Services will be the biggest driver of growth at IBM, the company's chairman, Lou Gerstner, said recently. He said that services should send IBM's growth into double-digit percentages.
Services account for more than one-quarter of IBM's $US78 billion in worldwide revenue, he said. IBM has $US44 billion in backlog service orders, a sign of future strength, he added.
He said IBM faces strong competition from Unix and Windows NT vendors. IBM also lags behind Compaq in the market for PC servers running NT.
He said other IBM business lines will also contribute growth during the next few years.
But currency fluctuations, weak Asian markets and PC price cuts will put strong pressure on the bottom line, Gerstner said.
