Channel Beat: Will Lenovo And IBM Make The Next Big Deal?

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Analysts predict EMC will likely dissolve its reselling agreement with Lenovo after the storage giant joined forces with Dell this week. That means Lenovo needs to find some new paths into the data center market.

There's speculation as to whether Lenovo may partner more closely with IBM. The PC giant may outright buy IBM's storage business. A deal like that would make sense -- it would boost Lenovo against the newly combined Dell and EMC. Lenovo has a history of acquiring IBM businesses, as the company bought both IBM's PC business and its x86 server business.

Intel beat analyst expectations in the third quarter with sales of $14.47 billion for the period. CEO Brian Krzanich told investors earnings were buoyed by Intel's Internet of Things segments, as the PC market continues to struggle.

Intel's PC sales fell 7 percent from the same quarter last year, trending with an overall drop in the PC market. That market has not gotten the expected boost from Windows 10 and Intel's new Skylake processor. Krzanich said the transition will take time, and he expects improvement in the future.

VMware was hit hard by the Dell-EMC news this week, as shares dropped more than 12 percent after the deal went public.

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger sent out an email to reassure channel partners that the company's commitment to the channel won't change in light of the deal. Gelsinger said Michael Dell intends to increase his stake in VMware after the deal is complete, and Dell has said the company will remain a publicly traded vendor.

Some partners are still spooked by the merger and remain skeptical that it won't result in major changes for the vendor's channel.

PUBLISHED OCT. 16, 2015