IBM, Lenovo Tackle Security Worries on Server Deal

International Business Machines and Lenovo Group are grappling with ways to resolve US security concerns over IBM's proposed $2.3 billion sale of its computer-servers business to the Chinese company.

The deal, struck in January, remains in limbo as the US government investigates security issues around IBM's x86 servers, which are used in the nation's communications networks and in data centers that support the Pentagon's computer networks, say people familiar with the matter.

US security officials and members of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US -- a panel that screens deals with possible national-security implications -- are worried the servers could be accessed remotely by Chinese spies or hackers or compromised through maintenance, said people familiar with the matter.

Lenovo faced similar pushback when it bought IBM's personal-computer business in 2005. The company describes itself in marketing materials as a trusted global supplier, but certain sensitive arms of the US government have shied away from using its technology.

CFIUS ultimately approved Lenovo's PC deal, but the US military later alerted Defense Department officials to security incidents involving the PCs, and the State Department banned their use on its classified networks in the US and abroad, according to current and former officials. Government officials also are somewhat uneasy about the potential sale of part of the x86 portfolio that ties clusters of servers together to make them act like a more powerful machine, these people said.