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IBM saw growth in its Watson artificial intelligence (AI) platform during the second quarter (ended June 30) that “reflects strong demand” for its new virtual assistant offering, according to CFO James Kavanaugh. The company saw “triple-digit growth” in its conversation service usage during the quarter thanks to the introduction of Watson Assistant early this year, he said July 18 during an earnings call.

Watson Assistant is an enhanced version of its earlier Watson Conversation that IBM said in March includes features that “make it easier for enterprise customers to deliver personalized and engaging experiences.”

Clients already using Watson Assistant include Autodesk, Banco Bradesco, LivePerson, Orange Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Vodafone, Kavanaugh told analysts on the call.

Watson is serving as “both a platform on its own and a driver of growth and differentiation” for IBM across “several of our industry verticals,” which he said “continue to scale, led by” the Internet of Things (IoT) and Watson for Financial Services.

Meanwhile, in emerging areas, including blockchain, IBM has now “seeded the market with over 60 active blockchain networks,” he said, noting the company launched We.trade, the “first live blockchain-based, bank-to-bank trading platform,” with nine large banks in Q2. Those banks included Deutsche Bank and HSBC, Kavanaugh pointed out.

But Q2 revenue in IBM’s Cognitive Solutions business, which includes Watson and blockchain, only inched up to $4.58 billion from $4.56 billion, he said. Revenue in its Technology Services & Cloud Platforms business grew a bit more, to $8.6 billion from $8.4 billion.

IBM reported stronger total Q2 revenue and profit that Kavanaugh said was helped by “continued momentum in our strategic imperatives” businesses, which include analytics, cloud, mobile, security and social. Total strategic imperatives revenue increased 15% from a year ago in the quarter, with cloud and security coming in strongest, he said.

Total IBM Q2 revenue grew to $20 billion from $19.3 billion a year ago, while profit increased to $2.4 billion ($2.61 a share) from $2.3 billion ($2.48 a share). Revenue from analytics grew 7%, while cloud revenue jumped 20%, mobile revenue increased 5% and revenue from security soared 81% to $1 billion.

The security growth was “driven by strong demand for the pervasive encryption” of IBM Z mainframe computers and growth in the company’s integrated software and services business, Kavanaugh said. Growth in IBM’s underlying analytics platform was “led by” its Db2 database software, its data science offerings and the new IBM Cloud Private for Data offering that he noted “makes data ready for AI across all clouds.”

IBM strategic imperatives revenue over the past 12 months reached $39 billion, up 15% from the prior 12 months, the company said in its earnings news release. That represented 48% of IBM’s total revenue in that period, Kavanaugh pointed out.

Total cloud revenue over the last 12 months grew 23% to $18.5 billion, with $8.2 billion from hardware, software and services to “enable IBM clients to implement hybrid cloud solutions across public, private and multi-cloud environments, and $10.4 billion delivered as a service,” IBM said.

Despite the Q2 growth, Kavanaugh told analysts: “As always, we have some tailwinds and headwinds as we move into the second half. But, with this performance and our continued focus on driving consistent operational execution, we continue to expect to deliver at least” $13.80 of operating earnings per share and free cash flow “in the range of” $12 billion this fiscal year.

IBM shares were trading about 3% higher at $148.61 in early afternoon trading July 19, after the results were announced.

Separately, IBM said July 19 that several new European clients selected IBM Watson IoT technologies. New contracts that were signed with Spanish electricity grid operator Red Eléctrica de España, Italian elderly care provider Cooperativa Sole, Dutch telecommunications operator Tele2 and Israeli manufacturer of smart air conditioning Electra Group are “examples of IBM’s commitment to transforming business and improving operations with the power of” AI-enabled, IBM Cloud-based IoT technologies, IBM said in a news release.

IBM July 19 also pointed to several startups across industries and geographies as examples of the “strong increase” it was seeing in startup companies that have turned to the IBM Cloud for AI, blockchain and IoT technologies, as well as the ability to scale globally. They include AI sports startup VitRuvian Sports Systems, IoT waste management solution GreenQ and blockchain-based digital identity provider Blinking, IBM said.)