Big computer manufacturers are leaving their traditional markets to reposition themselves as cloud providers. At least one global name is entering the field they’re leaving, but will it be enough to build the infrastructure that drives the cloud in the future? By Drew Turney.
According to IBM’s 2013 annual report, the company’s cloud business grew 69 percent last year, delivering US$4.4 billion of revenue. At the same time, slow hardware sales have seen revenue dip for the last seven quarters.
Early last month Hewlett Packard said it would invest US$1bn in cloud computing over the next two years, a move the company says is necessary to ward off competition even if it eats into its own hardware business. HP is also moving its high volume server production to Chinese manufacturer Foxconn.
AT&T is also moving from hardware to software, revenues from which saw a 15 percent year-on-year growth in 2013 and now represent $9 billion a year – more than a quarter of the company’s income.
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