IBM Acquires Platform Solutions, Stirs Up Antitrust Concerns

(Processor)

Arousing concerns of antitrust violations, IBM announced that it has acquired mainframe and computer hardware vendor Platform Solutions, a company that it had filed suit against just two years ago for patent infringement. The CCIA (Computer and Communications Industry Association) has voiced antitrust concerns because it believes the acquisition will create an IBM-dominated market with no room for competition and could impact PSI customers’ capacities to use open systems-based mainframes, as IBM’s products are proprietary. While the merger could fall below the financial line for mandatory antitrust review, the CCIA is urging authorities to investigate the deal regardless.

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IBM Acquires Platform Solutions

(Trading Markets)

(ASCRIBE NEWS via COMTEX) IBM announced that it has acquired Platform Solutions, (PSI), a privately held technology company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. PSI said its technologies and employees will become part of the IBM System z business unit of the IBM Systems and Technology Group. Financial terms were not disclosed.

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IBM v PSI: The Operation Was a Success, But the Patient Died

(IT Jungle) By Hesh Wiener

On July 2, IBM and Platform Solutions (PSI) ended the legal battle IBM had initiated on November 29, 2006, without a scintilla of nobility. IBM capitulated, buying its way out of the legal morass by acquiring PSI, possibly for as much as $240 million. A portion of this sum went to PSI's lawyers; the rest went to the company's investors and, possibly, to its employees. PSI capitulated, too. In return for the money, PSI employees, investors, and representatives took a vow of secrecy. Both sides called the result a victory. What else would they say?

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IBM buys mainframe rival PSI

(Australian IT / AFP)

IBM has bought Platform Solutions, acquiring its California rival's technology and ending lawsuits that the firms had filed against each other. PSI workers and intellectual property will be melded into IBM's "long-term mainframe product engineering cycles" and future product plans, according to the computer industry behemoth. "This acquisition makes the most sense for our companies," PSI chief executive Michael Maulick says. "We will collaborate on future technology offerings."

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IBM acquires Platform Solutions, ends lawsuits

(The Times of India)

IBM announced on Wednesday it has bought Platform Solutions Inc (PSI), acquiring its California rival’s technology and ending lawsuits which the firms had filed against each other.

PSI workers and intellectual property will be melded into IBM’s “long-term mainframe product engineering cycles” and future product plans, according to the computer industry behemoth.

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All Hail the IBM Mainframe: PSI Genuflects, for a Price

(PC World / Network World)

Here's one the lawyers probably aren't too happy about.  IBM said today it will buy the company-most-like-a-thorn-in-its-side,  Platform Solutions, Inc. (PSI), a privately held company with whom Big Blue was trading lawsuits with over mainframe technology the past few years.

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IBM faces mainframe probe

(Global Competition Review)

The European Commission says it will continue its investigation of IBM's alleged abuse of dominance in the computer mainframe market, despite IBM's announcement on Wednesday that it would buy Platform Solutions, which will withdraw the complaint that triggered the investigation.

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IBM digs mainframe 'black hole'

(TechCentral.ie)

IBM has acquired rival mainframe vendor Platform Solutions Inc (PSI) for an undisclosed sum. Both companies have agreed to drop outstanding legal disputes over intellectual property (IP) rights against each other as part of the deal.

IBM said it will integrate PSI's mainframe technology into its own System z mainframe platform over time.

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IBM buys former adversary and mainframe startup PSI

(SearchDataCenter.com) By Mark Fontecchio

IBM Corp. and plug-compatible mainframe startup Platform Solutions Inc. (PSI) moved their battle from the courtroom to the negotiating table, and now Big Blue plans on buying its onetime adversary.

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IBM acquires Platform Solutions

(TechWack)

US based tech giant IBM has announced that they are acquiring Platform Solutions.

This deal would help the company gain the technology owned by this smaller rival.

This would also put an end to all the lawsuits in which the two companies are involved.

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IBM faces mainframe market dominance investigation

(Computing UK) By Angelica Mari

Complaints over the manufacturer's dominance in the mainframe market will be investigated by the European competition regulators despite its acquisition of rival PSI.

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Rivalry ends as IBM acquires PSI

(Arabian Business) By Vineetha Menon

IBM has acquired Platform Solutions, Inc. (PSI), a privately held technology company headquartered in California. The decision brings the longstanding rivalry between IBM and PSI, involving intellectual property accusations and unfair competitive practices, to a dramatic close. In a statement, IBM executives said PSI's employees and its intellectual property and mainframe technologies would eventually be merged into IBM's System z mainframe division. Financial terms of the agreement were not released.

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Oligopoly Watch Odd and Ends

(Oligopoly Watch) By Steve Hannaford

IBM just acquired a threatening new innovator in the mainframe computing world. It bought Platform Solutions Inc., a small mainframe software developer that had sued IBM over anti-competitive actions. The company had made it possible to run IBM's z/OS operating system on Intel chips on far less expensive hardware.

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IBM vs PSI: Goliath slays David

(Interop News) By Jeff Gould

...PSI is no more. IBM purchased the company this week for an undisclosed amount rumored to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, thus extinguishing PSI's legal claims against it, and – more importantly – cementing a monopoly that is now more complete than at any time since Amdahl launched the first plug-compatible mainframe in 1975.

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Industry group slams IBM recent purchase

(TechWorld) By Grant Gross

An industry group has hit out over IBM's latest acquisition, claiming that the purchase raised would damage the mainframe market.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said that IBM's acquisition of Platform Solutions (PSI) would allow IBM to swallow up its "most significant" competitor in the mainframe market. "This is a black-hole acquisition," said CCIA President and CEO Ed Black. "It sucks the life out of the market and destroys the matter."

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IBM Acquires PSI, CCIA Reveals Antitrust Concerns

(Softpedia) By Ionut Arghire

The latest acquisition made by IBM, that of Platform Solutions (PSI), a vendor of mainframes and other computer hardware, ended a law issue between the two companies, but also raised antitrust concerns from an IT trade group. IBM filed a law suit against Platform Solutions in November 2006, accusing it of patent infringement through the creation of computers that allowed the usage of IBM's System z operating systems and software on mainframes from other vendors.

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IBM buys mainframe maker, sparks antitrust fears

(ZDNet.co.uk ) By Colin Barker

The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said the purchase of Platform Solutions (not to be confused with Platform Computing, a different company) is dangerous for the mainframe industry because it extends the control of IBM, which already dominates the market with its own mainframe servers.

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IBM Hops Onto Platform to End Legal Fight

(The New York Times DealBook) Edited by Andrew Ross Sorkin

In a deal that will eliminate a legal tussle, International Business Machines has agreed to buy Platform Solutions. The move also removes a potential competitor for I.B.M.’s mainframe business.

I.B.M. did not reveal financial details of the deal for the venture-capital backed company that plans to sell powerful computers running the same software as IBM’s z system mainframe computer which can cost upward of $1 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.

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IBM buys Platform Solutions, ending dueling lawsuits

(The Economic Times)

IBM announced on Wednesday that it has bought Platform Solutions Inc, acquiring its California rival's technology and ending lawsuits which the firms had filed against each other.

PSI workers and intellectual property will be melded into IBM's "long-term mainframe product engineering cycles" and future product plans, according to the computer industry behemoth.

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EU still greasing IBM antitrust probe despite PSI withdrawal

(The Register) By Austin Modine

IBM may have corked the wails of antitrust outrage coming from the diminutive mainframe vendor Platform Solutions (PSI) by purchasing the upstart, but the European regulator genie has already slipped out the bottle.

The rival firm's legal fight in both the US and Europe over Big Blue's mainframe monopoly came to an abrupt close yesterday when it accepted an undisclosed sum of money to sell out to its massive adversary. As part of the acquisition, PSI dropped all antitrust complaints. IBM was equally obliged to toss away a copyright infringement lawsuit against PSI for doing business selling servers that run IBM mainframe software on non-IBM hardware.

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