Japanese IT firm Fujitsu Ltd announced that it would allow software makers to test their programs on its hardware for free so that they could examine performance. The company hopes such testing would boost sales of its computer servers with an aim to double such sales to about 10 billion yen ($114 million) by the financial year starting next April. Software developers in turn will be able to promote their products to prospective clients such as manufacturers, a Fujitsu spokeswoman said.

Last week a counterfeit version of Intel Core i7-920 processor appeared at the US markets. Intel confirmed the fact on Monday. Now the chip maker is trying to determine how many more are out there. HardOCP hardware website reported on Friday that one of its forum members bought a fake processor from Newegg, an online seller of computers and components. The user reported that instead of a processor he had found a bogus processor and a plastic mold of a heat sink and fan.

According to the statistics given by IDC the SSD market grew 14% in 2009 with more than 11 million units shipped that year. Besides, it is expected to grow further through 2010 and by 2013, SSD's compound growth rate (CAGR) over 2008-2013 will reach 54%. "Despite lingering uncertainties around the economy, IDC remains positive on the outlook for SSDs and believes the trajectories for shipment and revenue growth are a source of optimism moving forward," said Jeff Janukowicz, research manger, Hard Disk Drive Components and Solid State Drives at IDC.

Having intrigued the public for some time yesterday Microsoft Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co at last unveiled their partnership for providing cloud computing services to companies. The two companies will integrate their software and hardware offerings for companies looking to move their applications and data online.

 Secure-24, a certified SAP® hosting partner and leading provider of managed hosting, disaster recovery and information security services, reported new appointments to its IT staff. The company says that Tim Magdziarz will focus on SAP hosting and managed services in the Midwest Region, based in Chicago. John Ripma will focus on SAP Hosting and Enterprise Application Services in the Southeast Region.

 According to a new study published by SquareTrade, a company that provides after sale warranties, Apple was ranked fourth in reliability of its laptops. The survey examined 30,000 portable computers of nine notebook makers. The company reported that Apple took the No. 4 spot, behind Asus, Toshiba and Sony, which held No. 1 through No. 3, respectively.

 As the complete version of Windows 7 has already been launched into the mass production and the number of those shifting from their previous Microsoft operation systems is gradually (but not so rapidly) growing we decided to once again focus on comparison of the two products that have created much buzz in the tech community: Vista that has been too criticized to date and Windows 7 that is too extolled and applauded now.

 At an annual conference in San Francisco this week Oracle Corp declared the open war against International Business Machines Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison announced a $10 million prize to a company who would prove that IBM systems ran database software—which businesses use to store and sort through digital information—even half as fast as those from Oracle. IBM was also invited to participate.

According to a survey of 100 chief information officers carried out by UBS, U.S. and European IT budgets are expected to drop 2 % over the next year, less than the 5 % decline expected three months ago. Meanwhile, the Swiss bank`s quarterly survey showed that U.S. CIOs were less pessimistic, expecting a 1.3 % decline in budgets, while their European counterparts predicted a 3.4 % drop.

It was announced that EMC is intended to enforce the non-compete clause to the court over its ex-executive VP David Donatelli, who is set to join HP.Donatelli, a 22-year president of EMC's storage business with intimate and up to date knowledge of EMC's operations, storage roadmap, partnership with Cisco, strategies concerning VMware, and product and technology roadmaps, had suddenly resigned from his position.

A full investigation will be conducted by the Competition Commission in the European Union into IBM’s mainframe business. A rival company t3 Technologies filed a complaint against IBM alleging that the electronics and software giant abused its market position and prevented other competitors to create solutions interoperable with IBM’s products.