Microsoft sides with PSI, goes after IBM's mainframe market

November 28, 2007 | Matt Marshall

Platform Solutions Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif. maker of mainframe computers that is going after IBM’s near monopoly in the sector, has raised filled its war-chest with more than $37 million in fresh capital from a group of investors including Microsoft.

PSI, as the company is known, has also signed joint sales agreement with Microsoft, giving it some good access to the large data centers of companies Microsoft already serves. It is going after the lower end of the IBM mainframe market, valued in the billions of dollars. It plans to undercut the dominant IBM product on price. Other investors include Blueprint Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Intel Capital, InterWest and InvestCorp.

Late last year, IBM sued PSI alleging patent infringement and breach of contract, and the dispute is still in court.

It’s the company’s third round of capital.

PSI’s computers consolidate z/OS, Windows, and Linux operating system into a single operating environment based on Intel Itanium 2 processor technology.

Next Story: Snooth.com, a search site for wine snoots
Previous Story: Q&A with UpNext, a local search and mapping company

Twitter

Facebook

Google Buzz

Digg

StumbleUpon

Delicious

Google

More...

Tags: deal

About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.