IBM Chases HP and Sun Unix Shops with Power Returns
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Seeking to capitalize on the sunsetting of Hewlett-Packard's PA-RISC Superdome and HP 9000 machines and to convert the vast base of UltraSparc-II and UltraSparc-III machinery with the Sun Microsystems brand on it, IBM has launched a frequent buyers club marketing program called Power Rewards to try to convert the HP-UX and Solaris bases to Power6-based gear running AIX and/or Linux. The deal offers customers migrations services of a specified cash value based on a point scoring system that is tied to the Sun and HP iron being replaced. READ MORE >

Intel Profits Hit, AMD Books a Loss in Recent Quarters
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Competition is a very tough thing, particularly when vendors get pinched by each other and a tightening economy at the same time. But so it is in the market for X64 microprocessors sold by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. While both companies are under pressure, dominant chip maker Intel is still making profits and ramping up acceptable quad-core products, while AMD is just now getting quad-core chips out the door and facing a resurgent Intel as it slashes 10 percent of its workforce to balance its books. READ MORE >

IBM's Q1 Driven by Mainframes, Unix, Services, and the Weak Dollar
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

That good ole annuity-style revenue stream, which accounts for a little more than half of IBM's sales in any given quarter, was gurgling and burbling along in the first quarter of 2008, helping to float the company's product sales and delivering pretty hefty overall revenue and profit increases considering the shaky nature of the economy in the United States. And lucky for Big Blue, three-quarters of its revenues come from outside the United States, which means the weak dollar amplifies overseas sales when they are brought back to IBM H READ MORE >

The X Factor: Everybody Wants Citrix Systems?
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

With the economy bumping along, sometimes up and sometimes down, depending on the metrics you want to use, and big IT suppliers looking for rich, new markets to mine, every time someone gets bored and the news gets a little slow, out comes another merger and acquisition rumor. In recent weeks, the chatter out on there on the Internet and at the water coolers of IT suppliers looking for a deal and Wall Street banks looking for some good news (and visa versa) is that Citrix Systems, which itself just last year spent a fortune to acquire server and desktop hypervisor expert XenSource, is possibly in play. READ MORE >