Funny Numbers?
Not a technical problem: a discussion of IBM's Q1 2009 results after a Register article claimed database sales fell 8%. The original poster asked whether Informix sales were being masked by a DB2 z/OS decline. Others pushed back on relying on press rumours and pointed to IBM's own press release and investor relations page, noting the 8% drop applied to Information Management overall (not at constant currency), while distributed (LUW) relational database revenue actually grew. No definitive explanation of the split was obtained; the thread ends with the poster still asking IBM to clarify.
Auto-generated by DrWatson from the posts below — may be imperfect; read the full thread.
Ok, from an article on El Reg: "By comparison, Software Group had a pretty decent quarter and contributed mightily to Big Blue's bottom line. Even as revenues for Software Group fell by 6 per cent (up 2 per cent at constant currency) to $4.5bn, pre-tax margin for this group rose by 2.9 points to 25.9 per cent. IBM's WebSphere middleware posted a 5 per cent rise in Q1, but database sales (mostly DB2) fell by 8 per cent." So what happened? I mean its very possible that Informix sales were still good and growing, but they were eclipsed by a drop in DB2 z/OS license revenue. Anyone know any of the rumors? -G
Ian Michael Gumby wrote: > Ok, from an article on El Reg: > > "By comparison, Software Group had a pretty decent quarter and > contributed mightily to Big Blue's bottom line. Even as revenues for > Software Group fell by 6 per cent (up 2 per cent at constant currency) > to $4.5bn, pre-tax margin for this group rose by 2.9 points to 25.9 > per cent. IBM's WebSphere middleware posted a 5 per cent rise in Q1, > but database sales (mostly DB2) fell by 8 per cent." > > So what happened? > > I mean its very possible that Informix sales were still good and > growing, but they were eclipsed by a drop in DB2 z/OS license > revenue. > > Anyone know any of the rumors? Why should you care about rumors when you can get the numbers? Don't be lazy... You should know better... Check the report at IBM site and you'll understand where the 8% is coming (it's not for database, and it's not for constant currency)... Dig a bit more and you may find how much did the distributed relational database grew at constant currency... for the truth sake, you're the sales guy... You should know about numbers. Don't echo something you read on the net without looking at the numbers. Good bye -- Fernando Nunes Portugal http://informix-technology.blogspot.com My email works... but I don't check it frequently...
Ian Michael Gumby wrote: > > Anyone know any of the rumors? We do now. :o) -- Cheers, Obnoxio The Clown http://obotheclown.blogspot.com The following is a disclaimer and a protest at the collection, retention and sharing of my personal mail by the morally bankrupt state. By adding a string of key words, it will guarantee that each and every mail that I send will now need to be manually viewed as it is picked up by the auto scan software. If every person in the UK does exactly the same, then the entire system will quickly become so unmanageable, so unwieldy that it will become unworkable. Key words: bomb, assassinate, president, brown, Osama, Obama, Sarkozy, Merkel, government, target, location, rocket, grenade, al-Qaeda, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, UK, America, guns, jets, bombs, machine-gun, terrorists, MP's, pigs, troughs, France, Germany, Italy, nuclear, Korea. PPS If you are reading this because you've picked up the above keywords: I hope your parents are proud of what you have become. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by OpenProtect(http://www.openprotect.com), and is believed to be clean.
Sigh. Yes Fernado, I am the sales critter. I just lobbed a soft shot that you should have knocked out of the park. I ask a question which is an open and innocent question where you could respond with some values and cite URLs that confirm your statements. But you're not the 'salesman' nor understand the business side of IT. But you said I should do the digging. So I go to the IBM website. Got some chocolate shit. Hop over to 'About IBM' and then Investor Relations. No mention of any article or information on Q1 2009 numbers. I even tried to find any last minute news. So if IBM isn't talking about Q1 2009 numbers, I find it interesting, because the street did take notice of some important facts: 1) Overall, IBM's sales are down. That is that in terms of constant currency, IBM sold less services and products than they did in the same quarter from the year earlier. 2) IBM made more of a profit due to their 'cost cutting' measures. That is, by shifting back office work overseas, regardless of the internal problems it will create, allowed them to increase their margins. 3) Reporters are now openly questioning the end result. Short term gains for a longer term problem. Is this the smart thing to do? 4) IBM is attempting to lock in longer term deals in an effort to lock up annual revenue streams. This is bad because as IBM cuts corners, they open up gaps and puts their SLA at risk. In doing so, customers can either renegotiate, or end the contracts early without penalties. Now I'm still looking for more news where IBM spells out where and why there was an 8% drop in IM revenues. If you've got better links, go ahead and post them. But hey! What do I know? I just gave you or another IBMer a chance to look like a hero, and not a zero. -G > From: domusonline@gmail.com > Subject: Re: Funny Numbers? > Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:37:08 +0100 > To: informix-list@iiug.org > > Ian Michael Gumby wrote: > > Ok, from an article on El Reg: > > > > "By comparison, Software Group had a pretty decent quarter and > > contributed mightily to Big Blue's bottom line. Even as revenues for > > Software Group fell by 6 per cent (up 2 per cent at constant currency) > > to $4.5bn, pre-tax margin for this group rose by 2.9 points to 25.9 > > per cent. IBM's WebSphere middleware posted a 5 per cent rise in Q1, > > but database sales (mostly DB2) fell by 8 per cent." > > > > So what happened? > > > > I mean its very possible that Informix sales were still good and > > growing, but they were eclipsed by a drop in DB2 z/OS license > > revenue. > > > > Anyone know any of the rumors? > > Why should you care about rumors when you can get the numbers? Don't be lazy... > > You should know better... Check the report at IBM site and you'll understand > where the 8% is coming (it's not for database, and it's not for constant > currency)... > > Dig a bit more and you may find how much did the distributed relational > database grew at constant currency... > > for the truth sake, you're the sales guy... You should know about numbers. > Don't echo something you read on the net without looking at the numbers. > > Good bye > > -- > Fernando Nunes > Portugal > > http://informix-technology.blogspot.com > My email works... but I don't check it frequently... > _______________________________________________ > Informix-list mailing list > Informix-list@iiug.org > http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list _________________________________________________________________ Rediscover Hotmail®: Get e-mail storage that grows with you. http://windowslive.com/RediscoverHotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Rediscover_Storage2_042009
On 21 Apr., 14:04, Ian Michael Gumby <im_gu...@hotmail.com> wrote: > Sigh. > > Yes Fernado, I am the sales critter. > > I just lobbed a soft shot that you should have knocked out of the park. > I ask a question which is an open and innocent question where you could respond with some values and cite URLs that confirm your statements. > > But you're not the 'salesman' nor understand the business side of IT. > > But you said I should do the digging. So I go to the IBM website. Got some chocolate shit. Hop over to 'About IBM' and then Investor Relations. No mention of any article or information on Q1 2009 numbers. > > I even tried to find any last minute news. > > So if IBM isn't talking about Q1 2009 numbers, I find it interesting, because the street did take notice of some important facts: > > 1) Overall, IBM's sales are down. That is that in terms of constant currency, IBM sold less services and products than they did in the same quarter from the year earlier. > > 2) IBM made more of a profit due to their 'cost cutting' measures. That is, by shifting back office work overseas, regardless of the internal problems it will create, allowed them to increase their margins. > > 3) Reporters are now openly questioning the end result. Short term gains for a longer term problem. Is this the smart thing to do? > > 4) IBM is attempting to lock in longer term deals in an effort to lock up annual revenue streams. This is bad because as IBM cuts corners, they open up gaps and puts their SLA at risk. In doing so, customers can either renegotiate, or end the contracts early without penalties. > > Now I'm still looking for more news where IBM spells out where and why there was an 8% drop in IM revenues. If you've got better links, go ahead and post them. > > But hey! What do I know? > I just gave you or another IBMer a chance to look like a hero, and not a zero. > > -G > > > > > From: domusonl...@gmail.com > > Subject: Re: Funny Numbers? > > Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:37:08 +0100 > > To: informix-l...@iiug.org > > > Ian Michael Gumby wrote: > > > Ok, from an article on El Reg: > > > > "By comparison, Software Group had a pretty decent quarter and > > > contributed mightily to Big Blue's bottom line. Even as revenues for > > > Software Group fell by 6 per cent (up 2 per cent at constant currency) > > > to $4.5bn, pre-tax margin for this group rose by 2.9 points to 25.9 > > > per cent. IBM's WebSphere middleware posted a 5 per cent rise in Q1, > > > but database sales (mostly DB2) fell by 8 per cent." > > > > So what happened? > > > > I mean its very possible that Informix sales were still good and > > > growing, but they were eclipsed by a drop in DB2 z/OS license > > > revenue. > > > > Anyone know any of the rumors? > > > Why should you care about rumors when you can get the numbers? Don't be lazy... > > > You should know better... Check the report at IBM site and you'll understand > > where the 8% is coming (it's not for database, and it's not for constant > > currency)... > > > Dig a bit more and you may find how much did the distributed relational > > database grew at constant currency... > > > for the truth sake, you're the sales guy... You should know about numbers. > > Don't echo something you read on the net without looking at the numbers. > > > Good bye > > > -- > > Fernando Nunes > > Portugal > > >http://informix-technology.blogspot.com > > My email works... but I don't check it frequently... > > _______________________________________________ > > Informix-list mailing list > > Informix-l...@iiug.org > >http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list > > _________________________________________________________________ > Rediscover Hotmail®: Get e-mail storage that grows with you.http://windowslive.com/RediscoverHotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Redisco... The official IBM press release about Q1 2009: http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/27264.wss
It's in the headlines on the investor's page... really hard to find.. All big and colorful http://www.ibm.com/investor/1q09/index.phtml Cheers Serge -- Serge Rielau DB2 Solutions Development IBM Toronto Lab
Yes Serge, But it doesn't say what I want explained. I just posted about it after I went to the EGAR filing. IBM made a rare statement that while IM was down 8%, Distributed (LUW) RDBMS sales were up 2% or 'double digit' when adjusted to Current Cash. That's a pretty damn important statement. Now if only someone from IBM would clarify what they meant by it. It implies a lot of things. BIG RED FLAG for IM as a whole. Potentially good news for IDS. -G > From: srielau@ca.ibm.com > Subject: Re: Funny Numbers? > Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:50:42 +0200 > To: informix-list@iiug.org > > It's in the headlines on the investor's page... really hard to find.. > All big and colorful > http://www.ibm.com/investor/1q09/index.phtml > > > Cheers > Serge > > -- > Serge Rielau > DB2 Solutions Development > IBM Toronto Lab > _______________________________________________ > Informix-list mailing list > Informix-list@iiug.org > http://www.iiug.org/mailman/listinfo/informix-list _________________________________________________________________ Rediscover Hotmail®: Get e-mail storage that grows with you. http://windowslive.com/RediscoverHotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Rediscover_Storage2_042009