Software Industry Group Wants Access to IBM Data
Officials of the leading computer software industry trade group, accusing International Business Machines of unfair trade practices, will discuss today whether to take up their complaints with U.S. and European governmental agencies.
The trade group, Adapso, says IBM is withholding critical information that would allow competitors to make compatible products and is locking up the software market by bundling programs into one-price packages.
The accusations are reminiscent of the 1970s and early 1980s, when IBM was under virtually constant attack on antitrust grounds.
An IBM spokesman described the charges Thursday as “groundless.”
About half a dozen executives belonging to Adapso will discuss their next step today in a conference telephone call, Adapso spokesman Chris Carleton said.
Under discussion is the possibility of informally raising their allegations with the Federal Trade Commission, the Justice Department and the European Economic Community, Carleton said.
IBM’s U.S. competitors were stung in September when an arbitration order gave Fujitsu Ltd. controlled access to the so-called “source code” of IBM mainframe computers, allowing Fujitsu to keep its own computers compatible. They say they should be granted the same level of access to programming data as Fujitsu.
More recently, software companies complained about IBM’s decision to release a version of the operating software for its new line of personal computers that will include features such as database and communications managers.
The competitors complain that they will not be able to sell their own database and communications programs if IBM gives them to customers as part of its operating system, the program that governs a computer’s internal operations.
IBM is granting sufficient information to competitors to allow them to make compatible products, IBM spokesman John Mihalec said Thursday.
As for the issue of Fujitsu’s special access, Mihalec said that was granted under an arbitration order and was not voluntary. Arbitrators have said Fujitsu’s access will be tightly limited, Mihalec noted.
On the issue of bundled software for IBM’s Personal System/2 line, Mihalec said clients who want to buy only the operating system without the extras can do so.
In another development, IBM said Thursday that it sold the remaining 3.1 million shares of Intel Corp. that it purchased as part of an investment in the chip maker five years ago.
IBM did not disclose the price it received, although it was believed to have been about $75 million. In the privately arranged transaction, Salomon Bros. bought the stock from IBM and then resold it to a number of institutions.
IBM has gradually disposed of its holdings in Intel from a peak of 22 million shares. They were bought in a two-year period beginning in 1982 in an effort to boost Intel’s finances while it was developing processing chips for use in IBM’s personal computers.
The companies said earlier in the year that Intel was doing well enough on its own for IBM to cut its ties with the chip maker.
Analysts saw it as a chance for IBM to sell the shares at a profit and boost the computer giant’s flat earnings.
IBM last year sold $300 million of bonds in Europe that could be exchanged later for Intel stock or cash. It had held on to 7.8 million Intel shares in case investors sought them in the exchange. The stock sold Thursday represented the unclaimed Intel shares.
The exchange offer expired on Nov. 10. IBM had announced in September its intention to exchange the Eurobonds for cash or Intel stock.
Last June, Intel repurchased 8.9 million of its shares from IBM, leaving the computer giant with 13.7 million. In August, IBM sold an additional 5.9 million Intel shares through Salomon Bros.
