Intel and IBM issued sales and profit forecasts that reflected demand from companies eager to upgrade computer systems left fallow during the recession.
International Business Machines, the largest computer-services provider, boosted its full-year profit forecast while Intel, the top chipmaker, forecast second-quarter sales higher than analysts predicted. VMware, EMC and Juniper Networks, three other business-technology providers, also met or topped analysts’ projections.
The quartet of results suggests that after the recession ended in 2009, a rebound in demand may be gathering steam. Companies are outfitting data centers capable of delivering storage, software and other computing tasks over the Internet.
The global market for such cloud-related services may more than double to $148.8 billion in 2014 from $58.6 billion in 2009, according to researcher Gartner Inc.
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