3Com (COMS) agreed to be acquired by Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) in a deal that values 3Com at $7.90 a share, a 39% premium to Wednesday's closing price of $5.69. 3Com over-all option implied volatility of 53 is below its six-week average of 57. 3Com traded 7,957 contracts on November 11, according to Track Data. 3Com's average daily volume is 2,030 contracts according, to IVolatility.

Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) closed at $22.91. Verisign is scheduled to host an analyst day on November 19. November option implied volatility is at 46; December is at 43; near its 26-week average, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Did you a get chance to establish a position in Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) back in April? If you did, you're up a nice 39%. But the equally comforting news is that there's still considerable upside ahead for HPQ, which is why I'm reiterating my buy rating for the company, first recommended on April 24, 2009 at a price of $35.80.

Hewlett is well-positioned to increase market share in PCs, servers, printers and IT services. The company's cost reduction efforts have gone reasonably well, and it's made progress re-positioning its customer services operation to become the one-stop shop that many customers seek. Meanwhile, the integration of Electronic Data Services, acquired for about $13 billion, should go reasonably well.

The latest litigation has Intel Inside.

The State of New York is going after Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) over antitrust allegations. State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is accusing the largest chip manufacturer in the world that it is trying to secure a global monopoly for microprocessors.

For several years, Cuomo said that Intel has pushed the likes of Dell (NYSE: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) to agree to the exclusive use of Intel's gear in exchange for billions of dollars in payments. The hefty cash outlays have given what Cuomo called a "stranglehold" on the market.

Neither company is saying a thing yet, but word is Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) and EMC (NYSE: EMC) are joining up to sell a new collection of products designed to deliver cloud computing capabilities, Reuters reports. Called vBlock, the cloud solution is intended to help the companies compete more effectively with IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ).

The partnership, which no one is admitting to, involves a joint venture between Cisco and EMC that will sell vBlock. The former will supply the networking equipment and servers, with the latter kicking in the storage gear and virtualization technology through its VMWare (NYSE: VMW) subsidiary. The joint venture will put the systems together, integrate the components for clients, and make the whole pile of cables and silicon work. A formal announcement is expected next week.

Windows 7, the latest operating system from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is expected to help jumpstart some IT spending. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) also sees this happening. A new operating system often means a chance to upgrade from dated equipment that isn't worth upgrading, especially with favorable pricing for technology right now. Everything's coming together for a strong 2010 for the high-tech sector, so it's also worth watching Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and EMC (NYSE: EMC).

International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) reported Q3 results after the bell on Thursday. Net sales decreased 7% when compared to the year-ago period. Okay, that doesn't sound like a great start. Wait, though, because things are about to get better from here.

Sales actually increased 1% on a sequential basis. Net profit on a dollar basis went up 14%. Net margin improved. And on a per-share basis, net income jumped 18% to $2.40. According to our earnings preview, this was two pennies ahead of analyst projections.