Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft's unveiling Wednesday of a series of data warehousing appliances has some observers sounding the death knell for HP's Neoview platform.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an information investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mark Hurd's departure from Hewlett-Packard, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Oracle on Thursday stepped up its efforts to rebuild Sun's hardware business, announcing a high-performance clustered database system that could turn up the competitive pressure on rivals IBM and Hewlett-Packard.

Speaking publicly for the first time since he was appointed CEO of Hewlett-Packard in late September, Leo Apotheker on Monday said that HP will focus more on software and that he still has some learning to do about the company.

Some people speculated that Mark Hurd joined Oracle to get back at his former employer, Hewlett-Packard, but on Thursday he described other reasons for taking the job.

Mark Hurd may have tipped off former contractor Jodie Fisher about Hewlett-Packard's pending US$13.9 billion EDS acquisition, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal Friday.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison on Tuesday vowed to prove that new Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker was in on a scheme to steal large amounts of Oracle software, when Apotheker was CEO of software maker SAP.

Leo Apotheker may yet have to prove that he can run a company the size of Hewlett-Packard, but his compensation package is on par with his predecessor.

Hewlett-Packard has named former SAP CEO Leo Apotheker to be its new president and chief executive, replacing Mark Hurd, who resigned abruptly last month in the midst of a scandal.

Hewlett-Packard has released new software to help customers move off of their aging HP 9000 servers and onto its newer Integrity systems.

Hewlett-Packard and Oracle have settled the lawsuit HP filed against its former CEO and current Oracle co-President Mark Hurd as well as "reaffirmed their long-term strategic partnership," the companies said Monday.

Hewlett-Packard will soon purchase security vendor ArcSight for $1.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

Oracle called Hewlett-Packard's lawsuit against its former CEO "vindictive" and said it threatened the companies' close relationship.

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd has been appointed co-president of Oracle, the software company announced Monday.

When Mark Hurd resigned unexpectedly from Hewlett-Packard last month he found an outspoken supporter in the form of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. It appears now that Hurd may end up working for Ellison, according to a report Saturday in the Wall Street Journal.

Dell on Thursday said it would not increase its most recent proposal to acquire virtualized storage vendor 3Par, paving the path for rival Hewlett-Packard to acquire the company.

Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday plans to announce new laptops, including its fastest netbook and first 3D laptop, which combines cutting-edge technologies to raise the bar in performance.

Storage technology firm 3PAR confirmed late Friday that its board has accepted Hewlett-Packard's acqusition offer of $30 per share, ending more than a week of competitive bidding with Dell.

The bidding war between Dell and Hewlett-Packard for virtualized storage vendor 3PAR continued on Thursday, with Dell increasing its bid to US$24.30 per share, or about $1.6 billion.

Worldwide server sales posted their biggest jump since 2003 during the second quarter as Hewlett-Packard outsold rival IBM to take the top spot among server vendors, IDC said Tuesday.