state numbers, but boy he made it clear that the margins were significant and they were seeing growth. So, I don't know about the last few years, but I think IBM can ride the mainframe money train for years to come. My point was simply that it's not going to drive any growth.
- scholia 12y agoAgreed, but the numbers have been going down for decades, and are still going down. In 1985, mainframes brought in $14bn of IBM's $50bn turnover. Today it's less than $5bn of IBM's $100bn turnover. Factor in inflation and the decline is even more dramatic. IBM used to be able to charge $1 million just to install its top-level mainframe OS (before rental charges) and C cost $1,500 a day. I expect those days have gone ;-)