IBM to Dell: copy this!

It must be good to be IBM when you can stick 3 years and $100m of research in Dell's face, as Big Blue did today when it unveiled its X3 chipset. The new technology delivers a 38 percent increase in performance over its predecessor: X2.

X3 will be applied in IBM's X-series server line using x86 intel processors. By adding the proprietary technology to the commodity Intel processors, IBM claims it can avoid getting trapped in the commodity trap of evaporating margins.

Since the X-series is proprietary IBM technology, Dell can't touch it, let alone sell it. The Texas based computer company instead has to rely on technology developed by Intel or AMD. And IBM is all to happy to point out that it easily outperforms those solutions.