IBM reported growth in the most recent quarter, much of it led by its cloud computing initiatives. Strategic imperatives revenue over the last 12 months was $39.5 billion, up 13%. Total cloud revenue over the last 12 months was $19 billion, up 20%, with $8.1 billion from hardware, software, and services to enable IBM clients to implement hybrid cloud solutions across public, private and multi-cloud environments, and $10.9 billion delivered as a service. The annual exit run rate for as-a-service revenue increased in the quarter to $11.4 billion, up 21%.
IBM's mainframe systems growth was also on the plus side, but more moderate. Systems (includes systems hardware and operating systems software)—revenue of $1.7 billion, up 1%, driven by growth in Power and IBM Z.
Sales slipped on IBM's data side. Cognitive Solutions (includes solutions software and transaction processing software)?revenue of $4.1 billion, down 6%, with growth in Watson health, security solutions, and key strategic areas in analytics.
Global Business Services (includes consulting, application management and global process services)?revenue of $4.1 billion, up 1% (up 3% adjusting for currency), led by consulting. Gross profit margin increased 270 basis points.
Global Financing (includes financing and used equipment sales)?revenue of $388 million, down 9% (down 7%).
For more details, go to http://www.ibm.com.