European Commission issues legal orders to IBM over mainframe dominance

The European Commission has issued IBM with a series of legally binding commitments related to its mainframe maintenance business in order to satisfy concerns it was abusing its position as the market leader.

The firm now has to make spare parts and technical information "swiftly available" to other vendors in the space under both reasonable and non-discriminatory terms in order to ensure a fair and competitive market.

This was a suggestion put forward by IBM itself in September as it tried to deal with the anti-trust investigation, which prompted the EC to issue a call for responses from businesses affected by IBM's position for their response to the firm's offer.

The EC first announced its investigation in July 2010 after complaints from emulator software vendor T3 Technologies and French open-source startup TurboHercules.

The commissioner in charge of competition policy, Joaquín Almunia, said the EC was pleased it had resolved the issue and claimed the organisation was right to get involved and take action.

"I am pleased that we could find a swift solution with IBM to our competition concerns. Timely interventions are crucial in fast moving technology markets," he said.

IBM said it was pleased the EC had accepted its offers and that the case was now formally closed.

"IBM welcomes this final resolution of the inquiry into certain IBM mainframe maintenance practices and is pleased that the Commission's investigation of the IBM mainframe is now concluded," it said in a statement.

The EC is currently investigating Google's $12.5bn acquisition of Motorola and recently halted its work in order to try and secure more information from those affected or concerned by the purchase.