Disputes between IBM and the University had been ongoing for a year before the computing company notified the University of its intention to terminate their Blue Waters contract, according to documents released under the Illinois’ Freedom of Information Act.

The Blue Waters project, which if built as planned, would make the University home to one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. IBM was to provide hardware from $208 million of funding from the National Science Foundation, or NSF.

IBM had requested “substantial changes” to the Blue Waters project’s statement of work, a formal agreement on the services IBM was to provide. Thom Dunning, director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, or NCSA, said in an email to Brian Connors, vice president and business executive of high performance computing at IBM, that these possible changes would have delayed the project for approximately a year.

The original statement of work said Blue Waters would be up and running by 2011. However, in fall 2010, a change to the project would have delayed it until at least 2012.

Connors said in an email to Dunning and Ravi Iyer, interim vice chancellor for research, that without these changes, the project would not have been feasible.

“IBM requested these changes starting in early 2010 in light of various unforeseen delays and unexpected challenges inherent in a project of this magnitude,” Connor said.

On March 31, the Blue Waters Change Control Board, an independent group comprised of senior faculty and researchers, denied the request by IBM to push back the delivery schedule for the project.

The major reasons for denial were that the delay would reduce both the long- and short-term value of the project and would result in additional costs to the University and the NSF, Dunning said.

The specific changes that IBM had requested were redacted in the document due to the information containing preliminary discussions that expressed opinion. In total, 36 changes were requested since both sides began working on the project in 2008 — with the “vast majority proposed by IBM or to the benefit of IBM,” said Robert Easter, interim vice president and chancellor, in the document.

Easter said he was encouraged after meeting with representatives from IBM and NCSA on May 23. But just over a month later, Joseph Benaroya, vice president of global strategic relationship development at IBM, informed both the NCSA and the University that IBM would be terminating the contract on Aug. 6.

“Based on the information that we have received from the NCSA over the past several weeks, it has become clear to IBM that its best proposals are not acceptable to the NCSA,” Benaroya said.

Easter said, in reply, the relationship has reached a “new and deeply unfortunate level.”

“I cannot describe sufficiently the impact that IBM’s refusal to honor its contractual obligations will have on the University, the NCSA and the NSF,” he said.

Easter said he was hopeful that a negotiated dispute resolution would be worked out, but the University “will pursue all available options at its disposal should IBM force (it) to do so.”

“IBM terminated”:https://www.dailyillini.com/index.php/article/2011/08/ibm_terminates_supercomputing_contract its contract with NCSA and the University on Aug. 6, leaving the University without a vendor for its supercomputer project. Subsequently, it returned the $30 million it received in funding thus far.

“As the chancellor of the University, I have an obligation to our faculty, students and staff … to explain fully and candidly why we have not been able to complete the historic Blue Waters system as planned,” Easter told IBM after he learned about the company’s intention.

He added, “I regret that I do not have a better answer than IBM did not think it was making enough money under the original contract.”