Here's Why IBM Is Wading Deeper Into Hybrid Cloud Waters (as It Should)
International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) waited too long to make a big bet on hybrid cloud computing. While the company was tinkering at this intersection of public and private clouds, it wasn't until 2018's decision to acquire Red Hat that IBM was truly "all-in." By then Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), VMware, and a slew of other technology names were already carving out their piece of the market. Any hybrid cloud growth from here will require taking market share from other well-established vendors.
Nevertheless, investors have a reason to get excited about IBM's ramped-up ongoing foray into the industry. See, even merely modest success with hybrid hardware leads to enormous incremental software and service revenue growth.
While IBM isn't just a hardware company anymore, hardware is still a key component of the company's top line. Its software and services are largely a means of supporting sales of hardware.
Source Fool.com
