IBM did not just buy public cloud SoftLayer last year because it needed to acquire a customer base and revenue stream to bolster its efforts to sell cloud-based infrastructure and software services. Big Blue bought SoftLayer to get a unique set of skills and operational experience in running clouds, which is distinct from the system and application outsourcing business in which IBM is already an expert. Perhaps the expert.

SoftLayer is a lean-and-mean operation, and has built up a fleet of over 120,000 servers in 13 datacenters. The machines have minimalist designs and come from motherboard and whitebox server maker

Trends in technologies that affect IBM midrange shops sometimes makes it feel like you are trying to cross an ocean in a rowboat. . . with one oar, a loaf of bread, and a jar of peanut butter. Part of the technology dilemma is finding the time to sort through the possibilities and their associated costs. You might need some help. One of your best options, if you are a Power Systems shop, is to talk with other Power Systems shops.

Tom Huntington talks with a lot of Power Systems shops. As vice president of technical services at HelpSystems,

IBM last week unveiled a new pay-as-you-go pricing scheme for its high-end XIV storage systems, which supports IBM i and other server platforms. The deal prevents customers from paying the full price of their XIV array until they’ve used a certain amount of the storage capacity. And when the first array fills up, IBM will ship a second XIV for an incredibly low–and incredibly un-IBM–price.

The deal is available to IBM customers through something called the Advanced System Placement program. Under this program, customers can get an XIV array installed at just a fraction of the full cost. The customer

At the end of February there was a big technology trade show, Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona. MWC attracted more than 70,000 visitors. It spanned mobile gadgets, electronic components, apps, and services–stuff for consumers, and stuff for the industry itself. This year’s unofficial theme was the transition from 32-bit to 64-bit processing, chosen last September 10. That is when Apple unveiled its 5S phone with a 64-bit A7 processor. Apple’s circuit, manufactured by Samsung, is based on ARMv8A architecture. It runs 64-bit iOS 7. And, for now, it defies competition.

In the iPhone, as in other computers, whether

Several weeks ago, IBM started a round of layoffs that it hopes to have completed by the end of the first quarter and from which it will book approximately $1 billion in charges. The next round of layoffs were expected to start on February 26, last Wednesday, but the rumors are that CEO Ginni Rometty was giving a big speech at the Mobile World Congress to talk about creating mobile Watson applications and the PR machine did not want to step on that story. So layoffs started in the United States and Canada on February 27.

Under normal circumstances, as

Let me start by saying that I did not create the language that is used in the computer business, particularly in the server racket, with a few exceptions. I don’t like the terms “proprietary,” and I don’t like the terms “industry standard” as if all of the customers and vendors got together and created a non-proprietary machine. Best I can figure, the X86 architecture is still pretty much ruled by Intel and Windows was still the dominant operating system on X86 machines.

It is with this in mind that we go over the final quarter of server sales for 2013

The IT industry is an ever-changing beast. As a business owner who values information but is baffled by information technology, it’s not unusual to feel like you are up IT creek without a paddle. Even IT pros, the guys with the paddles, are sweating the IT tsunami. Who would have thought a decade ago (or two or three decades ago in the case of many IBM midrange professionals) that IT could change so rapidly and skills would become so disposable? If you are hanging on to old skills, that makes you disposable, too.

Whether you are a business leader, an

As generally happens before a big product launch, IBM is gradually winding down sales of earlier generation Power Systems processor cards and various peripherals and giving resellers and customers ample warning that it will stop peddling certain products.

In announcement letter 914-047 dated February 25, a bunch of things were ripped out of the Power Systems catalog with two different effective dates. On May 2, a bunch of routing indicators for Power Cloud Integrated Solutions, PureApplication, Smart Analytics Systems, and Balanced Warehouse Solutions are being withdrawn. I haven’t the foggiest what this means, and I am pretty sure you don’t

If you are shopping for Flex System iron down under in Australia or New Zealand, then IBM has a deal for you. Or, more precisely, it has two deals for you because it treats the two countries differently because they have different currencies.

The deal is called the Innovate on IBM Flex Systems and Save Bundle, and you can get the details about the Australian version in announcement letter A314-022 and the New Zealand one is in announcement letter NZ314-022.

The deal is only available for Flex System bundles with Xeon-based nodes and are aimed at supporting virtualized servers

IBM‘s Watson cognitive computing celebrity genius is ready for its road test. By that I mean it is begging to go mobile. IBM is encouraging this behavior by encouraging developers to create mobile consumer and business apps powered by Watson. To whip up some activity, IBM has chosen a competition–maybe because Watson is known for its competitive streak–which it calls the Watson Mobile Developer Challenge.

The program is being driven by the IBM Watson Group, an internal organization with a mindset to advance the commercialization of cognitive computing using Watson as its showpiece. With the building of a new