Tech industry braces for more antitrust scrutiny

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After eight years of light antitrust scrutiny under a Republican White House, the technology and telecommunications industries are bracing for stepped up oversight by the Obama administration's Justice Department.

Christine Varney, the head of the department's antitrust division, vowed in a May speech that her office will take a tough look at potential abuses of market power across some of the nation's biggest industries, including high tech and telecom.

Now the government is putting out feelers to determine whether one industry giant, IBM Corp., has exploited its dominant position in the market for massive data-processing computers known as mainframes.

The probe, which the Justice Department has not yet publicly acknowledged but has been confirmed by IBM and an industry trade group, is still in a preliminary stage and will not necessarily lead to a formal investigation.