IBM to Buy Competitor, Ending Suits

International Business Machines Corp. said it agreed to buy Platform Solutions Inc. in a deal that eliminates litigation and a potential competitor for its lucrative mainframe business.

IBM didn't disclose what it is paying for Platform, a venture-capital backed, Sunnyvale, Calif., company with about 30 employees and ambitious plans to sell powerful computers that run the same software that runs on IBM's Z-system mainframe computer, which can cost upward of $1 million. Mainframes are used in the data centers of many of the world's largest financial institutions and government agencies.

The ...