IBM has plenty of cash, access to credit, and global reach. But its customers aren’t immune from the credit crunch, and their IBM-financed debt shows up on Big Blue’s books.

It occurs to me that there may be some Big Tech readers who didn’t see my investing piece from a couple of weeks back about IBM’s (IBM) financing business, and why we should watch how it performs as the global financial crisis unfolds. It didn’t appear here, as it’s part of an ongoing series on Fortune.com.

After the somewhat conflicting signals the tech world has given over the past few days, including a major sales warning from Intel (INTC) and a positive pre-announcement from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), I’ll be that much more interested to dig into the numbers these companies offer in their SEC filings.

Again, in case you missed it, the piece is here. (AAPL) (CSCO)