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Hewlett-Packard Co overtook IBM as the world's top server maker by sales during the first quarter as customers held off on buying equipment from IBM before new product launches, a research firm said on Tuesday.

IBM plans to buy Sterling Commerce from AT&T Inc for about $1.4 billion in cash to expand its portfolio of software for companies in financial services, manufacturing and retail.

International Business Machines Corp said on Monday it has agreed to buy business software integration services company Sterling Commerce from AT&T Inc for about $1.4 billion in cash.

Hewlett-Packard Co is preparing a broad push to make it easier to print images and information from the Internet, building an iPhone-style apps market in the process, the head of the company's imaging group said on Wednesday.

In the movie Ironman 2, Larry Ellison makes a cameo appearance as a billionaire, playboy software magnate. It is a role he knows well. He is playing himself -- chief executive of Oracle Corp, one of Silicon Valley's most enduring, successful and flamboyant figures.

Asian stocks rose on Thursday as fresh austerity measures promised by Spain and Portugal gave investors hope that Europe's debt crisis can be contained, while IBM's strong profit forecast gave a further boost to tech shares.

IBM forecast roughly doubling its profit by 2015 as it pushes further into emerging markets and lucrative services and software businesses, sending its shares up over 4 percent and boosting investor confidence in the tech sector.

IBM said it expects its profit to roughly double to more than $20 a share by 2015, helped by growth in emerging markets as well as the company's push into high-margin technology services and software businesses.

U.S. stock indexes rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday, boosted by gains in materials and technology shares and after Spain unveiled an austerity plan that further eased jitters over euro-zone sovereign debt woes.

IBM said it expects its profit to nearly double to over $20 a share by 2015, helped by the company's push into profitable technology services and software businesses.

IBM said it bought privately held software company Cast Iron Systems to bolster its expertise in cloud computing, an increasingly popular technology that helps companies cut costs by enabling access to software online.

Fewer than a third of office workers said their buildings are environmentally friendly, according to the poll of 6,486 office workers conducted for IBM Corp.

IBM raised its full-year outlook and reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results as companies increased spending on software and IT consulting, but the news failed to excite investors who had already begun to price in a strong recovery.

IBM nudged up its outlook for the full year and reported stronger-than-expected results as more companies bolstered spending on software and consulting on hopes of a sustained recovery for the technology sector.

IBM raised its full-year outlook and reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results as companies increased spending on software and IT consulting, but the news failed to excite investors who had already begun to price in a strong recovery.

Stocks futures fell on Monday, pointing to a weaker start for Wall Street, on lingering concerns over fraud charges against Goldman Sachs weighing on investor sentiment.

Asian stocks rose and neared 22-month highs on Thursday after U.S. tech and financial firms beat earnings forecasts and China's accelerating economic growth underpinned hopes of a broad, global economic recovery.

Option investors on Wednesday appeared to be taking bullish positions in IBM , hoping the tech bellwether will deliver upbeat earnings next week after Intel's results impressed.

In a bid to woo customers from rival Microsoft Corp, Oracle Corp will boost investment in the widely used MySQL open-source database that it acquired with its January purchase of Sun Microsystems.

Network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc said on Tuesday it was upgrading its servers, stepping up competition against more established players in the market like HP and IBM.

In May of 2009 I had just about reached my breaking point again. I had been in the IT industry, in one capacity or another, since months after the Y2K scare.

Robert Moffat, a former senior executive of International Business Machines Corp whose phone conversations were recorded by the FBI in the Galleon hedge fund insider trading probe, pleaded guilty on Monday to securities fraud and conspiracy charges.

Cheap U.S. healthcare stocks should perform well in the next few months now that legislative uncertainty about reform in the sector has been removed, said Legg Mason Inc fund manager Bill Miller.

Ten years ago today, before the dot-com bubble burst, the Nasdaq composite index hit a record 5,132.52 points -- a peak that the technology-heavy market shows no sign of scaling again any time soon.

A dark corner of corporate America is being thrust into the harsh glare of disclosure.

IBM has started a two-year research program that aims to make cellphones easier to use for groups including the elderly and the illiterate.

Hewlett-Packard Co said it has lowered its first-quarter results by 3 cents a share as a result of years-old litigation involving EDS, which the company bought in 2008.

Investment fund Elliott Associates offered to buy business software maker Novell Inc for $2 billion, sending its shares up 28 percent as investors hoped for a better bid.

A colleague I just met at work has invited me to be their friend on Facebook. I don't want to offend them, but nor do I want to share my candid photos and lousy Scrabble scores with someone I hardly know.