Cisco (CSCO) and HP (HP) have been duking it over their visions for the next generation data center architecture and the battle is just getting interesting. Cisco entered the server market and HP has countered by purchasing 3Com for $2.7 billion.

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The tech services business has been hot for the last year or so, since H-P (HPQ) bought IT outsourcing giant EDS in May for more than $13 billion. H-P and IBM (IBM), the market leader in services, are now going head to head for big outsourcing deals. PC giant Dell (DELL) is also trying to expand its own services offerings, and smaller players are trying to grow their market share and profits as they look to capitalize on what’s expected to be a wave of new acquisitions in the area.

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For the business traveler (and the traveler in general, really), Wi-Fi is important–crucial, even. But more important than sustenance? That’s exactly what was found in a recent survey by American Airlines and HP, where some 47% of business travelers responded that Wi-Fi was the “most important airport amenity, outscoring basic travels needs such as food by nearly 30 percentage points.”

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SAP (SAP) and Teradata (TDC) plan to announce Monday a joint effort to make the German company’s software work better with Teradata’s database systems, the latest example of tech companies combining hardware and software.

A growing number of vendors have begun offering servers that come bundled with particular programs, styling the combinations as appliances that are easier to install and manage than components sold separately. Oracle (ORCL) in October announced a joint effort with H-P (HPQ) to offer a “data warehouse” machine that was designed to better search through corporate information better than standalone hardware and software from the two companies.

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Over the weekend, Microsoft (MSFT) unleashed the second TV ad in its “you find it, you keep it” series–this time swapping handsome, “technically savvy” Giampaolo for perky, red-headed Lauren De Long. Once again the camera follows a typical budget-constrained buyer on a laptop shopping spree using Steve Ballmer’s money.

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Burlingame, Calif.–Wednesday would be a really bad day for Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Mark Hurd to break his winning streak. Central bankers around the globe are sweatily trying to revive faltering banks. Politicians are passing stimulus packages. Consumers are seeing the values of their homes tank.

Luckily, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has a man at the top now who could be called Maalox in human form. Over the past four years, Hurd has reshaped a company once known for its manic earnings swings into a steady-earning powerhouse and the world’s largest information technology provider. BernsteinResearch notes that HP has met or beaten the guidance Hurd has laid down for the company’s performance, and then guided earnings-per-share expectations up, every quarter since he became HP’s chief in 2005.

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Not a good day for Dell (DELL) shares, which are down even more sharply than the overall market.

Thomas Weisel analyst Doug Reid this morning noted that he is “incrementally more cautious” on the company after a survey of 35 “PC experts” over the Black Friday weekend at Best Buy (BBY) stores. Reid writes that Dell remains “a weak competitor” in the retail channel and that “quality problems may be re-emerging.”

Reid says that Dell’s mind share at U.S. retailers “remains weak.” He says sales people preferred Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) over Dell by 5-to-1, asserting that it offers better overall value. “While HP has been sold at Best Buy for much longer than Dell, quantitatively, the results are still somewhat disappointing considering that Dell has been sold at BBY stores for 11 months,” he writes.

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Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) this afternoon reported results for its fiscal fourth quarter ended Oct. 31 that were just as advertised in their pre-announcement last week.

As forecast, the company posted revenue of $33.6 billion in the quarter, with profits of $1.03 a share. The company said revenue ex-EDS grew five percent, or two percent adjusted for currency. Not exactly a huge growth story, and some sectors shrank. Notebook revenue grew 21 percent, but desktop revenue declined two percent. Revenue for the printer group fell one percent, as commercial hardware revenue fell 10 percent and consumer hardware revenue fell 21 percent. Printer units were down eight percent. But operating margins for the group increased to 15.5 percent, from 14.5 percent, which translated into an operating profit increase to $1.2 billion, from $1.1 billion.

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From the first time Steve Jobs demonstrated “the pinch”–the two-finger gesture used to zoom in and out of photos and Web pages on the iPhone–some Apple observers assumed it was just a matter of time before a multitouch-enabled screen showed up on the Mac. That hasn’t happened yet. But as of Nov. 19, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has beaten Apple to the punch, announcing the first multitouch-enabled notebook PC, the tx2. I can’t help but wonder whether Apple (AAPL) just lost an important race.

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Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) CFO Cathie Lesjak today told investors at the Bank of America securities conference in San Francisco that the company remains “very confident” it can reach its current guidance for the fiscal fourth quarter ending November. HP sees profits for the quarter of 95-97 cents a share and revenue of $30.2 billion and $30.3 billion, Reuters notes.

Lesjak also said the company is confident it can meet its operating margin targets of 5-5.5 percent for fiscal 2009.

She said the impact on the company from the recently strengthened dollar to be “marginal at best.” She also said said that while HP will continue to buy back shares, it will do so at a slower rate in the next 12 to 15 months.

Yesterday, HP announced plans to cut 24,600 jobs following the completion of its acquisition of EDS.

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Worldwide server sales rose 12.2 percent, year over year, to 2.3 million units, in the second quarter, declares research firm Gartner (IT) in a note today, while revenue was up 5.7 percent for a total of $13.8 billion. The main driver was the replacement of x86 servers, a trend that began in the first quarter, notes Gartner, but the expansion of data centers backing Web sites was also an important factor, as was growth in emerging markets.

IBM (IBM) held onto the top revenue spot, with 31.2 percent of revenue, up 11.5 percent from last year’s 29.6 percent. HP’s (HPQ) share of the dollars, yen and shekels fell to 27.6 percent from 28.4 percent on 3 percent revenue growth.

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Intel (INTC) may suffer the consequences of order push-outs from some Taiwan-based motherboard companies and notebook makers, according to Jefferies semiconductor analyst John Lau.

Lau today repeated his Buy rating on the stock, but cut his price target to $26 from $28. Lau trimmed his September quarter EPS estimate to 34 cents from 35 cents, cutting the December quarter to 40 cents from 41 cents. For the year, he now sees $1.24, down from $1.26. For 2009, his new forecast is $1.54, down from $1.56.

Lau says checks over the weekend found push-outs in desktop units from Dell (DELL) and HP (HPQ) with major motherboard makers like Asustek, while notebook makers like Quanta and Compal now see sequential growth of only 10 to -15 percent, lower than the previous forecasts of 15-20 percent.

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I was so excited when my new MacBook Air arrived the other day. When I opened the box and examined this laptop, I was amazed by how razor thin and how light it is–just .76 of an inch and only 3 pounds. It has a full-size illuminated keyboard, which is terrific for working in a dimly lit car or on an airplane. And I really love the trackpad, which works in much the same way as the Apple iPhone, giving you many more options by simply moving your fingers. I also use an HP laptop on a regular basis because I like to be well versed on both platforms and be able to multitask. Both computers sit side by side on my desk in my kitchen and having them right there together is very convenient for me.

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