NEWS & ANALYSIS

Maureen O'GaraNeon Sues IBM for Antitrust

by Maureen O'Gara

No sense pussyfooting around anymore trying to sidestep the legal equivalent of nuclear war.

Texas ISV Neon Enterprise Software, accepting that it’s in a fight to the death with IBM over mainframes, ripped the kid gloves off late Wednesday, amended its pre-Christmas suit against its giant nemesis for tortious interference, business disparagement and unfair competition and charged Blue with antitrust violations.

Click to read more...

Why Choice Matters for Mainframe Customers

OpenMainframe.org Position Paper

The recent news that the US Department of Justice is investigating the IBM mainframe market has resulted in numerous stories and blog posts both for and against the investigation. However, many of the arguments have not addressed the most important question: what do mainframe customers want?
This paper addresses the key issues that impact the users of mainframe technology and why the resolution of these issues is critically important to mainframe customers.

Download the position paper PDF (147K)

Steven FriedmanThe T3 Technologies story

by Steven Friedman, T3 Technologies

For over 15 years, my company was a successful IBM Business Partner. I used to have a thriving company with over 50 employees, nearly 1,000 customers in 28 countries (including 200 customers in 15 European Community states) and a profitable revenue stream earned through selling mainframe solutions to IBM customers. However, now our company is effectively out of business due to the direct actions of the company I used to be closely aligned with: IBM.

Click to read more...

Roger BowlerThe case for opening up the mainframe market

by Roger Bowler, mainframe professional and creator of “Hercules”

I have been following the legal battles between IBM and Platform Solutions Inc. (PSI) and T3 Technologies (T3) over the last couple of years with great interest. As the founder of the Hercules open source mainframe emulator project I feel that we are impacted by many of the same issues that put both PSI and T3 out of business. As a mainframe IT professional, it bothers me that there is no longer any competition in the mainframe platform space.

Click to read more...
NEWS ARCHIVE
For a list of all news titles, click here.

For a complete list of news items relating to the July, 2008 acquisition of Platform Solutions by IBM, click here.

  Subscribe to Mainframe News RSS

Friday
26Feb2010

Secret Service Computers Only Work at 60 Percent Capacity; Agency Uses 1980s Mainframe

DateFebruary 26, 2010

(ABC News) By Jason Ryan

…A Secret Service contracting memo from Oct. 16, 2009, reviewed by ABC News found, "Currently, 42 mission-oriented applications run on a 1980s IBM mainframe with a 68 percent performance reliability rating. Networks, data systems, applications, and IT security do not meet current operational requirements. The IT systems lack appropriate bandwidth to run multiple applications to effectively support USSS offices and operational missions around the world.

Click to read more…

| Print ArticlePrint Article |
Tagged
Friday
19Feb2010

NEON Expands Mainframe Complaint Against IBM

DateFebruary 19, 2010

(eWeek Europe) By Jeffrey Burt

Neon Enterprise Software has shown no signs of backing down in its legal challenge against IBM, after it amended its lawsuit to give specific examples, which according to Neon executives, illustrates Big Blue’s monopolistic behaviour in its mainframe business.

Click to read more…

| Print ArticlePrint Article |
Tagged
Thursday
18Feb2010

IBM Answers and Countersues NEON, Which Goes Right Back At ‘Em [Updated February 18]

DateFebruary 18, 2010

(Technology News) By Hesh Wiener

Name-calling about name-calling, that's the story in the Federal District Court for West Texas.  Neon Enterprises and IBM are really going at each other, litigating away, all over a lousy few billion dollars.  The few billion is what Neon could cost IBM if its zPrime software catches on, says a source at Neon, declining attribution.

zPrime lets mainframe shops move work around inside a mainframe so that it lives in the low rent district instead of on Park Avenue.  With zPrime, IBM's zIIP and zAAP specialty processors can do a lot of work that customers without Neon's product (or Neon's know-how) otherwise would run on general-purpose engines.  Customers can save a lot of money this way, apparently much more than IBM expected when it came up with the idea of zIIP and zAAP engines.  Mainframe specialty processors are ordinary mainframe engines dressed in microcode mufti and unmetered; once a customer buys the engine, there is no extra cost for using it.  By contrast, all the work done by general-purpose mainframe engines is measured and the amount clocked by IBM determines the price a customer pays for running the jobs.

Click to read more…

| Print ArticlePrint Article |
Tagged
Thursday
18Feb2010

Neon names names in amended mainframe complaint against IBM

DateFebruary 18, 2010

(Mainframe Propeller Head) Blog post by Mark Fontecchio

Neon Enterprise Software has amended its complaint claiming unfair mainframe business practices by IBM, this time naming the names of Neon customers and potential customers that IBM has warned against using Neon’s zPrime software.

The amended 44-page complaint lists Honda, Daimler-Benz, Federal Express, Home Depot and Experian, among others, as potential users of zPrime who have felt the heat of IBM pressuring them to avoid zPrime. Neon claims these are intimidation methods by IBM to “crush” Neon.

Click to read more…

| Print ArticlePrint Article |
Tagged
Thursday
18Feb2010

Neon Sues IBM for Antitrust

DateFebruary 18, 2010

By Maureen O’Gara

No sense pussyfooting around anymore trying to sidestep the legal equivalent of nuclear war.

Texas ISV Neon Enterprise Software, accepting that it’s in a fight to the death with IBM over mainframes, ripped the kid gloves off late Wednesday, amended its pre-Christmas suit against its giant nemesis for tortious interference, business disparagement and unfair competition and charged Blue with antitrust violations.

It cited both the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act, charging IBM with monopoly maintenance and conditioning sales to mainframe users on their promise not to buy from a competitor.

Click to read more ...

| Print ArticlePrint Article |
Tagged
Thursday
18Feb2010

IBM Accused of Trying to ‘Crush’ Mainframe Rivals

DateFebruary 18, 2010

(Law360) Subscription required

Neon Enterprise Software LLC has hit IBM Corp. with federal antitrust claims in an amended suit accusing the software giant of filing baseless litigation and engaging in unfair competition to monopolize the mainframe computer software market and "crush" Neon.

Click to read more…

| Print ArticlePrint Article |
Tagged
Page 1 2 3 4 5 ... 44 Next 6 Entries »