Seriously? IBM has a whole portfolio of technology with plenty being very competitive. It's one part of how they're the largest tech company. Getting their software free or hardware at cost internally would be a strong enabler for about anything.
This would be a nice start for a division or project: Rational w/ all analysis & productivity addons; the management software; cloud services (i.e. backups); security services/software (basic); an IBM i (comes with DB2) for critical stuff. Add in some servers and storage appliances [from IBM] where needed as growth occurs. Also remember that that Microsoft used to run their whole business on one AS/400 until they were called out and replaced it with 20+ Windows servers to match performance/reliability. Funny stuff.
They have all kinds of good tech. A permissive policy on its use, even if for limited time, could greatly aid internal projects and growth of companies they acquire. If I was them, I'd throw my weight into everything on the software side given it would be as easy as an order, a license, and a download. ;)
This would be a nice start for a division or project: Rational w/ all analysis & productivity addons; the management software; cloud services (i.e. backups); security services/software (basic); an IBM i (comes with DB2) for critical stuff. Add in some servers and storage appliances [from IBM] where needed as growth occurs. Also remember that that Microsoft used to run their whole business on one AS/400 until they were called out and replaced it with 20+ Windows servers to match performance/reliability. Funny stuff.
They have all kinds of good tech. A permissive policy on its use, even if for limited time, could greatly aid internal projects and growth of companies they acquire. If I was them, I'd throw my weight into everything on the software side given it would be as easy as an order, a license, and a download. ;)