IBM offers its biggest Unix system yet

In today's podcast: IBM offers its biggest Unix system yet; Dell acquires 3PAR for $1.1 billion; and India's YBrant to buy Lycos for $36 million.

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IBM has strengthened its hand in the Unix business with new systems based on its Power7 processors, including a server for large enterprises that scales to 256 cores. The Power 795 is IBM's biggest Unix server to date. It's aimed at companies that run large-scale database applications or want to consolidate multiple Unix or Linux workloads onto a single system using IBM's PowerVM virtualization software. IBM also launched several low-end Power7-based servers, each with one or two processors.

Dell on Monday announced it has agreed to acquire virtualized storage provider 3PAR for about US$1.15 billion, a move that will boost its capabilities for building public and private cloud computing environments. 3PAR's Utility Storage platform dramatically cuts administrative, power and space costs over traditional storage arrays, according to the company.

Ybrant Digital, a digital marketing company in India, said on Monday that it has signed a stock purchase agreement to acquire Lycos from Daum Communications of South Korea for US$36 million. The cash acquisition will help Ybrant offer Lycos' properties, including its search engine, to the company's network of advertisers, Suresh Reddy, Ybrant's chairman and CEO, said in a telephone interview on Monday.

Intel aims to expand the use of its Atom microprocessors in consumer electronic devices with the purchase of Texas Instruments' cable modem chip division. The deal highlights Intel's struggle to compete against Arm Holdings as the processor company of choice in consumer electronics devices. Intel sells processors that are far more powerful than Arm's, but its focus on computing power over the years has been at the expense of energy efficiency. Intel has sought to catch up to Arm through its Atom line.

...And those are the top stories from the IDG Global IT News Update, brought to you by the IDG News Service. I'm Sumner Lemon in Singapore. Join us again later for more news from the world of technology.