More control Scotty, More control ...
IBM has foreseen the fall in mainframe revenue coming for quite some time. The lies about Linux on the mainframe being an IT saving technology, are finally being understood by the industry for the garbage they are. IBM has flat out lied around that technology and it finally caught up with them. Plus the pressure from x86 is overwhelming to the mainframe business. So, what does one do when in a death spiral? In this particular case, make moves to control it all . Those pesky partners just can't handle the market the way IBM can..don'cha know. They need to squeeze every dime out of mainframe customers from now until whenever. No need to pay a percentage if you can kill partners instead....