HP confirms that, in further attempts to turn its fortunes around, it is splitting its personal computing and printer business from corporate hardware and services operations.

The move effectively creates two independent companies-- HP Inc, the PC and printing company, and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, which covers servers, storage, networking, converged systems, services, software and cloud operations. HP CEO Meg Whitman will lead Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, while executive VP Dion Weisler is named HP Inc EO and President.

“The decision to separate into two market-leading companies underscores our commitment to the turnaround plan," Whitman says. "It will provide each new company with the independence, focus, financial resources, and flexibility they need to adapt quickly to market and customer dynamics, while generating long-term value for shareholders."

Perhaps tellingly Hewlett-Packard Enterprise is the company getting the spotlight in the official announcement.

ARM claims to have a solution for the unification of Internet of Things devices-- the mbed Iot Device Platform, a free operating system and integrated platform designed to run on low-level M-class microcontrollers.

Built around open standards, mbed OS provides internet protocols, security and standards-based manageability for energy- and cost-constrained devices. It will be available free of charge, and has the support of a number of partners, including Freescale, IBM, Salesforce, Marvell and NXP.

Standards support includes Bluetooth Smart, 2G, 3G, LTE, CDMA, Thread, wifi and 802.15.4/6LoWPAN together with TLS/DTLS, CoAP, HTTP, MQTT and Lightweight M2M.

On the server side ARM offers mbed Device Server, a means to securely connect and manage devices, as well as bridge IoT device protocols with web development APIs.

Dell names the EMEA partners of the year at the 2014 EMEA Solutions Conference-- with winners including the likes of Softcat, Ricoh, Yael Integrated Solutions, Computer Arabia and Bytes Systems Integration, among others.

In attendance were nearly 350 EMEA channel partners and end users from across the region.

Softcat and S. Arabia-based Al Hilal Group get the EMEA Partner of the Year award, with awards handed by Dell CEO Michael Dell together with regional Dell execs.

Softcat and Hilal Group also get the Platinum Partner award, together with Ricoh, Yael Integrated Solutions, Systemax, Realdolmen, Bytes Systems Integrations and Cloud Solutions.

Splashtop adds Chromebook support to its Classroom and Mirroring360 education technology solutions-- providing Chromebook-using schools with features previously available on iPads, Android devices, PCs and Macs.

Splashtop Classroom allows teachers to share lesson content and app with student devices. Additions within the latest version include cloud support, streaming audio and the ability for students to control lessons via Chromebooks and other devices.

It is the end of an era-- Larry Ellison steps down as CEO of database maker Oracle after a 35-year run, handing the reins to co-presidents Safra Catz and Mark Hurd.

Ellison will remain at Oracle as CTO, overseeing all Oracle product engineering, technology development and strategy, and as executive chairman of the board replacing Jeff Henley. His tenure as Oracle CEO started since its founding back in 1977, when it was known as Software Development Laboratories (SDL).

Seen as one of the Silicon Valley's most iconic leaders (together with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs), Ellison is the third richest man in the US and fifth richest in the world. As such he is famous for being a big spender, and his dropping of leadership duties will probably give him more time to spend on his other passion, the America's Cup.

Rackspace names company president Taylor Rhodes CEO as it announces its intentions to remain independent, terminating any exploration of "strategic relationships" to instead focus on the managed cloud market.

The company has been looking for a buyer since May 2014. Reportedly a number of big names were interested in making the acquisition, including IBM, Cisco, HP and CenturyLink.

"We concluded that the company is best positioned to drive value for shareholders, customers and Rackers through the continued execution of its strategic plan to capitalize on the growing market opportunity for managed cloud services,” the company board says.

As mentioned earlier Rackspace also gets a new CEO with Taylor Rhodes, who replaces co-founder Graham Weston. Weston took the Rackspace reins last February following the sudden departure of Lanhem Napier last February.