CMP Channel Group's VARBusiness Magazine Secures Exclusive Interview with Sam Palmisano, Chairman and CEO of IBMIBM Outlines Plans to Push into MidMarket through Partners and Compete Head-to-Head with HP; Palmisano Interview is VARBusiness' May 14 Cover StoryPRNewswire MANHASSET, N.Y., May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- CMP Channel Group's VARBusiness magazine, the biweekly business magazine that provides strategic insight for technology integrators, secured an exclusive interview with Sam Palmisano, IBM chairman and CEO prior to his keynote speech at Partnerworld last week in St. Louis. Executive Editor Carolyn April, was the only IT trade editor, to speak with IBM's chief. The Palmisano interview will appear as the cover story in the May 14 issue. In his keynote, Palmisano detailed IBM's goal to carve a bigger share of the midmarket, which IBM defines as companies between 100 and 999 employees, and the pivotal role that partners play in this effort. Palmisano estimated the global midmarket to be valued at close to $500 billion and growing at 6.5 percent annually. In the next three years, he said IBM's midmarket sales are poised to surpass its financial services business. Palmisano also stated that "approximately half of IBM's midmarket sales go through partners, and the company is aiming to increase that percentage through its existing channel and by recruiting new partners to the fold." Palmisano noted that midmarket customers have the same IT solution needs as companies in the enterprise where IBM is the undisputed leader. IBM plans to drive new opportunities for its partners in technology areas such as collaboration, visualization, service-oriented architectures (SOAs), blades and consulting services. Palmisano told April: "We are investing heavily to boost our midmarket business through partners. We're pushing our territory sales model, our Express offerings, ISV partner applications. We are going to need partners to do it all in this space. It goes way beyond the role of a distributor or fulfiller of product." "Sam Palmisano acknowledged the incumbency of rival Hewlett-Packard in the midmarket space," April said. "But during our interview he made clear that no one in the industry should assume that HP's leading position will remain unchanged." To read the VARBusiness story, go to: http://www.channelweb.com/. About CMP Channel Group (http://www.cmpchannelgroup.com/) CMP Channel Group is the one stop shop customers turn to in order to meet their global sales channel objectives from access to execution. Through use of its family of channel solutions which include CRN and VARBusiness, the ChannelWeb network, the Group's XChange worldwide face-to-face conferences and the Institute for Partner Education & Development (IPED), vendors are able to accelerate sales through the channel. CMP Channel Group provides a worldwide answer to advertising, branding and marketing services, lead generation, market intelligence, branded and custom events, education of solution providers and best practices for vendors. About VARBusiness For the past 20 years, VARBusiness' strategic resources have been the gateway to the commercial and public sector (or government) Solution Provider community. The VARBusiness integrated platform of media opportunities provides strategic insight for technology integrators through industry-defining research, in-depth editorial, channel events and innovative Web services, enabling these IT professionals to make educated decisions for their businesses, partnerships and customers. VARBusiness offerings lead vendors and distributors to unprecedented access to the most powerful strategic Solution Providers in the market. VARBusiness has been the recipient of numerous industry awards for both editorial content and design. About CMP Technology (http://www.cmp.com/) CMP Technology is a marketing-solutions company serving the technology industry. Through its market-leading portfolio of trusted information brands, CMP has earned the confidence of more technology professionals than any other media company. As a result, CMP is the premier provider of access, insight and actionable programs designed to connect sellers and buyers in ways that yield superior return on investment. CMP Technology is a subsidiary of United Business Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion. Contact Laura Allen CMP Channel Group's VARBusiness Lallen@cmp.com 516.562.7766 SOURCE: CMP Technology CONTACT: Laura Allen, CMP Channel Group's VARBusiness, Lallen@cmp.com, Web site: http://www.channelweb.com/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/683683.html |