Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), Visa Inc (NYSE:V), Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA)
Cisco’s Whiptail Buy Will Bolster UCS, Could Hurt EMC Partnership (eWeek)
Since launching its Unified Computing System in 2009, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) has increasingly found itself in competition with companies that had been strong data center partners. The UCS—an integrated infrastructure solution that included Cisco-branded servers as well as networking gear—put a wedge in its relationship with longtime server partner Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ). With its $415 million acquisition of Whiptail, which makes solid-state memory systems and storage products, Cisco may find itself in greater competition with storage partners EMC and NetApp.
Dell’s Haas as Turnaround Boss Honed Profit-Lifting at HP (Bloomberg)
When Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) President Marius Haas was still a rising executive at Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) in 2005, his new boss Mark Hurd entrusted him with a critical task: unearthing sales weaknesses and inflated costs. Haas obliged, arming Hurd with candid information that spawned a flurry of cost-cutting and sent Hewlett-Packard on a five-year run of soaring profits and shares. “He was the first guy I ran across who tried to convince me how the place actually ran — and how it didn’t run,” Hurd, who was Hewlett-Packard’s chief executive officer from 2005 to 2010, said in an interview.
IBM Increases Server Density With NeXtScale System (TechWeekEurope)
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) has taken a step towards hyperscale computing with NeXtScale – its highest density server platform, built around the x86 architecture and Intel’s new Xeon E5-2600 v2 processor family. According to the company, NeXtScale fits three times more cores into the space currently occupied by one-unit rack servers. This results in up to 2,016 processing cores in a single 19-inch rack. This system was primarily designed for workloads such as social media, gaming and video streaming, analytics, technical computing and cloud delivery.
Cisco Systems Receives Neutral Rating from Lazard Capital Markets (CSCO) (WKRB13)
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Lazard Capital Markets in a research report issued on Tuesday, Analyst Ratings Network.com reports. They currently have a $415.00 target price on the stock. A number of other firms have also recently commented on CSCO. Analysts at TheStreet reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in a research note to investors on Tuesday.
GS, V & NKE join the Dow (CNBC)
Hewlett-Packard dropped from Dow Jones (PaloaltoOnline)
Citing lower performance of its stock, Palo Alto technology company Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) is being dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC announced today. The change is part of a shakeup in the Dow that includes also dropping Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA) and Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) Visa Inc (NYSE:V) will replace Hewlett-Packard; sports equipment company Nike Inc. replaces Alcoa and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will replace Bank of America, the Dow announced.
IBM Lets SoftLayer Keeps Its Hardware Edge (InformationWeek)
SoftLayer has become part of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), but the Big Blue Smart Cloud hasn’t taken over SoftLayer. It’s not suddenly grafting Power servers into its x86 server hegemony. On the contrary, SoftLayer is keeping some unique-in-the-industry cloud computing characteristics that made it a valuable acquisition in the first place. For one thing, SoftLayer CTO Duke Skarda isn’t backing off SoftLayer’s special emphasis on dedicated servers — virtualized or unvirtualized hardware dedicated to a single tenant — as part of cloud computing. Instead of a multi-tenant motel, he’s offering single-tenant chalets.
HP Poland involed in international anti-corruption probe (TechCentral)
The Polish Central Anti-Corruption Bureau and US agencies are investigating potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by an employee of an indirect subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) in Poland, the company said in a filing Monday. The Polish agency along with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the employee of Hewlett-Packard Polska in connection with certain public sector transactions in Poland, HP said.
IBM’s BPO business sell-off to affect Indian employees (Business-Standard)
With global IT major International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) deciding to sell its low-value customer care services business to Synnex Corp, a major chunk of employees that will be transferred to the acquirer are expected to be from India. According to highly placed industry sources, this is primarily because India has been at the forefront of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) Global Process Services (GPS), the BPO services business of the company because of the huge presence it got in the country with the acquisition of Daksh eServices in 2004.
