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Commission initiates formal investigations against IBM in two cases of suspected abuse of dominant market position

by Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission

(26 July, 2010)

The European Commission has decided to initiate formal antitrust investigations against IBM Corporation in two separate cases of alleged infringements of EU antitrust rules related to the abuse of a dominant market position (Article 102 TFEU). Both cases are related to IBM's conduct on the market for mainframe computers. The first case follows complaints by emulator software vendors T3 and Turbo Hercules, and focuses on IBM's alleged tying of mainframe hardware to its mainframe operating system. The second is an investigation begun on the Commission's own initiative of IBM's alleged discriminatory behaviour towards competing suppliers of mainframe maintenance services.

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Bowler Roger Bowler Responds to IBM Patent Attack on Open Source

by Roger Bowler Creator of Hercules and Co-founder of TurboHercules

(Posted in News & Blogs section of turbohercules.com on 6 April, 2010)

As many of you know, the company I founded to promote the Hercules open source mainframe emulator, TurboHercules SAS, has filed an antitrust complaint against IBM with the European Commission in Brussels. We are not asking that IBM be subjected to punishing fines or anything like that. We simply want IBM to agree to allow legitimate paying customers of its z/OS mainframe operating system to deploy that software on the hardware platforms of their choice – including, should they so choose, on low-cost servers using Intel or AMD microprocessors and Hercules.

I want to make clear that we undertook this action reluctantly, and only after a long period of reflection during which we reached out to IBM to see if there was some way to resolve our differences amicably. I regret to report that IBM rebuffed our efforts at conciliation, and even added fuel to the fire by launching accusations against Hercules. I would like to take this opportunity to respond to some of those charges.

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Steven Friedman The 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.

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Thursday

Jul292010

IBM Needs a Good Lawyer

July 29, 2010

(Motley Fool on MSNBC) By Rich Smith

Pity IBM. They don't get no respect -- not at home, and not abroad, either.

Nearly one year ago, we regaled you with the tale of how IBM's friends in the tech industry ("friends" of the "who needs enemies" variety) were trying to lay the tech titan low. Instigating a Justice Department investigation into alleged "tying" of mainframe computer hardware to mainframe software, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (a broad organization supporting open competition that includes such disparate companies as Advanced Micro Devices in semiconductors, Oracle in databases and Google in Internet search) aimed to force IBM to license use of its software by competitors who hawked competing, presumably cheaper, hardware.

Now the European Union -- which never met a monopoly complaint against a U.S. company that it didn't like -- is getting in on the fun. Earlier this week, we learned that the EU Competition Commission, lately the domain of the dread knight Neelie Kroes, is now leveling its lance at IBM, and sounding the charge.

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