Nice.
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/quantum-computing/commodore-64-outperforms-ibms-quantum-systems-1-mhz-computer-said-to-be-faster-more-efficient-and-decently-accurate
23 replies (most recent on top)
How do think AK got a compensation of $20.398 million for 2024 yes but he also get a f load of free shares every year . probable at least doubling that salary. just google ibm insider trading it will show you what the top end get
Pushing IBM technology is great when it makes sense. But what happens when IBM has no relevant technology?
Not every business needs a new mainframe, nor does every business need a mainframe-based solution to their problems. There once was a time when IBM could offer credible (even fantastic) options for those customers...but IBM got out of those markets. What should the consultants do?
Article is a joke.
I agree with you, but that is the problem with GBS (IBM Consulting), they have always been working on other non-IBM technologies, and they never push IBM own technology.
This is the legacy of PWC...
you sound like the typical IBM executive who waffles through their pathetic presentations and doesn't have a clue what he /she is talking about....IBM is toast, and burned and blackened toast at that !
Anyone who suggests merging Infrastructure (Mainframe) into Consulting just demonstrates that they have no idea what the vast majority of IBM Consulting does on a day to day basis. Hint: it has nothing to do with Mainframes or IBM SW and in many cases is much more aligned to IBM's direct competitors in the technology space.
If you look at IBM’s divisions (infrastructure, SW, and consulting) ask yourself who is the weak sister?
Consulting is most likely the future of IBM as they are guiding the fortune 2000 to new technology (transform in a cloud market), SW modernization, and IBM’s vision of cloud. Yes they are overmanned, but have willing/loyal customers who will engage them.
SW is the most profitable, but the least innovative as they have adopted an acquire strategy. AI will most likely 1/2 the SW division as it makes coders efficient (note I didn’t say innovative). Once AI works, you don’t need very many coders
Infrastructure is a tale of two cities. Large enterprise is very very profitable with dedicated customers who appreciate what value enterprise boxes bring.
Everything else in Infrastructure (cloud, TSS, scaleout product offerings) that makes near commodity offerings with low profit margins and low customer locality.
So instead of talking about breaking IBM up, maybe an absorption of Enterprise infrastructure into consulting and a spinoff/partnership (hello Francisco partners) of commodity infrastructure offerings might be the better solution.
IBM drops down to two divisions (Consulting and SW), and still has a near commodity offering thru Francisco partners.
It’s just a thought, BUT it certainly is where IBM is heading (enterprise focus)
All Research is good at is coming up with patents for solutions that have little to no market value
It seems that IBM has gone back to the future. John Akers wanted to split up IBM into autonomous business units back in the 1990s, but Gerstner decided against it. His reasoning at the time was that one of IBM's greatest strengths lied in providing integrated solutions to customers...hence the creation of ISSC (Integrated Systems Solutions Corporation), the predecessor of IBM Global Services.
So IBM management has a big decision to make...a decision that has been pondered many times over many years. Do they try to be an integrated provider, solving customer's business problems by bringing together multiple technologies and services? Or do they focus on their traditional stregths of selling big-a-s servers, and split off the rest of the company?
They've tried the integrated approach, but maybe current management might be more interested in a breakup.
For any merger partner to consider IBM, IBM would have to shrink by 35-45% to cut excessive costs, and have to focus on where they have monopoly power (mainframe) and enterprise servers (yep that’s big power and big storage) Everything else would have to go across all 3 division. That’s a lot of ax swinging, or more likely partnering off. AK has fiddled around the edges of this play via offshoring, but that low hanging fruit has now been harvested. Now comes the really hard part. To save IBM, AK is going to have to split up IBM. That’s why the board is paying him the big bucks. IBM can’t continue in a zero growth game, but has to change the rules of zero growth to create value. THUS hybrid cloud, sw modernization and a focus on fortune 2000 customers. They have to transition to where customers see value, and that value play only works in approx 60% of IBM with the remainder getting partnered off.
IBM has been running a fire sale for the last 4 decades, disposing of just about every line of business outside of mainframes. Hybrid cloud? Enterprise? Software modernization? All of those are just marketing buzzwords that are used to sell more mainframes.
And that's really where things are at for IBM...they have focused their resources on commanding a market that isn't expanding. Quantum computing is just a research dream at this point, and IBM doesn't look like it will do much with AI outside of mainframe applications. It's not a bad situation for IBM, EXCEPT for the fact that the company is still way too big (based on spending) for the business it's in.
well its the dividend isn't it? I think IBM merges with another company in 2 years. This is custer's last stand.
where has this nightmare appeared before, oh, the 1990s
If IBM fire sales anything, it will be power, storage, cloud, and TSS. Why? They don’t fit into the grand hybrid cloud/enterprise/SW modernization consulting strategy. They are viable products, but if IBM needs the cash, they are where IBM will go to harvest cash and lower costs. Partnerships are just around the corner
but...IBM is operated as a hedge fund, albeit with a cash flow problem. So, there needs to be a bonfire sale by executives to keep the motors running. After all, we wouldn't want the engine to stall, would we ? Rebuilding the burning dumpster is of course out of question. It is simply too expensive at a time when so many better options exist elsewhere outside IBM. IBM Executives get what they have been engineering for the past 20+ years.
IBM is now at the point where they have to rebuild what they once had. If IBM is to have any future as a technology company (as opposed to just being a glorified hedge fund), then they will need an R&D operation. This means both R (Research) and D (Development).
This is obvious to any reasonable observer. Selling Research is not an option, nor is filling senior-level positions with inexperienced junior hires. What IS an option to IBM management is reducing scope...reducing the lines of business and the markets in which the company participates. They have been doing this for many years, but now you will see the process accelerate because IBM is out of cash.
Look for all projects in Research to get cut EXCEPT Telum-related stuff that can be quickly monetized. Quantum computing research is a nice-to-have, but AI stuff and other addons for Telum will be considered "must do at any cost".
IBM is try to hire people at a band 7 role to fill senior level technical positions previously filled by band 8 or 9 people. Go figure!
Meanwhile, my position was eliminated last year and I was made redundant. However, the role reappeared phoenix-like scarcely two months later, filled by a younger person on a lower band.
But all I really ever did was deal with pi---d off customers and business partners anyway.
Eff you IBM and its management.
Never underestimate the greed of the CEO and Senior executives at IBM. It's all about how much money they will walk away from the table with at the end of the day. How do think AK got a compensation of $20.398 million for 2024 (a 23% increase year over year compared to 7% for the average IBM employee) ? It wasn't for his good looks and charm.
1thl I think the odds of IBM selling research is very low. IBM instead has employed a different strategy in the past when they wanted to monetize the research dept, and that is to bundle up patents and sell them off in a bundle. This would align with IBM’s restructuring of research in 2022 to only pursue more meaningful patents, instead of just place holder patents. (thus IBM’s drop from world leader approx 9k of patents in 2022 to approx 4k of patents in 2023). The other observation to keep your eye on is how is IBM doing vs other top competitors and there IBM is still doing well via having approx 1.5-2.0 x the number of patents vs meaningful competitors (eg apple, google, meta, intel, etc etc).
https://harrityllp.com/patent300/
AK will not have a difficult choice - when it comes down to making a choice between keeping his under-performing Research department (check out the number of useful patents coming out of IBM these days), and collecting his oversized bonus for 2025, it's not a hard business decision.
Research needs to be sold?
Not while AK is in charge. He came from Research.
Research failure as with many other failed Research initiatives. Research needs to be sold?