IBM's software and mainframe businesses did better in the second quarter of 2013 than any other of the company's business segments, including hardware and and services.

The software segment's revenue was US$6.4bn for the quarter – up 4% year over year. A big portion of this revenue figure came from sales of middleware, such as WebSphere, Tivoli, Information Management, Social Workforce Solutions (formerly Lotus) and Rational.

Middleware sales accounted for $4.3bn – a 9% year-over-year increase.

The company as a whole made $24.9bn in revenue in the second quarter – down 3% year over year.

IBM's earnings per share for the quarter were $2.91 – 13% down year over year. Its Q2 net income was $3.2bn – a 12% decrease from the $4.1bn the company made in profit in the second quarter of 2012.

The company's president and CEO Ginni Rometty mentioned strong results delivered by the software business as well as the mainframe business. “Going forward, we will continue investing in our strategic growth initiatives, acquiring and divesting capabilities, re-balancing skills and taking action in the areas that are not performing,” she said.

Rometty added that she was confident that the company would achieve the $16.9 or higher operating earnings per share it has projected for the full year.

The strong mainframe performance she mentioned was a 10% increase in revenue from System z mainframe sales compared to the second quarter of 2012.

Q2 revenue by three other “systems” segments was down from last year. Power Systems revenue was down 25%, System x sales were down 11%, and the System Storage segment reported a 7% drop in revenue.

The Microelectronics OEM segment revenue, however, was up 6%.