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IBM buys Texas Memory Systems to bring on speedy storage
IBM is becoming serious about enterprise-grade computing in more ways than one. It just struck a deal to acquire Texas Memory Systems, best known these days for its extra-quick RamSan SSD cards. As you'd anticipate, that fast yet lean storage is the focus -- IBM wants servers that aren't limited by their drives, or which just use less power than old-fashioned spinning hard disks and tape machines. Neither side is talking about how much the deal is worth, but TMS' product roster should stay on the market even as it's folded into IBM's Smarter Storage initiative. Expect that database at work to suddenly get faster sometime after the acquisition closes later this year.
IBM settles with SEC, pays $10 million for accusations of bribery
Hey, look, it's a major international corporation getting in trouble for bribery, and it isn't Samsung! This time it's home grown Big Blue, choosing to settle with SEC over allegations that its employees have spent the last 15 years or so illegally bribing and wooing foreign officials to score themselves bigger contracts. This includes $207,000 in cash bribes paid to South Korean representatives between 1998 and 2003 plus more in the form of gifts and trips to those willing and able to sign over big contracts, even paying for the personal vacations of Chinese officials. Ultimately $10 million is little more than a slap on the wrist for a company the size of IBM, which has not admitted fault and now will never have to, but we were glad to see that Watson has not been implicated in any of these nefarious misdeeds. His record remains squeaky clean.
IBM looks back on 100 years of history, finds plenty to be proud of (video)
Want to know who the self-confessed "mother of the motherboard" is? Or why every piece of organically farmed, tenderly loved food at your local Trader Joe's has a barcode on it? Or perhaps you're curious to learn more about how millions of airline reservations can be made around the world with unfailing reliability? All those queries have their answers in IBM's self-congratulating videos after the break. Commissioned as a celebration of the company's upcoming 100th birthday, they chronicle some of its more notable moments in the global spotlight. Our favorite little nugget of discovery was finding out that testing for the IBM Personal Computer included the question, "would it run Pac-Man?" -- conclusively proving that the foremost reason for the PC's existence is, and has always been, gaming.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: IBM's Palmisano says HP 'used to be' an inventive company
The finest putdowns are usually the simplest. To wit, check out IBM's Chief Executive Trashtalker, Samuel Palmisano, whose elegant use of the past tense relegates HP's current status to that of a mere has-been innovator. Now, says Sam, HP is forced to acquire new companies just to keep up, thanks in part to Mark Hurd's slashing of investment in research and development. Speaking of Hurd, Palmisano also thinks HP failed its investors by handing him a fat severance package as he promptly jumped ship to Larry Ellison's Oracle loveboat. Another reason why Palmisano isn't worried about HP is that he sees the PC era as already over, describing IBM's sale of its PC business to Lenovo as an act of foresight, and adding that he "couldn't give it away today." Clearly they don't mince their words over at International Business Machines.
