In 2003 the U.S. Air Force held an open bidding for a post-warranty service contract on about $80 million worth of Powerware uninterruptible power supply (UPS) equipment it had purchased in 2001. At that meeting, Air Force officials and the other bidders were surprised when Powerware informed them that proprietary service software is required to fully maintain the UPS equipment and that Powerware would not provi In 2003 the U.S. Air Force held an open bidding for a post-warranty service contract on about $80 million worth of Powerware uninterruptible power supply (UPS) equipment it had purchased in 2001. At that meeting, Air Force officials and the other bidders were surprised when Powerware informed them that proprietary service software is required to fully maintain the UPS equipment and that Powerware would not provide that software to any of the third-party bidders or to the Air Force itself. As a result, the Air Force had no choice but to award the contract to Powerware, costing U.S. taxpayers more than $20 million over what some of the other firms said they were prepared to bid.The U.S. Air Force is far from the only Powerware customer who has found itself stuck with a bigger service bill than expected because of this lockout service software. Testimony in a lawsuit brought against third party UPS maintenance JT Packard by Eaton Powerware (Eaton acquired Powerware in 2004) shows that many private sector customers have found out about the service software requirement only after they decided to start servicing their UPS systems themselves or considered a third-party service firm. And it seems clear that the only real purpose of the software is to lock out competition for Eaton Powerware’s OEM service business.The lockout software is essentially a laptop-based replacement for the physical instrumentation and controls that used to come on three-phase UPS equipment. Routine maintenance such as battery servicing can be done without the software, but it is required for getting complete internal readings and calibrating performance settings. By denying that customers have the right to this “proprietary” software, Eaton Powerware guarantees itself the ability to keep charging high prices for post-warranty service. What makes some customers even madder than Powerware’s refusal to provide the software is the total lack of information about it when they purchased the equipment. “Even now you don’t see a word about it in their sales literature or on their website,” says one reader who encountered the Powerware lockout surprise while working for a financial institution. “How can it be legal for them to hide the fact that they will not let you have this tool that is needed to properly use and maintain the equipment you’re buying?” In the JT Packard lawsuit, the U.S. Air Force contracting officer who in 2001 had issued the purchase contract for the UPS equipment testified that Powerware had not disclosed the service software requirement to him before the purchase. So when the bidding process was held in Ogden, Utah, in 2003, it came as a big surprise to the Air Force that it would have to withdraw its request for competitive bids. JT Packard officials testified they were prepared to bid $16 million for the contract, $22 million less than the contract given Powerware by the USAF as the sole source bidder. (Eaton Powerware’s lawsuit against JT Packard for alleged copyright infringement of the lockout software has recently been settled, but terms of the settlement are not known.) The final insult to customers is that the lockout software may also be leading to poorer service on the part of Eaton Powerware. “It seemed to us that each field service tech they sent was a little less knowledgeable and less experienced than the last one had been,” the reader from the financial firm says. “That was one of the big reasons we were looking at other alternatives when our warranty was running out. But no, they wouldn’t even sell the software to us so we could maintain the equipment ourselves. No wonder their service is lousy – they have no incentive to make it any better.”The sad irony here of course is that this reader’s company, and certainly the U.S. Air Force as well, paid very good money for their Powerware UPS equipment in order to make their operations more secure. But by arbitrarily, and even with what appears to be malice aforethought, depriving its customers of a tool needed to keep the power systems running as designed, Eaton makes its UPS systems less reliable.What is Eaton Powerware’s justification for this policy? Can they point to any information that potential customers can see about it before they buy? Over the last few weeks I’ve been asking Eaton these and other questions as well as giving them an opportunity to dispute any of the facts about the Air Force bid that I’d gleaned from the testimony in the JT Packard case. They chose to respond very briefly to only two questions. The first was the basic one of whether they will provide the service software to customers. “Eaton Powerware UPS service software is not currently included with product purchase or available to customers,” reads Eaton’s statement. ” We are reviewing the needs and preferences of customers that prefer to self maintain and appreciate all customer suggestions on this topic.” The second question is just how customers should communicate their suggestions on this topic to Eaton Powerware. An Eaton spokesperson says such feedback should be e-mailed to InsideSalesEngineerUPS@eaton.com. And if you have any comments for Eaton or experiences of your own with lockout software, don’t forget to copy me at Foster@gripe2ed.com. Or make your voice heard on the Gripe Line by calling my voice mail at 1 888 875-7916 or by posting your comments on my website.Read and post comments about this story here. Technology Industry