IBM (NYSE:IBM) executives are expressing satisfaction with first-year
sales for the company's PureSystems line of converged infrastructure systems, a
product line that is key to the vendor's future in the computer hardware arena.
IBM sold more than 2,300 PureSystems in 2012 following its April debut, said
Rod Adkins, senior vice president of IBM's Systems and Technology Group,
speaking at the company's PartnerWorld Leadership Conference in Las Vegas.
Adkins' statement is the first time IBM has given any sales numbers for the
PureSystems product line.
"I think we're off to a solid start," Adkins said during a keynote speech
Wednesday. In an exclusive interview with CRN after his speech, Adkins said
PureSystems sales appeared to gain momentum in the fourth calendar quarter.
"I think that's trending and the direction we're looking for," he said. "I
like the track that it's on and we're well-positioned to leverage the momentum
we created coming out of the fourth quarter into 2013."
Adkins said there are 2,555 IBM Systems and Technology Group partners selling
PureSystems. The 2,300 systems were sold in 70 countries, he added.
IBM launched PureSystems to compete with converged infrastructure systems
from Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and VCE, the latter a joint venture created by
Cisco, EMC and VMware. The IBM PureSystems line includes the PureFlex System for
Infrastructure-as-a-Service deployments, PureApplication System for
Platform-as-a-Service tasks, and PureData System for big data applications.
Several channel partners had told CRN last week that PureSystems sales had
gotten off to a slow start. Because it is a new category of product, Adkins said
IBM "knew there would be a time factor associated with [gaining] market traction
and momentum."
During a panel discussion of the managed service provider market on Tuesday,
Andrew Monshaw, general manager of IBM PureFlex, said that most PureSystems
sales so far have been to large companies and managed service providers.
Adkins also said about one-half of the PureSystems sales were to new
customers and were not bought by customers simply to replace other IBM servers.
Earlier this month IBM debuted
an entry-level PureApplication System for Web and database applications, and
improved the performance of the PureData System. Adkins said IBM is assembling
specific editions of the PureSystems line for MSPs, and developing new
management and deployment capabilities for the IBM Flex System architecture that
the PureSystems line is based on.
By: Rick Whiting
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