Five Companies That Came To Win This Week

Apple Sells 3 Million New iPads In First Weekend

Three million new iPads found their way into the happy hands of consumers -- many of whom waited overnight for the privilege of purchasing one -- during the tablet's first weekend on the market.

"We're thrilled with it," crowed Apple CEO Tim Cook in a conference call held to announce Apple's dividend and stock repurchase program.

Oracle: Hardware Business Back On Track After Strong Q3

Oracle reported fiscal third-quarter results this week, and the results were encouraging. Revenue was up 3 percent and profit was up 18 percent, leaving Oracle executives feeling rather giddy about the prospect of brighter days ahead.

"Next fiscal year our hardware business should be a growth story," CEO Larry Ellison said during the company's third-quarter earnings call.

Added CFO Safra Catz: "It will be."

EMC Acquires Software Developer Pivotal Labs

EMC this week added to its enterprise software development technology arsenal by acquiring San Francisco-based Pivotal Labs.

Terms weren't disclosed, but Pivotal Labs is the developer of Pivotal Tracker, a software application that allows multiple developers to collaborate from remote locations to accelerate the development process.

More importantly, Pivotal Labs' customer list includes Web and social media darlings Twitter, Salesforce.com, Groupon and Gowalla, which late last year was acquired by Facebook.

TiVo Successfully Fends Off Microsoft Patent Lawsuit

Microsoft agreed this week to settle a patent infringement lawsuit it lodged with the U.S. International Trade Commission in 2010 against DVR pioneer TiVo, Bloomberg reported this week.

After TiVo sued AT&T -- one of Microsoft's largest customers -- in 2010, Microsoft jumped into the fray by suing TiVo, and TiVo countersued. AT&T settled with TiVo in January for $215 million. Dizzy yet?

What is unique about this case is that TiVo did not make any concessions to Microsoft, a company that often extracts patent licensing agreements from companies that use Linux in their products.

Hotlink Launches Virtualization Management Channel Program

Virtualization management start-up Hotlink this week launched a channel program around its flagship SuperVisor product, which allows VMware vCenter to natively support hypervisors from Microsoft, Citrix and Red Hat.

Cross-platform management is important because it gives VMware customers options if the vendor makes future changes to its licensing terms, according to Lynn LeBlanc, founder and CEO of HotLink. Sales of SuperVisor have been triple what HotLink expected when it launched the product last year, she said.