Sony is reportedly disposing of the iconic VAIO brand, and with it, its PC division. The brand and its assets will be sold off to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), much in the same way as IBM disposed its PC business and Thinkpad brands over to Lenovo (which was a major supplier to IBM at the time). We won't see the last of VAIO notebooks, Ultrabooks, tablets, and convertibles, only that they won't be sold by Sony. The deal is part of Sony's larger efforts to shed underperforming businesses.

JIP could establish a new PC company from the assets it buys off Sony. In all likelihood, the VAIO brand could be retained, although the company's name itself hasn't been finalized. The new company will see Sony transfer 300 of its employees, to jump-start operations. The MoU signed between Sony and JIP seems to suggest that the company will prioritize Japan over global markets, in what is a similar strategy to Lenovo's. The Chinese company, after acquiring IBM's PC assets, focused its efforts on capturing the Chinese domestic markets with not just PCs, but also smartphones and tablets.

Lenovo and IBM have entered into a definitive agreement in which Lenovo plans to acquire IBM's x86 server business. This includes System x, BladeCenter and Flex System blade servers and switches, x86-based Flex integrated systems, NeXtScale and iDataPlex servers and associated software, blade networking and maintenance operations. The purchase price is approximately US$2.3 billion, approximately two billion of which will be paid in cash and the balance in Lenovo stock.

IBM will retain its System z mainframes, Power Systems, Storage Systems, Power-based Flex servers, and PureApplication and PureData appliances. The agreement builds upon a longstanding collaboration that began in 2005 when Lenovo acquired IBM's PC business, which included the ThinkPad line of PCs. In the period since the companies have continued to collaborate in many areas. IBM will continue to develop and evolve its Windows and Linux software portfolio for the x86 platform. IBM is a leading developer of software products for x86 servers with thousands of products and tens of thousands of software developer and services professionals who build software for x86 systems.

IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced fourth-quarter 2013 diluted earnings of $5.73 per share, compared with diluted earnings of $5.13 per share in the fourth quarter of 2012, an increase of 12 percent. Operating (non-GAAP) diluted earnings were $6.13 per share, compared with operating diluted earnings of $5.39 per share in the fourth quarter of 2012, an increase of 14 percent.

Fourth-quarter net income, which includes benefits from tax audit settlements, was $6.2 billion compared with $5.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012, an increase of 6 percent. Operating (non-GAAP) net income was $6.6 billion compared with $6.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012, an increase of 8 percent.

Total revenues for the fourth quarter of 2013 of $27.7 billion decreased 5 percent (down 3 percent adjusting for currency) from the fourth quarter of 2012.

NVIDIA and IBM today announced plans to collaborate on GPU-accelerated versions of IBM's wide portfolio of enterprise software applications on IBM Power Systems. The move marks the first time that GPU accelerator technology will move beyond the realm of supercomputing and into the heart of enterprise-scale data centers. The collaboration aims to enable IBM customers to more rapidly process, secure and analyze massive volumes of streaming data.

"Companies are looking for new and more efficient ways to drive business value from Big Data and analytics," said Tom Rosamilia, senior vice president, IBM Systems & Technology Group and Integrated Supply Chain. "The combination of IBM and NVIDIA processor technologies can provide clients with an advanced and efficient foundation to achieve this goal."

IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced third-quarter 2013 diluted earnings of $3.68 per share, compared with diluted earnings of $3.33 per share in the third-quarter of 2012, an increase of 11 percent. Operating (non-GAAP) diluted earnings were $3.99 per share compared with operating diluted earnings of $3.62 per share in the third-quarter of 2012, an increase of 10 percent.

Third-quarter net income was $4.0 billion compared with $3.8 billion in the third-quarter of 2012, an increase of 6 percent. Operating (non-GAAP) net income was $4.4 billion, as compared with $4.2 billion in the third-quarter of 2012, an increase of 6 percent. Total revenues for the third-quarter of 2013 of $23.7 billion were down 4 percent (down 2 percent, adjusting for currency) from the third-quarter of 2012.

"In the third-quarter we continued to expand operating margins and increased earnings per share, but fell short on revenue. Where we had identified high growth opportunities and pursued them aggressively --- cloud, mobile, business analytics, and security --- we continued to show strong growth. This underscores our strategy to continuously transform the company to high value," said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer.

At LinuxCon 2013, IBM announced plans to invest $1 billion (USD) in new Linux and open source technologies for IBM's Power Systems servers. The investment aims to help clients capitalize on big data and cloud computing with modern systems built to handle the new wave of applications coming to the data center in the post-PC era.

A new IBM Power Systems Linux Center for developers, clients and partners opened in Montpellier, France today. Joining similar centers in Asia and North America, the Montpellier center is an immediate result of a larger initiative by IBM to commit $1 billion towards Linux ecosystem growth on IBM's Power Systems line of servers. (Credit: IBM)

IBM today announced it has acquired Daeja Image Systems Ltd., a leading provider of software that makes it easier for business and IT professionals to view large documents and images. Daeja is a privately held software company with headquarters in Milton Keynes, UK. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As unstructured business data continues to grow exponentially, business users need not only access to information, but a compelling user experience as well. By putting content in the context of how people work every day, professionals can solve problems and make decisions that deliver better outcomes, faster.

Google, IBM, Mellanox, NVIDIA and Tyan today announced plans to form the OpenPOWER Consortium - an open development alliance based on IBM's POWER microprocessor architecture. The Consortium intends to build advanced server, networking, storage and GPU-acceleration technology aimed at delivering more choice, control and flexibility to developers of next-generation, hyperscale and cloud data centers.

The move makes POWER hardware and software available to open development for the first time as well as making POWER IP licensable to others, greatly expanding the ecosystem of innovators on the platform. The consortium will offer open-source POWER firmware, the software that controls basic chip functions. By doing this, IBM and the consortium can offer unprecedented customization in creating new styles of server hardware for a variety of computing workloads.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) ("UMC"), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that UMC will join the IBM Technology Development Alliances as a participant in the group's development of 10nm CMOS process technology.

"Established over a decade ago, the IBM alliance allows the partners to leverage our combined expertise and collaborative research and innovative technology development to address the demanding needs for advanced semiconductor applications," said Gary Patton, VP, IBM Semiconductor Research & Development. "UMC is a strong addition to the alliance."

IBM, STMicroelectronics and Shaspa today announced a collaboration to tap cloud and mobile computing for manufacturers and service providers to provide innovative ways for consumers to manage and interact with their homes' functions and entertainment systems using multiple user interfaces such as voice recognition and physical gestures for a smarter home.

A "smart home" brings networking functions together, creating a gateway that connects a television, computer or mobile device with smart meters, lights, appliances, plugs and sensors within the home as well as services from outside. Parks Associates forecasts that more than 8 billion devices will be connected on the home network by year-end 2015.

IBM today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire StoredIQ Inc., a privately held company based in Austin, Texas. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. StoredIQ will advance IBM's efforts to help clients derive value from big data and respond more efficiently to litigation and regulations, dispose of information that has outlived its purpose and lower data storage costs.

With this agreement, IBM adds to its prior investments in Information Lifecycle Governance. The addition of StoredIQ capabilities enables clients to find and use unstructured information of value, respond more efficiently to litigation and regulatory events and lower information costs as data ages.

IBM announced today a major advance in the ability to use light instead of electrical signals to transmit information for future computing. The breakthrough technology - called "silicon nanophotonics" - allows the integration of different optical components side-by-side with electrical circuits on a single silicon chip using, for the first time, sub-100 nm semiconductor technology.

Silicon nanophotonics takes advantage of pulses of light for communication and provides a super highway for large volumes of data to move at rapid speeds between computer chips in servers, large datacenters, and supercomputers, thus alleviating the limitations of congested data traffic and high-cost traditional interconnects.

Worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues posted year-over-year growth of 3.3%, totaling just over $5.9 billion, in the third quarter of 2012 (3Q12), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker. For the quarter, the total disk storage systems market posted just under $7.9 billion in revenues, representing 3.7% growth from the prior year's third quarter. Total disk storage systems capacity shipped reach 7,104 petabytes, growing 24.4% year over year.

"The external disk storage system market continues to exhibit steady growth, posting solid third quarter factory revenues of just over $5.9 billion," said Liz Conner, senior research analyst, Storage Systems. "End users continue to invest in storage infrastructures despite persistent concerns surrounding global and regional economies. Helping to drive the worldwide market in the third quarter was the double-digit growth in multi-protocol storage architecture and strong demand for upper mid-range and high-end storage."

AMD today unveiled nine new mid-range and entry-level AMD Opteron 4300 Series and 3300 Series server processors increasing performance per watt versus the previous generation to maximize compute capabilities in power-constrained environments1, while delivering outstanding value to cloud providers and web hosts. The AMD Opteron 3300 Series processors provide enterprise-class features in a low power envelope at a desktop processor price, making it ideal for web hosts and small- and medium-sized businesses.

The AMD Opteron 4300 Series processors offer up to 15 percent better performance versus the prior generation, based on SPECint benchmark results2. And SPECpower results show up to a 24 percent improvement in performance per watt. As with the AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors, these are socket compatible with the previous generation processor, providing an effortless upgrade path for customers.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, factory revenue in the worldwide server market decreased 4.0% year over year to $12.2 billion in the third quarter of 2012 (3Q12). This is the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue decline, as server market demand continued to soften following a strong refresh cycle that characterized the market in most of 2010 and 2011. After declining in 2Q12, server unit shipments increased 0.6% year over year in 3Q12 to 2.1 million units. This was the 11th time in the past 12 quarters that server units have grown on a year-over-year basis.

On a year-over-year basis, volume systems experienced a 0.5% revenue decline. At the same time, demand for midrange and high-end systems experienced year-over-year revenue declines of 14.0% and 8.9% respectively in 3Q12. All three segments were impacted by difficult year-over-year compares combined with transitions in the technology refresh cycles.

The IBM (NYSE: IBM) board of directors today declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.85 per common share, payable December 10, 2012 to stockholders of record November 9, 2012. With the payment of the December 10 dividend, IBM will have paid consecutive quarterly dividends every year since 1916.

The board today also authorized $5 billion in additional funds for use in the company's stock repurchase program. IBM said it will repurchase shares on the open market or in private transactions from time to time, depending on market conditions.

IBM scientists have demonstrated a new approach to carbon nanotechnology that opens up the path for commercial fabrication of dramatically smaller, faster and more powerful computer chips. For the first time, more than ten thousand working transistors made of nano-sized tubes of carbon have been precisely placed and tested in a single chip using standard semiconductor processes. These carbon devices are poised to replace and outperform silicon technology allowing further miniaturization of computing components and leading the way for future microelectronics.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) has been recognized for the second consecutive year as the greenest company in the U.S., according to the Newsweek 2012 Green Rankings survey, released today. A panel of independent judges ranked major companies based on numerous criteria, including their environmental impact, environmental management and sustainability disclosure. The survey is regarded as one of the most comprehensive analyses of environmental leadership, and IBM was one of 500 large U.S. organizations evaluated.

The report notes that IBM'S Smarter Planet products and services help clients measure and reduce their resource consumption while saving money. It points to a system developed at the company's Zurich Research Lab, where water that cools a supercomputer is used to warm nearby buildings.

IBM today announced third-quarter 2012 diluted earnings of $3.33 per share, a year-to-year increase of 4 percent, or $3.44 per share, up 8 percent excluding the impact of UK pension-related charges. Operating (non-GAAP) diluted earnings were $3.62 per share, compared with operating diluted earnings of $3.28 per share in the third quarter of 2011, an increase of 10 percent.

Third-quarter net income was $3.8 billion, flat year-to-year; or $3.9 billion, up 3 percent excluding the impact of UK pension-related charges. Operating (non-GAAP) net income was $4.2 billion compared with $4.0 billion in the third quarter of 2011, an increase of 5 percent.

Intermolecular, Inc. today announced that GLOBALFOUNDRIES and IBM will leverage Intermolecular's High Productivity Combinatorial (HPC) technology, as the companies work to speed development of manufacturing technologies down to the 10 nm node.

Intermolecular's combinatorial technology allows many more tests to be done using a single wafer. This enables experimental data to be generated and analyzed with significantly greater speed and efficiency than a traditional development line, accelerating innovation in materials, processes, and device architectures.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has completed its acquisition of Texas Memory Systems (TMS), a privately held company based in Houston, Texas. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. IBM announced on August 16, 2012, that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire TMS, a leading developer of high-performance flash memory solutions.

Founded in 1978, TMS designs and sells solid state memory solutions as the RamSan family of shared rackmount systems and Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) cards. The products are designed to help companies improve system performance and reduce such critical issues in the data center as server sprawl, power consumption, cooling, and floor space requirements. Leveraging such solutions can help organizations save money, improve performance and invest more in innovation.

AMD announced today that Jack Harding has been appointed to the company's board of directors. Harding currently serves as president and chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of eSilicon Corporation, a privately-held semiconductor design and manufacturing services provider he co-founded. eSilicon designs and manufactures complex, custom chips for a broad and growing portfolio of large and small firms. Harding brings more than 25 years of management experience in the semiconductor industry to the board, especially in the area of ASIC and system on a chip (SoC) design, productization and manufacturing.

"Jack's wealth of industry experience and familiarity with evolving industry trends make him a perfect choice to join the AMD board," said Bruce Claflin, chairman, AMD Board of Directors. "As AMD establishes itself as a more nimble, flexible semiconductor design innovator, Jack's operational experience, strategic expertise and business acumen for bringing SoC and custom integrated circuit solutions to market should add tremendous value for AMD's future business."

The IBM (NYSE: IBM) board of directors today declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.85 per common share, payable September 10, 2012 to stockholders of record August 10, 2012.
With the payment of the September 10 dividend, IBM will have paid consecutive quarterly dividends every year since 1916.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced it is moving forward with the final construction for the extension of Module 1 at the Fab 8 campus in New York. The project will add 90,000 square feet of manufacturing capacity, bringing the total capacity for Fab 8 Module 1 to 300,000 square feet. Construction activities are scheduled to begin in August and work is expected to be completed in December 2013.

"During the construction of Fab 8, we extended the shell of the Module 1 building with the expectation that our business would continue to grow. Today we see increasingly strong demand from our customers, especially at the 28nm node, and we are excited to be moving forward with this next phase in the development of the Fab 8 campus," said Eric Choh, vice president and general manager, Fab 8, GLOBALFOUNDRIES. "By continuing to expand our investment in the project, GLOBALFOUNDRIES is delivering more options to our global customers, while helping to redefine upstate New York as a premier hub of the global semiconductor industry, creating thousands of new advanced manufacturing jobs, and contributing billions of dollars to the regional economy."

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced second-quarter 2012 diluted earnings of $3.34 per share, compared with diluted earnings of $3.00 per share in the second quarter of 2011, an increase of 11 percent. Operating (non-GAAP) diluted earnings were $3.51 per share, compared with operating diluted earnings of $3.09 per share in the second quarter of 2011, an increase of 14 percent.

Second-quarter net income was $3.9 billion compared with $3.7 billion in the second quarter of 2011, an increase of 6 percent. Operating (non-GAAP) net income was $4.1 billion compared with $3.8 billion in the second quarter of 2011, an increase of 8 percent.