Another significant implication of the shift to an e-business strategy was the possibility of
neutralizing the advantage of any specific operating system, network, software application, or
hardware platform by shifting focus from proprietary to open technology. Under this scenario, rather
than providing a proprietary industry platform (as it did with the S/360), IBM would provide the
integration point. This realization implied that IBM’s hardware product organizations needed to
become best-in-class or risk obsolescence. More importantly, it freed the company from having to
compete in every product category. Instead of funneling resources and energy into competing in
categories in which its offerings were weak, IBM could partner with best-in-breed providers to meet the needs of its customers. Thus IBM, the company most identified with the word “proprietary,”
turned its back on the past and its face toward “open standards.”