IBM tool helps companies cut costs and emissions

International Business Machines Corp unveiled a consulting tool on Thursday that allows companies to reduce both costs and carbon dioxide emissions in their supply chains.Built with IBM-branded software, SNOW helps clients review the number of distribution centers they need and decide whether to do manufacturing themselves or through a third party.

The offering -- which IBM calls the Supply Chain Network Optimization Workbench, or SNOW -- comes as companies are under pressure to both slash expenses amid a slumping global economy and reduce impact on the environment.In a test, Chinese shipper and logistics company COSCO Ltd used the system to reduce the number of distribution centers it uses to 40 from 100, lowering costs by 23 percent and cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 15 percent, IBM said.

IBM Is Dead. Long Live IBM!

Company spokesman Doug Shelton says that "This profit improvement is the result of the transformation that IBM has undergone over the last 6 years." The Armonks moved out of low-margin businesses like PC systems and hard drives, are you any good at this stuff?) and into "higher value services markets." Nowadays, mainframes and pSeries servers just sing backup behind real stars like online services platform WebSphere and collaborative productivity suite Lotus.This puts a friendly, personal face on those stodgy old suits and ultimately gives IBM greater visibility of what users worldwide really want. It's a page ripped right out of Cisco's (Nasdaq: CSCO) very capable playbook. Today, IBM competes more directly with service swami Infosys (Nasdaq: INFY) than with server-happy Dell (Nasdaq: DELL). And that's a good thing.

IBM reported fourth-quarter earnings this week, with total sales dropping 6% year over year to $27 billion, but earnings per share expanding by 17% to $3.28. Adjust the results for currency exchange changes, and the revenue stays nearly flat at a 1% swoon. The hardware-hawking IBM of yesteryear would not have held up nearly that well. Importantly, it's the most profitable segments that are doing well.In the pursuit of new markets for these high-value products and services, IBM is aggressively selling to small businesses and local governments around the world. "We also reoriented our research organization to focus more heavily on our services business, having researchers work directly with services clients," says Mr. Shelton. Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) and SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) like to brag about multi-million-dollar deals, but an IBM press release is just as likely to talk about loosening up congested city traffic in Stockholm.

US firm files complaint about IBM

It accuses IBM, the world's largest technology services company, of "abusing its monopoly power in the mainframe industry"."As IBM has not seen any complaint it is inappropriate to comment on specifics relating thereto," a spokesman said.T3 also contends that IBM withheld patent licences and certain intellectual property.

"Only IBM now offers IBM-compatible mainframes and... controls over 99% of all existing IBM-compatible mainframes in use today," T3 said in a statement on its website.In 2007, US software firm Platform Solution filed a formal complain with the European Commission, accusing IBM of refusing to license third parties and refusing to supply interface information on mainframes.