Business briefs.

COLUMN: Business briefs

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Bloomberg Index

Central Massachusetts

-1.31

187.84

Volume: 67,516,387

Up: 7

Down: 16

Unchanged: 6

Gainer: Sepracor Inc. $30.43 +$1.30 (volume of 4.66 million shares)

Decliner: Waters Corp. $78.70 -$1.33 (volume of 692,558 shares)

Local

New bank branch

WESTBORO - Marlborough Savings Bank will open a branch later this year at 21 East Main St., the bank reported.

The 2,700-square-foot branch will occupy space that was formerly a TD Banknorth branch.

The bank said the space will be renovated over the next two months and will feature a drive-up ATM and a drive-up teller window.

Station praised

WORCESTER - Gulf Oil has presented an Outstanding Image Standards award to Yatim Group LLC, operators of a Gulf service station at 385 Southbridge St. The program recognizes clean, well-lit and friendly Gulf-branded locations. The Yatim Group, which consists of three brothers - Tarek Yatim, Hassan Yatim and Khalil Yatim - was one of three recipients in Massachusetts. Yatim Group acquired the former Gateway gas station in April.

Joint venture

HOPKINTON - NEC Corp. of Tokyo and EMC Corp. have launched a jointly developed networked storage system. NEC and EMC collaborated on elements of product development, and NEC will manufacture the product for sale by both companies on a worldwide basis.

NEC will market the new product as iStorage E1, while EMC will sell the system worldwide as the CLARiiON AX4 and in Japan as the EMC CLARiX AX4. NEC reported in a news release it intends to expand its storage product line, iStorage. EMC aims to increase its worldwide market share in entry-level and small-to-medium-business storage, NEC reported.

VMware purchase

PALO ALTO, Calif. - VMware Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., has acquired assets of privately held information technology services provider Foedus of Portsmouth, N.H., according to Gregory E. Eden, spokesman for VMware. The deal closed earlier this month, and 30 Foedus employees will move to VMware, said Mr. Eden, who declined to disclose financial terms. Foedus specializes in helping companies design and install computer systems using virtualization technology, including software from VMware.

Virtualization software boosts the efficiency of server computers by allowing one machine to run multiple operating systems. VMware is majority-owned by EMC Corp. of Hopkinton. (Bloomberg News)