The European Union’s antitrust regulators said they had accepted concessions made by IBM in order to avoid being penalised for anticompetitive practices and closed their investigation into the company.
In September 2011, the US company is said to have made it easier for its rivals to procure certain spare parts and technical information under fair and reasonable terms.Independent maintainers need access to spare parts and technical information to offer maintenance services for IBM’s mainframes in order to compete effectively in this market.
The European Commission said it was satisfied with the concessions extended by IBM. Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said he was pleased that they could find a swift solution with IBM to their competition concerns.
IBM, on its part, said it was glad the matter had been resolved and welcome this final resolution of the inquiry into certain IBM mainframe maintenance practices.
