NEWS & ANALYSIS

EU 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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BowlerRoger 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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The Issues of Competition in Mainframe and Associated Services in India

by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations and Indicus Analytics

Very little is known about the extent and nature of competition in the mainframe and associated services market in India. This is the first study to analyze competition and related issues in the Indian server market, with an extensive focus on mainframe computing.

Download the report PDF (4MB)

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.

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Open Mainframe links

Service providers and information sources related to mainframe migration, interoperability and emulation.

Solution Providers

Alchemy Solutions (recently carved out from Fujitsu Computer Systems)
Modernization Solutions for COBOL, CICS, Batch and VSAM
http://www.adtools.com

BluePhoenix
"The Legacy Modernization Company" - automated migration tools, methodologies and expertise for legacy modernization.
http://www.bphx.com/en/Solutions/LegacyModernization/Pages/default.aspx

Compuware
Compuware's systems help businesses automate testing and debugging processes to more efficiently maintain service level agreements.
http://www.compuware.com/solutions/mainframe_solutions.asp

EDS
EDS, an HP company, provides Managed Mainframe Services that deliver the expertise, flexibility, stability and capacity you need to support positive business outcomes.
http://www.eds.com/services/managedmainframe/

HP
HP’s Mainframe Migration site
http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/cache/564549-0-0-225-121.html

Information Concepts
Legacy migration solutions and practices
http://infoconcepts.com/Content.aspx?SubPage=LegacyMigration

Mastek
Mastek helps its global partners become more agile and responsive through its legacy modernization and migration solutions. Our unique solutions include managed mainframes and field expansion.
http://www.mastek.com/legacy_modernization_and_migration.asp

Mainframe Market Information Service
Offers a unique independent source of information for IBM mainframe users, providing the data they need to negotiate the best deals for their hardware and software.
http://www.arcati.com/mmis.html

Micro Focus
Micro Focus provides innovative software that allows companies to dramatically improve the business value of their enterprise applications.
http://www.microfocus.com

NEON Enterprise Software
NEON zPrime reduces the cost of mainframe ownership by fully leveraging the capacity of specialty processors.
http://www.neonesoft.com

Sonata Software
Legacy migration and modernization services.
http://www.sonata-software.com/html/enterprise_legacymana_overview.htm

TurboHercules
Commercial distribution of the Hercules open source mainframe emulator, specializing in mainframe disaster recovery.
http://www.turbohercules.com

Watson & Walker
Practical mainframe performance and measurement advice through their newsletter, videos, and software. They assist system programmers, capacity planners and performance analysts using the IBM z/OS, OS/390 and MVS operating systems.
http://www.watsonwalker.com/

News and Blogs

Enterprise Systems
http://esj.com/mainframes/index.aspx

Isham Research
Advice, Guidance and MIPS Tables for IBM Mainframes
http://www.isham-research.co.uk/ibm.html

Mainframe Executive
IT Management and the Modern Mainframe Magazine.
http://www.mainframe-exec.com/articles/

Mainframe Upgrade
Independent thinkers in the mighty world of Mainframe. We throw our two dimes worth in to the melting pot and hope that the common sense contained therein can add to the general profitability and successful evolution of the mainframe world.
http://www.mainframe-upgrade.com/latest-mainframe-news.php

Mainframe 2.0 Community
The Mainframe 2.0 Community is sponsored by CA and Information Week.
http://community.solutionscenter.techweb.com/community/mainframe/

Mainframe Update
A well-respected mainframe blog.
http://mainframeupdate.blogspot.com/

Mainframe Propeller Head
A SearchDataCenter.com blog about the IBM mainframe and its alternatives.
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/mainframe-blog/

Mainframes Will Never Die
Blog by John Albee, the Director of Mainframe Solutions at BMC.
http://talk.bmc.com/blogs/blog-jalbee/john-albee/

Technology News of America
News and resources related to the IBM mainframe market
http://www.tech-news.com/

z/Journal
z/Journal is dedicated to providing useful, reliable, and interesting information on a wide variety of topics directly relevant to IT professionals using IBM zSeries and S/390 systems.
http://www.zjournal.com/index.cfm?section=news&nid=446

Technology

CBT Tape
The CBT tape is a collection of freeware for the IBM mainframe MVS and OS/390 operating system environment.
http://www.cbttape.org

Fundamental Software
FLEX-ES is a z/Architecture mainframe computer implemented in software.
http://www.funsoft.com/

Hercules Emulator
Hercules is an open source software implementation of the mainframe System/370 and ESA/390 architectures, in addition to the new 64-bit z/Architecture.
http://www.hercules-390.org/

Microsoft
Microsoft’s Mainframe Modernization site
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/mainframe/default.mspx

Platform Solutions Inc. (archive)
A historical view of the Platform Solutions homepage before they were acquired by IBM (courtesy of the Wayback Machine)
http://web.archive.org/web/20070102074452/http://www.platform-solutions.com/

T3 Technologies
T3 Technologies offers hardware, software and service for all mainframe needs
http://www.t3t.com

z390 Portable Mainframe
Java J2SE open source macro assembler and emulator project
http://www.z390.org/

Mainframe Rehosting

Cambex
Partner with Sun Microsystems to deliver mainframe rehosting solutions and legacy application modernization services.
http://www.cambex.com/rehosting.shtm

TmaxSoft
OpenFrame enables the applications, resources, and data residing within a mainframe legacy system to be extracted and moved to a more flexible, transparent, and cost-efficient open system platform.
http://us.tmaxsoft.com/jsp/product/detailcontents.jsp?psCd=00PD01&menuCd=00PDMROF