Buoyed by surging sales of its mainframe computers in recent quarters, IBM is aiming to broaden the use of the powerful machines, particularly in China, the world's fastest-growing large economy.

IBM says it is seeking to expand the 40-year-old technology's role as a foundation for on-demand computing, in which customers' computer systems use hardware and software from different companies.

Erich Clementi, who runs IBM's mainframe business, says China represents a huge opportunity, adding that the company is more than quadrupling the number of mainframe-related personnel in Beijing to 78.

IBM has a total of about 4,000 employees in China.

Mainframe computers are widely used in the financial services, insurance, airline and manufacturing industries because they can reliably perform a range of different computer workloads at the same time.

(CRI October 8, 2004)