A bully named I.B.M.

Ohk first let me say for all what is a Mainframe :

Mainframe is a High performance Multi User computer system which is the most scalable, available, reliable and secured machine in the world capable of performing some Million Instructions per second (upto 569,632 MIPS) with the following characteristics:
1) Reliable single-thread performance, which is essential for reasonable operations against a database.
2) Maximum I/O connectivity, which means mainframes excel at providing for huge disk farms.
3) Maximum I/O bandwidth, so connections between drives and processors have few choke-points.
4) Reliability--mainframes often allow for "graceful degradation" and service while the system is running.
　
Now the question arise Who uses mainframes and why do they do it?
Answer is Just about everyone has used a mainframe computer at one point or another. If you ever used an automated teller machine (ATM) to interact with your bank account, you used a mainframe.
Today, mainframe computers play a central role in the daily operations of most of the world's largest corporations. While other forms of computing are used extensively in business in various capacities, the mainframe occupies a coveted place in today's e-business environment. In banking, finance, health care, insurance, utilities, government, and a multitude of other public and private enterprises, the mainframe computer continues to be the foundation of modern business.
I.B.M. has dominated the mainframe computer business since the category was created four decades ago. And it still gets about one-quarter of its $100 billion in annual revenue from sales, software, services and financing related to the machines.

So when an upstart, Platform Solutions in Sunnyvale, Calif., developed software that turned standard servers into systems that mimicked I.B.M.’s expensive mainframes, Big Blue fought back. After legal action failed to fend off the pipsqueak, I.B.M. resorted to a bear hug: it bought Platform in July for $150 million. And then it promptly terminated the innovative product.

Despite eliminating the Platform threat, I.B.M. still faces the wrath of many in the computer industry. The Computer and Communications Industry Association, a trade group backed by the likes of Google, Oracle and Microsoft, described the Platform deal as “a clear attempt by I.B.M. to purchase a company solely to foreclose competition in the mainframe marketplace, protecting its cash cow at the expense of consumers.”

Platform was not the only potential competitor that drew I.B.M.’s fire. At the same time that it sued Platform, I.B.M. declined to renew a patent license with Fundamental Software, which also made mainframe emulation software. As a result, Fundamental sits in limbo with a once-popular product it cannot sell, hoping that I.B.M. will change its stance.

More recently, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft have made mostly unsuccessful attempts to pull mainframe customers away from I.B.M. by creating products that handle similar tasks but run on servers.

I.B.M. is now negotiating to buy Sun for about $7 billion, and if the deal were to occur, I.B.M. would also gain a monopoly on the key storage systems used for mainframes.

Platform argued that by running emulation technology on standard business servers, it had a cheaper, faster alternative that could meet the needs of smaller businesses, which had been neglected by I.B.M. The technology let customers run mainframe and server programs on the same hardware, meaning they could buy less and do more.

H.P. liked Platform’s concept, and in 2006, it almost bought the company for close to $200 million. Just before the deal was to close, however, it fell apart when H.P.’s lawyers discovered letters from I.B.M. stating that it would refuse to license its mainframe software to Platform.

Unable to sell products without an I.B.M. software license, Platform fired most of its staff, keeping five people to pursue the litigation. In November 2007, Platform got a jolt of cash when Microsoft joined Platform’s existing investors, including Intel Capital and Goldman Sachs, to put $37 million more into the company, allowing it to rehire staff and work on a fresh product.

I.B.M. maintains that it bought Platform for the company’s technology and talent, not to kill a competitive product.

While Platform has disappeared, its fight against I.B.M. lives on in a modified form. T3, the biggest packager of Platform’s technology, is carrying on the battle with financial support from Microsoft.

This is how things goes about in a tech Market.Big sharks killing the smaller one so that they cannot give competition when they grow up.You can just be pushed around by a schoolyard bully, or you can fight them and stand up for what you believe is right,Still some or the other like ORACLE/SAP will be coming to provide an option for the mainframe marketplace ,however I.B.M.'s Mainframe has been irreplaceable and indispensible till date.And it has been most robust technolgy Human has seen till date.Let's see how many more comes in future