IBM announced Wednesday that it will acquire upstart mainframe challenger Platform Solutions Inc. While terms were not disclosed, the deal provides a happy exit for PSI investors, including Intel Capital, Microsoft Corp. and Blueprint Ventures, which facilitated PSI's spinout from Fujitsu Ltd.-owned Amdahl Corp. in 1999. The happy ending didn't come without some legal bloodletting on both sides. IBM filed suit against PSI in 2006 for patent infringement and breach of contract. PSI countered with a lawsuit of its own, accusing its larger rival of antitrust violations, unfair competition and business torts.

Last year we chronicled PSI's journey from an orphaned technology inside Fujitsu to a contender legitimate enough to stir IBM, and so for an update on the latest development, we checked in with Blueprint managing partner Bart Schachter. According to Schachter, it was the tempestuous relationship of the past 18 months that led to the deal.  "The conversation started to turn in the past few months," says Schachter, "when IBM realized what PSI had."

For full post, visit Corporate Dealmaker blog

See July 3 story on CCIA complaints over PSI deal from TheDeal.com