IBM is launching a "major initiative" to drive sales in the data security market, including $1.5 billion in spending next year on marketing and product development, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday in its online edition.Representatives from IBM were not immediately available for comment.
Val Rahmani, a general manager in IBM's services unit, told the newspaper that sum "is much more than we've ever spent."
IBM, led by Chief Executive Samuel Palmisano, has improved year-over-year profitability over the last 12 consecutive quarters as it spent more than $5 billion in 2006 on acquisitions, mainly for software companies, in a drive to expand
