International Business Machines Corp, the world's second-largest seller of computer software, will introduce four business programs tailored for companies with fewer than 1,000 employees.
The programs, used for managing data storage, inventory and messaging, will be sold under the Tivoli, DB2 and Lotus brand names, IBM spokesman Michael Azzi said. The DB2 product is now available and the other programs will be sold starting in April.
About 2,000 of IBM's 10,000-person software sales force focus on selling to small to mid-size businesses as larger companies reduce spending on programs, computers and related services.
Companies with fewer than 1,000 workers will account for 54 percent of information-technology spending this year, according to market researcher IDC.
"We're committed to this for the long haul," said Mark Ouellette, vice president of small to medium business software sales at Armonk, New York-based IBM.
The company will also enhance a version of its WebSphere program for small and medium-sized companies that was introduced in December.
WebSphere is used by EBay Inc and other companies to run Internet commerce Web sites.
IBM's share rose US$1.59 to US$77.45 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading on Friday. IBM is the world's largest computer maker as well as the No.1 seller of computer services.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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