The state of Texas has entered into new data center contracts, worth more than $1 billion, to run its massive consolidation project.

More than a dozen international IT firms have partnered to create Helix Nebula - The Science Cloud, which will be used by European researchers to provide cloud-based computing support for scientific discoveries.

Nearly two-thirds of enterprises are supporting more or "far more" applications than they actually need to run their operations, according to a survey released Monday by Hewlett-Packard and Capgemini.

Capgemini opened the doors on a new data center near London on Tuesday that it sees as a showcase for green design.

CapGemini's announcement last week that it would invest $298 million in Brazilian IT service provider CPM Braxis attracted a lot of attention in outsourcing circles. The move will give the Paris-based company a 55 percent stake in CPM Braxis, the option to buy the company outright within three to five years of the close of the deal, and the chance to leapfrog its global competitors already entrenched in the country.