The IT department is often at the forefront of an organization's technology innovation -- but not always. When it comes to the concept of a standard desktop -- every employee's core install consisting of an operating system, applications, hardware drivers and a security suite -- IT has moved at a snail's pace.

In the vacuum between Hurricane Irene and Labor Day weekend, a major focus of the tech universe this week is on VMworld in Las Vegas.

IBM's latest mainframe, the zEnterprise 196, was released last summer as a cross-platform management system that could work in mixed processor and operating system environments. In pursuit of that goal, the company continues to roll out new components.

The HP/Dell bidding war over storage vendor 3Par is shaping up to be a repeat of last year's high-profile battle between EMC and NetApp.

Dell acquired security vendor Kace Networks, a systems management appliance company, for an undisclosed amount on Thursday.