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.
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