The center will work with about 60,000 IBM consultants and other resources worldwide on the conceptualization, development, maintenance and enhancement of the components, said Jeby Cherian, head of the Global Business Solutions Center.

The center's staffing level will depend on its projects, Cherian said.

Briefly noted

-- Freescale Semiconductor Inc. has acquired a 300,000-square-foot facility in Noida, India, to expand its design center there. With the new facility, Freescale will triple its Noida workforce to 1,500. Austin-based Freescale's Noida design center focuses on intellectual property development and system-on-chip design.

-- The amount of malware coming from China rose 153 percent during the past six months of 2005, mostly from remote-controlled "bot" attacks emanating from that country, according to security software maker Symantec Corp. Rising Internet use in China, and a lack of precautions taken by new users, may be contributing to the malware jump, Symantec said.