IBM has been divesting from hardware for quite some time. I think that they have really learned from the "IBM compatible" commoditizing that occurred three deca

IBM has been divesting from hardware for quite some time. I think that they have really learned from the "IBM compatible" commoditizing that occurred three decades ago. A similar trend has taken over the data center. Yes, IBM's customer's need hardware. However, I think that the profit margins simply aren't that lucrative anymore, and IBM is right to be focusing on the high-margin software market. There will always be some customers that want/need non-commodity big iron, but such use-cases are becoming more and more rare. It wouldn't surprise me if IBM sees its hardware offerings as little more than accessories they can offer to support their software offerings.