BEA Systems - 2002 Press Releases: BEA Wins Hands Down in Real-World Competition Against IBM as Customers Prefer BEA "Another point of differentiation between BEA and the competition is the notion of "serviceware." Customers who have purchased from other vendors, including IBM, have been frustrated by the time-consuming and extremely expensive consulting services often required to get applications up and running. Some vendors even offer their software for free, or at greatly reduced prices, to entice customers, only to end up charging far more than BEA in the long run due to the high cost of their services."