Antitrust regulators have had IBM in their sights for a while amidst concerns that the computer giant may squelch too much of its competition and hold a monopoly in the mainframe market. However, many analysts have begun to point out that IBM’s so-called monopoly on the mainframe market might actually only exist in small subsets of the market.
According to analysts, the part of the mainframe market that antitrust regulators have accused IBM of monopolizing makes up only a small portion of the wider server market, a playing field in which there is now plenty of competition. Oracle’s impending acquisition of …read more

IBM has launched a budget business email service. For $3 per month per worker, IBM will allow businesses to give each worker a working email address. For companies trying to save money, this budget email service could be very tempting.
As it is, the most popular budget business email service is run by Google. However, Google’s service costs more than $4 per month per worker.
IBM’s two main selling points on this new service, which is called LotusLive iNotes, will be price and reliability. Lately, Google has gotten bad press for email outages that affected business accounts. Add in a lower price …read more

Amkor Technology, a company that tests and assembles microchips, unveiled a second quarter report that showed a massive fall in profit. Among the companies main customers are Intel and IBM.
Last year in the second quarter, Amkor Technology profited $65 million. This year, their profits were all the way down to $9 million. The drop was $56 million — or about 86%. Sales for the second quarter this year were down more than 25% to $507.
The good news? Amkor Technology actually did better than expected. Experts believed that the company would actually lose money this quarter. The revenue came in more …read more

Canadian company MOSAID Technologies has filed a lawsuit against International Business Machines Corp., otherwise known as IBM, for six alleged patent infringements. According to MOSAID, it has tried for years to reach some sort of settlement with IBM but has been unable to agree with the technology giant in negotiations.
 
The lawsuit focuses on IBM’s producing and selling certain products that use technology patented by MOSAID without ever having acquired a license to their patents. The technology involves microprocessors and Application-Specific Integrated Circuits that IBM would otherwise certainly be able to use if it had pursued a license.
 
MOSAID President and CEO …read more

In one of the biggest business moves of 2009, Oracle agreed to takeover Sun Microsystems. The deal is estimated to be worth almost $7.5 billion. Sun Microsystems, a company in the computer server industry, had been linked to IBM — but those negotiations broke off and Oracle jumped in.
However, the official Oracle takeover of Sun will have to wait a little bit longer. The United States Department of Justice is requesting further information about the transaction. One of the areas that is under the microscope is what Oracle will do with Java, an extremely popular programming language.
Despite the requests for …read more

If IBM had its way, former head of mergers and acquisitions, David Johnson, would not be allowed to work for Dell because he would allegedly be able to provide his new employer with trade secrets that would give Dell an unfair competitive advantage. However, a U.S. judge has sided with Dell and turned down IBM’s injunction against Johnson.
 
In his ruling, the judge decided that IBM never quite proved what secret information Johnson could actually supply to Dell that would give the company an edge over its rival.
 
Johnson, who now works as Dell’s senior vice president of corporate strategy, still faces …read more

Today’s Sunday Saying: Think before acting; and whilst acting, still think. Dutch Proverb (courtesy of Quotations.About.com)
IBM has a famous slogan: THINK.  That’s it.  That was the slogan.  It was developed by IBM founder Thomas J. Watson back in the 1920’s.  Watson said in explanation: “THINK. Think about your appearance, associations, actions, ambitions, accomplishment.”
What does “THINK”mean? I am guessing it means something like what the Dutch proverb says: Think first, then act, but keep thinking.
In a small business, you really have to keep thinking.  Case in point: A business lawsuit resulted from the owner’s thoughtless comment to employees …read more

For the last few months, Sun Microsystems had appeared to be on the verge of being purchased by IBM. On Monday, many industry experts were shocked to learn that Oracle had hopped over IBM and has reportedly bought Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion.
Sun Microsystems had made it clear that they were for sale. Their sales had been slumping and the future didn’t appear bright for the company. However, they were a hot commodity because of the large industry reach, recognizable brand and an array of impressive customers.
The deal for Oracle now makes them a much more powerful company. Some industry …read more

After IBM abandoned talked about buying Sun Microsystems, Oracle Corp. stepped up. They are now reporting that they’ll be buying the networking equipment maker in a deal worth $7.4 billion.
Oracle, a Redwood Shores, CA information technology company, will reportedly buy Sun for $9.50 per share in cash. When taking into account Sun’s cash and debt, Oracle says that the transaction total is about $5.6 billion. Earlier this month, IBM has offered Sun $9.40 per share, but they withdrew that offer when Sun cancelled the company’s exclusive negotiation rights.
Although Sun has found success with the development of their Java programming language …read more

In recent weeks, many industry experts believed that IBM was close to purchasing Sun Microsystems. However, that deal is now up in the air after a report that IBM has pulled the deal. In total, IBM reportedly had an offer on the table to purchase Sun Microsystems for a $7 billion.
Rumors have surfaced that IBM is angry that Sun Microsystems is now listening to offers from other companies. If that is the truth, this latest news could very well be a bargaining ploy by IBM. While there are a few other companies that could conceivably purchase Sun Microsystems, IBM makes …read more