What was behind IBM’s major internal restructuring that saw the hardware and software groups folded into a single division? A push toward integrated systems, the company explains.
And analysts think it’s on the right track. Just as companies as far afield as Oracle and Apple offer integrated software and hardware environments, IBM is moving in the same direction. But there’s more going on within the company than just a shakeup at the top. CIO Update takes a look.
IBM has merged its two non-services divisions — hardware and software — into a single business unit under one manager, a move that points to IBM’s intention to offer fully integrated systems.
That could have important implications for IT executives weighing whether to adopt an IBM-dominated infrastructure over competitors like Oracle, the database and enterprise software colossus that, thanks to its recent purchase of Sun Microsystems, is now also able to offer tightly integrated servers, software and middleware.