Pund

Intel is pushing its Xeon Processor 5600 series as the most secure data-center processor on the market. The company launched the server and workstation chips on its 32nm logic technology, which relies on second-generation high-k metal gate transistors to boost speed and lower energy consumption.

Dell is accusing five Japanese and Taiwanese companies of price-fixing on LCD panels. The computer maker filed suit Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco against Sharp, Hitachi, Toshiba, Seiko Epson, and HannStar.

In its 61-page complaint, Dell said it filed suit "on behalf of itself and its affiliates to recover for antitrust and other harms arising from billions of dollars of purchases at artificially inflated prices, over several years, of thin-film transistor liquid-crystal display panels, or products containing TFT-LCD panels."

Intel this week offered a preview of platforms using its Core i7 Extreme Edition processor. Although the company is aiming the processor heavily at the gaming market, analysts said there are also clear business applications for the processor.

Code-named Gulftown, the i7-980X Extreme Edition processor is the industry's first 32nm, six-core processor with 12 computing threads. Intel introduced the i7 family last September with its exclusive Turbo Boost technology and Hyper-Threading Technology.

No watered-down Internet. No sacrifices. That's the promise Hewlett-Packard Vice President and CTO Phil McKinney offered consumers in a blog post about the PC giant's upcoming tablet computer. HP's iPad competitor, he promised, will offer a full web browsing experience in the palm of your hand.

Freescale Semiconductor on Monday announced a new processor that could help make the next generation of e-readers more affordable. Freescale's i.MX508 applications processor relies on ARM Cortex-A8 technology and a hardware-based display controller from E Ink to drive costs down.

With the ARM core running at 800 MHz, the i.MX508 provides twice the rendering speed of Freescale's last round of e-reader processors. That means faster page turns for consumers, more speed for value-added applications, and advanced touch solutions for manufacturers.

Iron Mountain on Monday announced its acquisition of enterprise-class content-archiving solutions company Mimosa Systems for about $112 million in cash. Mimosa brings more than 1,000 enterprise customers to the Iron Mountain fold.

Iron Mountain's latest acquisition gives the company an integrated archive for e-mail, SharePoint data and files, and an on-premises archiving option to complement its existing cloud-based archives. With the Mimosa acquisition, Iron Mountain is positioning the company as a one-stop shop for data capture, archiving and management.

Salesforce.com on Thursday announced a private beta program for an enterprise collaboration platform. Dubbed Salesforce Chatter, 100 companies around the world are testing the platform that offers anywhere, anytime access to Chatter's real-time feeds via BlackBerry or iPhone smartphones.

Chatter aims to help companies understand everything going on in their organization and avoid missing critical information. Chatter is taking direct aim at legacy software such as SharePoint and Lotus Notes with a design that looks and feels like popular consumer social-networking sites.

Controversial Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz has stepped down in a nonconventional way by using Twitter. He tweeted his resignation early Thursday, well within the 140-character limit.

"Today's my last day at Sun. I'll miss it. Seems only fitting to end on a #haiku. Financial crisis/Stalled too many customers/CEO no more", Schwartz said via Twitter. Schwartz also tapped into social media on Jan. 28, when he signaled his impending departure from the company with a blog post that he called "likely my last blog at Sun."

As with many new Apple products, once the initial hubbub dies down there remains a single question: Is it ready for the business market? It didn't take long for analysts to start trying to answer that question as it relates to the yet-to-be-released iPad.

Of course, Apple is positioning the iPad as a business-appropriate device, complete with its Microsoft Office-compatible iWork productivity suite and the iPad's VGA output that sets the stage for business presentations. There's also support for Microsoft Exchange and the device was designed with security in mind.

In a move that could transform the IT industry, Oracle on Wednesday announced it has finalized its $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Oracle held an all-day event to offer more details on its plans, which include delivering open and integrated systems where all pieces fit and work together out of the box.