M&A Brings Tech Majors Into Direct Competition

In a deal which highlights the ongoing trend of major tech infrastructure firms moving towards a one-stop shop operating model, California-based Hewlett-Packard (HP) has jumped into a moribund network switch making market with its acquisition of 3Com, for US$3.1bn cash. Competition between the key US tech players is more ferocious than ever as firms jostle for market position in the changing landscape of the tech market. HP's move may simply be laying down the gauntlet to Cisco Systems, which recently stepped into a key HP business: corporate data centres, which store and transmit information (a market which Cisco believes is worth US$20bn per annum). In addition, Texas-based Dell's acquisition of Perot Systems earlier this month's, brought the firm into direction competition with HP in the computer services sector.

To read the full article, please choose one of the following options: