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IBM numbers are out: Software Group grows 10% - WebSphere leading with 19.1%

by Volker Weber

Details here. Try to find something missing at the bottom of the page.

Comments

at least there is 1-2-3 :)

OOo? :-)

You certainly mean ODF, ISO/IEC 26300. ;-)

I assume they didn't make less than $20k? What are the units on the table above?

I thought that was obvious. All numbers in millions of dollars.

In a tough market last year, especially in the US, I think those are pretty impressive numbers.

Whilst Lotus missed double-digit growth, for a very mature product set, I reason that 8.7% isn't bad at all. I'd be interested in your view, Volker?

Symphony?

I am very cautious when it comes to interpreting these highly aggregated numbers. Go back to Lotusphere OGS and watch how the different product groups within Lotus claim their growth numbers. Then look at the currencies. The IBM statement is in USD, which lost about 10% against EUR and 7% against JPY in 2007 (and much more since then). Large parts of Lotus' revenue are from overseas. If you factor out the currency fluctuations, the number would look very different. Annual reports are very sound. You get a better grip by just reading it with open eyes than by listening to me. :-)

What I can tell you though is that I met Al Zollar at CeBIT and he was very confident about his Tivoli business.

Reading through the comments: "Lotus Connections,
released in the second quarter, has been rapidly adapted by customers." I'm sure that's true, but I'm guessing they meant "rapidly adopted". Once again, spell-check misses a misplaced word ;-)

Volker,

Does anyone have any idea what the baseline dollar revenue values are for each different IBM software brand? I guess IBM would be holding that type of information fairly confidential.

However, I would expect to see better growth percentages for products that have a lower base line revenue value than for the more established software brands that have a higher annual revenue baseline.

In any rate, 8.7% revenue growth under the current economic conditions for the Lotus brand is not bad for such a mature product line.

I find the results a bit disappointing assuming that the economic climate is the same for all IBM brands. If I subtract the annual average price increase there is not much growth left. On the other side some revenue growth of the other divisions may be the result of acquisitions.
With Connections selling great and many new products and releases the boost may come in 2008.

The report states that it's 4% growth (rate adjusted), not bad considering they had no acquisitions that year.

Ceci n'est pas un blog

vowe.net is a personal website published by Volker Weber a.k.a. vowe. I am an author, consultant and systems architect based in Darmstadt, Germany.

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