Daily Tech Briefing: Sept. 30, 2014

Lenovo announced that it is set to close a $2.1 billion deal with IBM on Oct. 1 that will make it the third-largest server vendor in the world. In a deal originally announced back in January, Lenovo will purchase IBM's x86 server business as it looks to grow its Enterprise Business Group toward a goal of more than $5 billion in revenue. The move is also part of Lenovo's wider push in many sectors, including its bid to purchase Motorola Mobility from Google.

Officials from Hewlett-Packard announced on Sept. 29 that HP has begun shipping models of two new ARM-based server designs that are part of its Moonshot product family. The new energy-efficient systems are powered by Applied Micro's eight-core X-Gene system-on-a-chip, which is a part of many new server designs. The company will also demonstrate the servers at ARM's TechCon 2014 show Oct. 1-3.

Java developers will now be able to take further steps toward integrating devices as part of the Internet of things, following the Eclipse Foundation's release of an open IoT stack for the system. The Eclipse Open IoT Stack for Java includes a set of Java frameworks, and OSGi services simplify the connecting and management of IoT solutions. In an interview, Mike Milinkovich, executive director of Eclipse, called the new release a tremendous opportunity for open source.

As the battle between mobile carriers continues, AT&T has expanded its data promotion in order to lure new customers. As part of its new promotion for Mobile Share Plans—which runs through Oct. 31—the company will give users 30GB to 100GB of mobile data at half the normal price. Under the new terms, a calling plan for two lines would cost $160 per month plus taxes and fees for 30GB of shared data.