IBM's total revenue for was US$24.6 billion, up 8 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, or up 5 percent on a constant currency basis. Net income after one-time charges climbed 10 percent to $2.9 billion, IBM said.
Revenue was up in all geographies, with sales growing 12 percent in the Asia Pacific and 9 percent in the Americas. The recovery in Europe continued to lag behind, with sales up 3 percent for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
"On the strength of this performance, we are raising our full-year 2011 operating earnings per share expectations to at least $13.15," IBM Chairman, President and CEO Sam Palmisano said in a statement.
Its hardware sales increased 19 percent to $4 billion. IBM's mainframe business continued its recovery, with sales up 41 percent from a year earlier, and its Power systems also did well, with sales of those Unix products up 19 percent, IBM said.
Software revenue climbed 6 percent to $5.3 billion. Within that, sales of IBM's middleware, including its Websphere and Tivoli products, were up 16 percent to $3.3 billion. Revenue from Websphere alone jumped sharply at 51 percent, IBM said.