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Unisys has updated its ClearPath line of mainframe servers, adding a new ePortal engine that allows iPhone users to access applications running on mainframes.
The five new ClearPath Libra and Dorado models introduced on Tuesday range from entry level to high end, the company said. The machines use new chips and I/O subsystems designed to provide performance improvements. The Libra 780 and Libra 790 use Unisys' proprietary CMOS processors, as do the Dorado 740 and 750. The lower-end Dorado 4050 uses an Intel Xeon x64 chip.
The company also released new versions of its MCP and OS 2200 operating systems, which can be used on all of the new mainframes and on Unisys' existing ClearPath models. The operating systems include support for the ePortal Specialty Engine that promises to let mobile workers use devices such as iPod Touch and iPhone to get into ClearPath applications.
"There isn't a big installed base of iPod users just waiting for this. We're definitely a step ahead of our customers," said Bill Maclean, vice president of ClearPath programs at Unisys.
Using the ePortal Specialty Engine, mobile workers will be able to access critical business data while still benefiting from the scalability and security of the mainframe, according to Unisys.
"We also expect customers will look at the possibility of developing new applications for mobile workers and also for their organizations," added Maclean.
The ePortal engine could be of interest in industries such as air transport and financial services, where Unisys has a strong market share, said Nathaniel Martinez, a program director with market researcher IDC.
"You can already do this with most servers, but it's not something you'd necessarily think of doing with a mainframe because the iPod is so consumer oriented," said Martinez. "However, I can see it being used for accessing customer account details, or pulling up policy details. If organizations start to think about how they can develop applications for their own customers, it could be very interesting."
Overall, Unisys appears to be positioning itself as part of the increasing move toward Web services and cloud computing, said Martinez, creating a mainframe-based infrastructure that organizations can develop within.
"In the current economic climate, you don't want to rip and replace any mainframe applications, even if you were confident that you could. This is about letting customers benefit from Moore's Law and build services around their mainframes, while also retaining that scalability and computing power."
The ClearPath Libra 780 and 790 start at $3 million, the Dorado 740 and 750 at $2 million, and the Dorado 4050 at $420,000.
Sally Whittle of ZDNet UK reported from London.
Updated at 1:56 p.m. PST, with additional earnings information and after-hours trading performance.
IBM reported Tuesday a 12 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings, coming in stronger than analysts' expectations.
Big Blue generated net income of $4.4 billion, or $3.28 a share, for the quarter, up 12 percent over the same period a year ago.
Wall Street had expected Big Blue to post earnings of $3.03 a share for the three-month period.
The technology bellwether also reported that it is not only on track to achieve its previously stated goal of generating an annual profit of $10 to $11 a share in 2010, but that it's ahead of the pace it set out to get there.
IBM shares were up nearly 4 percent, to $85.14, in after-hours trading Tuesday.
"With our strong financial position, solid recurring revenue and profit streams, and global reach, we are confident about 2009 and, based on our 2008 performance, we are ahead of pace on our roadmap for $10 to $11 per share," Samuel Palmisano, IBM chief executive, said in a statement.
Revenue, meanwhile, reached $27 billion in the fourth quarter, down 6 percent over last year. But when accounting for currency changes, the revenue decline was 1 percent. Analysts had expected IBM to generate revenue of $28.3 billion for the quarter.
"A strong fourth quarter capped an outstanding year," Palmisano said. "In 2008, IBM performed well in an extremely difficult economic environment. Clearly our strategic transformation--migrating to the more profitable segments of the industry, investing in growth regions of the world, and driving productivity through global integration--is continuing to pay dividends."
During the quarter, the Americas generated revenue of $11.5 billion, up 2 percent over last year when adjusting for currency changes, for example.
Big Blue's software revenue was up 9 percent, when adjusting for currency, to $6.4 billion, while revenue in global technology services was up 3 percent to $9.6 billion when adjusting for currency.
Its global business services was flat, when adjusting for currency, to $4.7 billion, while its outsourcing services contracts generated $17.2 billion in revenue in the quarter, up 2 percent when factoring in currency changes.
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Update at 9:12 a.m. PST, with comment from IBM.
T3 Technologies filed a complaint against IBM with European antitrust regulators on Tuesday, alleging that Big Blue is blocking competition by tying its operating system with its mainframe hardware.
T3, a maker of IBM-compatible mainframes for small to midsize companies, is asking the European Commission to investigate IBM's market pricing and alleged effort to eliminate competition by withholding its patent licenses for its mainframe operating system and certain intellectual property.
"Since November 2006, we have not been able to sell any of our hardware. No rational buyer would buy any hardware without software," said Steven Friedman, T3's president.
T3 currently offers maintenance and support for its existing IBM-compatible mainframe customers and integration services.
IBM, in a statement, contends there is no violation of antitrust laws:
IBM has not seen T3's alleged EU complaint. Nonetheless, IBM is confident that it is no violation of competition laws for IBM to rightfully seek to prevent another company from violating IBM's intellectual property rights. IBM has spent great time and expense developing its technology and will defend its intellectual property rights vigorously.
T3, a small, privately held mainframe company in Florida, alleges, however, that IBM is engaging in behavior that previously had been barred under the consent degree that the Department of Justice began to phase out in 1997 over a five-year period.
T3 began marketing its IBM-compatible tServer mainframe line in 2000, using software from Fundamental Software that was based on an IBM patent license.
But in 2005, T3 signed an agreement with Platform Solutions Inc. (PSI), which would enable the small mainframe maker to create a more robust mainframe system, Liberty, that would put it in further competition with IBM, Friedman said.
The following year, T3 was hit with a one-two punch, as it shipped Liberty. IBM said it would not license its operating system to PSI or to Fundamental Software any longer.
PSI and T3 filed a lawsuit against IBM in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in late 2007, alleging Big Blue violated the nation's antitrust laws and engaged in unfair competition.
PSI, however, was acquired by IBM in July. T3 is continuing with the lawsuit, which is scheduled to go to trial in mid-summer.
Since 2006, T3 has laid off 80 percent of its workforce in the U.S. and Europe, as its revenue has dropped by a similar proportion, Friedman said.
"IBM has left the industry with one (mainframe) vendor. They have successfully foreclosed all competition in this industry," Friedman said.
With the European Commission having recently shown it will pursue tying cases, such as in the Microsoft and Media Player case and now its recent objection to tying Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser with Windows, Friedman said he is optimistic the European Commission will investigate its complaint.
German conglomerate Siemens AG is looking to end its participation in Fujitsu Siemens Computer, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing "people familiar with the matter."
The joint venture did $10.3 billion in sales last year, but Siemens CEO Peter Loscher apparently isn't pleased overall with the performance of FSC, which never found a real foothold in the U.S. in the face of competition with Hewlett-Packard and Dell.
"We have said that we want to focus on the three sectors--industry, energy, health care--and that we want to concentrate on them," a spokesman for Siemens told Forbes Wednesday.
Following a bribery scandal last year, Siemens is looking to increase its profitability and has recently shed several assets, and announced plans to lay off 4 percent of its workforce.
But Japan-based Fujitsu may not be all that disappointed. In a Tuesday news conference, Fujitsu President Kuniaki Nozoe said that mobile phones are going to be a more profitable business than PCs. That could mean it may not be interested in acquiring Siemens' 50 percent stake in the venture, for which it has right of first refusal.
FSC, which was founded in 1999, wasn't able to take advantage collectively of the companies' individual strengths in Europe and Asia, respectively, and subsequently "foundered on the shoals of a capricious and rapidly evolving IT market," said analyst Charles King of Pund-IT in a research note Wednesday.
The Journal quotes a banker who said the nine-year-old joint venture could be valued at between $3.12 billion and $4.65 billion.
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