For I.B.M., the move is an effort to rejuvenate demand for its servers - larger machines that run computer networks - and to undermine key rivals, notably Sun Microsystems and Microsoft, whose proprietary software is increasingly used in the Internet commerce market.

The investigation by the paper alleges that NDS illegally undermined rivals Austar, Optus and Foxtel at a time when parent company News Corporation was moving to take control of the Australian pay TV industry.

I.B.M., for example, has embraced the major open-source efforts like the Linux operating system, in part to undermine rivals with strong operating system businesses, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.

While the Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic tries to use his control of parliament to undermine rivals, his power is ebbing in the streets of Belgrade.

It was clear then that the moment of inspiration will decide the final result, that special moment that will boost team morale and undermine rivals, and it happened at the beginning of the third section.

For years Indira Gandhi had squelched dissent and undermined potential rivals.

(For examples of how Microsoft uses its control of the operating system to undermine rivals, click .)

With the focus on electability, the Kerrey campaign is apparently hoping to undermine rivals without explicitly attacking them.

Having used his first term to undermine Communist rivals on the left, he starts his second with a stunning blow to the Gaullists on his right.