Though the complete recovery of the recession-hit technology sector still appears to be a distant thought, as is the overall uptick in demand from corporate technology purchasers; the second-quarter results posted by International Business Machines Corp (IBM) show that the company's 12 percent increase in net income to $3.1 billion beat the earnings-per-share estimates of analysts by almost 10%.

The Thursday-posted results of IBM, which is apparently coping better with the downturn than rivals like Dell and HP, show some striking contrasts predominantly in the company's giant services business, because of the challenging scenario faced by certain areas of its business like strategic outsourcing and consulting work.

Further, with the revenue figures of IBM showing a 13 percent plunge, to $23.3 billion - marginally above the analysts' estimates, there are indications enough that revenue growth in the technology sector is essentially pertains to areas in which the products can generate instantaneous efficiency savings.

Commenting on the customer focus while making purchases in the "tough environment," Jesse Greene, IBM's VP for financial management, said that, at present, customers' preferences are largely based on factors like cost, cash-savings and short-term payments.

However, with IBM upbeat about its results and having improved its forecast for the next quarter, IBM Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge remarked: "IBM is fundamentally a different company. We're able to improve margins and profits even with declining sales."