IBM Japan Ltd is to supply IBM’s 9121 central processor and its MVS/ESA operating system to Mitsubishi Electric Corp, which Mitsubishi will then package and sell as its top-end Melcom 900 Series. Within Japan Mitsubishi’s mainframe market share has dwindled to less than 5%, while IBM has failed to garner more than 20% because of stiff indigenous competition from Fujitsu Ltd, Hitachi Ltd and NEC Corp. Indeed, Reuters reports that IBM Japan Ltd suffered an 18.8% profit fall in 1990 – its worst performance in years. Mitsubishi’s new machine will run software written for MVS/ESA as well as that written for its own operating system GOS/EA. It intends to shift 900 units over three years. Shipments start in October and prices will range from the equivalent $927,000 to $5m.
