Tech mergers cover range of IT

Steve Jobs' death raised question about directions in research this week during worries about the economy continue to put downward pressure on tech stocks, however for much of the industry it's been business as usual, especially for mergers and acquisitions.

The big question for the consumer electronics sector is how Jobs' death will affect Apple, and by extension, its competitors in both the computer and home electronics markets.

Many analysts, considering Jobs' vision and tendency to micromanage, think he and his team prepared for his death partly by setting up a plan for Apple's product pipeline for years to come.

The years to come

"That foundation will serve Apple so then in the years to come, and there is little danger of Apple deviating from that successful strategy," according to a innovation note by Ovum's Jan Dawson.

"The risk -- if there is one -- is that Apple continues to rely on single 'hero' devices in its two major product lines -- iPhone and iPad -- with an annual release cycle. If one of those devices ever turns out to be a dud, it will put a huge dent in the company's earnings and margins," Dawson said.

Investors at this stage don't seem to be too worried. Apple shares slipped by $0.88 Thursday, less than 1 percent, the day afterwards Jobs' death was announced. Shares of Apple, the most highly valued public company on the planet, declined more than twice that on Tuesday, afterwards the company released the iPhone 4S to some disappointment that the new product turned out to be less of an upgrade than had been expected.

Apple shares Friday afternoon were down by $5.71 to $371.63, nevertheless the decline was part of a general dip in the stock market and innovation stocks. Tech shares on the Nasdaq dipped by 8 percent Friday afternoon.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Sony is looking to acquire Ericsson's shares in the Sony Ericsson mobile joint venture. Such a deal would help Sony compete in the home electronics market against the likes of Apple, analysts pointed out.

-- BMC Software's acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, of StreamStep, which focuses on research designed to accelerate enterprise application delivery and improve release quality. The integration of StreamStep's process management capabilities into BMC's Application Release Automation platform will support BMC's effort to provide application management from development to production, the company said.

-- Avaya said it acquired Sipera, which provides unified communications innovation including Session Border Control functionality and a range of UC security applications. Sipera will become a fully integrated part of Avaya. Sipera will help Avaya offer provide secure VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), videoconferencing, cloud-based communications, instant messaging and collaboration tools for workers in any location, the company said. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

-- Level 3 Communications closed its $3 billion deal for Global Crossing, expecting that the move will allow it to operate a telecom and networking services platform for medium and large enterprises, anchored by fiber networks on three continents in more than 45 countries.

The security front

-- On the security front, IBM said it bought privately held security research provider Q1 Labs, fueling its effort to compete in the security arena against the likes of Hewlett-Packard and EMC. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

As companies report third quarter revenues, most analysts are looking to see more business-as-usual in sales figures that are -- excluding companies in certain tough markets like hardware -- as a general rule solid. Whether that boosts overall investor confidence in tech is another matter.