Sybase(NYSE;SY), a global enterprise software company with June 2007 total quarterly revenue of $1 billion, is recently up 42 cents to $24.88. SY has a market cap of $17.6 billion. SY is expected to announce EPS on 10/25. According to Dow Jones, Sandell Asset Management, an owner of 6% of SY, wants SY to repurchase shares or look at selling the company. SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), recently announced a $6.8 billion takeover of Business Objects (NASDAQ:BOBJ) and Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) proposed taking over BEA Systems (NASDA:-BEAS), a supplier of service oriented architecture (SOA) and middle-ware software. SY November option implied volatility of 29 is above its 26-week average of 26 according to Track Data, suggesting slightly larger risk.

Openwave Systems(NASDAQ:OPWV), a provider of software solutions for the communications and media industry, is recently down 7 cents to $4.93. OPWV will announce EPS on 10/25. Barron's reported on 5/27/07 SY might be interested in OPWV. OPWV over all option implied volatility of 65 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional risk.

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

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is setting up development centers in India and China. Its global procurement center has already been relocated to China.

The two new centers will help IBM build its service-oriented architecture (SOA), an architecture that can help businesses find information stored in different formats faster.

The India facility will focus on solutions for healthcare. The China-based operation will work on government and bank solutions.

What happened to locating these jobs in the U.S.? IBM now has 43,000 employees in India and the number is likely to grow. So while IBM keeps it headquarters in the U.S., there seems to be a dearth of announcements about adding facilities here.

IBM has benefited from its new service-oriented strategy. On the basis of a strong financial performance in Q3, the company's stock has gone from $74 in July to the current $92, right at its 52-week high.

Let's hope that IBM's U.S.-based employees made a lot of money on their stock options. They may need it for early retirement.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.