Virginia Rometty to head IBM

A regular on Fortune Magazine's list of the "50 Most Powerful Women in Business," Ms Rometty joins a select group of women heading US research firms.

Since becoming chief executive of New York-based IBM in 2002, Mr Palmisano has presided notably over the sale of its personal computer business to China's Lenovo in 2005 and its focus on computer servers, services and software.

In a statement, the outgoing chief executive said Ms Rometty "has successfully led several of IBM's most important businesses over the past decade" and is the "ideal CEO to lead IBM into its second century."

"Ginni's long-term strategic thinking and client focus are seen in our growth initiatives, from cloud computing and analytics to the commercialization of [IBM supercomputer] Watson."