<A HREF="http://www.cio.com/blog_view.html?CID=24528">IBM has chosen Sao Paulo</A> as the sixth global location for its specialized software and services laboratories known as "Hipods" or high-performance on-demand solutions facilities, which focus on resolving large-scale computing issues for IBM customers, including eBay and Google. IBM opened the multimillion-dollar Brazilian lab Tuesday. The lab will be linked to five existing Hipods worldwide: IBM's central Hipod facility in its Santa Teresa lab in San Jose, and Hipod satellite operations in Beijing, Bangalore, Yamato, Japan, and Hursley, United Kingdom.