Commission closes separate case into alleged tying of company's mainframe hardware with its operating system.
The European Commission is inviting comments on commitments offered by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) to ensure the availability of certain spare parts and technical information on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms over five years.
These commitments aim to resolve concerns that IBM may have imposed unreasonable conditions for supplying competing mainframe maintenance service providers with such inputs, in breach of European Union antitrust rules prohibiting the abuse of a dominant market position in Europe.
Mainframes are powerful computers which are used by large companies and governments to store and process critical information. The probe was opened in July 2010 (see MEMO/10/1006).
"I commend IBM's readiness to address our concerns about fair competition in the market for large computers, which are crucial for the functioning of today's economy," said Commission Vice President and Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia.
Last August, the Commission informed IBM of its concerns that the company may have abused a dominant position in breach of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU and Article 54 of the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement by imposing "unreasonable" supply conditions for certain inputs to competing suppliers of mainframe maintenance services. To address the concerns, IBM committed to ensure the expeditious availability of certain spare parts and technical information to Third Party Maintainers (TPMs) in the EEA, on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions over a period of five years.
A summary of the draft commitments is published in the EU's Official Journal. The full version is available at:.
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/elojade/isef/case_details.cfm?proc_code=1_39692
Interested parties are invited to comment within one month. Under Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003, the Commission may make the commitments legally binding on IBM, without concluding whether or not there was an infringement of EU rules.
The Tying Case
Separately, the Commission examined allegations of alleged tying of IBM's mainframe hardware with its operating system after complaints made by rival software vendors T3 and Turbo Hercules and a related later complaint by Neon Enterprise Software (see MEMO/10/1006). Following an in-depth investigation of these allegations, the Commission has decided to close these proceedings. The three complaints have been withdrawn.
More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.
TRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now! Request Now.
Forms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.
Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:
Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.
IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn:
LATEST COMMENTS
MC Press Online