Spencer Ante

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.

The Obama Administration is revamping HealthCare.gov and scrapping significant parts of the federal health-insurance marketplace in an effort to avoid the problems that plagued the site's launch last fall, according to presentations to health insurers and interviews with government officials and contractors.

But the makeover -- and the tight timeline to accomplish it -- are raising concerns that consumers could face another rocky rollout this fall when they return to the site to choose health plans. Some key back-end functions, including a system to automate payments to insurers, are running behind schedule, according to a presentation federal officials made to health insurers. Adding to the pressure, HealthCare.gov is still in the midst of transitioning to new government contractors to manage basic functions.

Among the changes in the new version of HealthCare.gov: a revamp of the site's consumer-facing portion including the application for coverage most people will use, as well as the comparison tool that lets them shop for plans, according to slides from a May 20 meeting for insurers held by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees HealthCare.gov. Federal officials told health plans the new versions of some of these functions will need to be tested with insurers before open enrollment begins Nov 15.

Samsung is the still the king of the US smartphone marketing race, but the Korean giant’s rivals closed its huge lead with an advertising blitz in 2013.

All told, seven of the top US smartphone makers spent a tad over $1.3 billion in 2013 on ads across TV, print, online, radio and outdoor venues, up 33% from 2012 spending of about $1 billion, according to ad research and consulting firm Kantar Media. Spending in the telecom category as a whole grew more than 8%, about nine times faster than the total US ad market that grew 0.9%, said Kantar Media chief research officer Jon Swallen.

The numbers reflect the rising intensity of the smartphone race and highlight the growing role that device makers play in wireless marketing as carriers focus their advertising on service plans or network quality instead of devices, as they did in the past. Samsung outspent Apple by $68 million in 2012, but the iPhone maker responded with a TV-led counter-attack and closed the ad spending gap to just $12 million as Samsung dialed back its outlays.