EU Launches Formal Antitrust Probe Against IBM
Reanimating long-dormant scrutiny of International Business Machines Corp., (IBM) European Union antitrust authorities said Monday they have opened formal investigations into Big Blue’s conduct in the market for powerful mainframe computers.
One of the EU’s probes was spurred by complaints from two small technology companies that IBM improperly blocks customers from using the mainframe’s operating system without IBM’s own pricey hardware. The other probe is examining whether IBM is squelching third-party providers of spare mainframe parts.
IBM is one of the world’s largest technology companies, and it has long led the market for mainframes, which are the high-end machines typically used by businesses and governments to process large quantities of data.
Concern about IBM’s supreme position in the market for heavy-duty computing goes back more than half a century. The U.S. Department of Justice reached a consent decree with IBM in 1956 that effectively established an aftermarket for used mainframes, parts and service. The consent decree lapsed in 2001. The EU itself, in an earlier mainframe probe, reached a settlement with IBM in 1984 that was designed to ensure competing mainframe companies had access to the mainframe platform. That deal lasted a decade.
