According to an e-mailed statement released on Friday by US computer giant International Business Machines (IBM) and bigwig Chinese server vendor Inspur International Ltd., the two companies have worked out a partnership for designing new servers.

The companies' partnership to design server systems comes after Inspur's evident attempt to entice IBM's customers with its 'IBM to Inspur' marketing campaign. The collaboration will set aside the rivalry between the two companies which was largely an upshot of the tensions between the US and Chinese authorities over claims of cyberspying and hacking US firms.

In their e-mailed statement announcing the partnership, IBM and Inspur said that the collaboration which result in the use of IBM's database and WebSphere software on the Inspur servers --- the first high-end hardware which Inspur has wholly developed and produced.

In addition, the partnership will also enable Inspur to use IBM's Power8 chips to help design its own systems. The deal with IBM will enable Inspur to convince potential customers to purchase its hardware with the option to use IBM's software.

Moreover, as per the e-mailed statement, Inspur will also design its own systems based on technology from the 53-member OpenPower Foundation, which backs open-source technology --- a move which will facilitate the integration of IBM's software on the new Inspur servers.