More disdain for Hewlett-Packard and the way it handled the 3PAR bidding war, as well as the Mark Hurd fiasco–this time coming from IBM Chief Executive Samuel J. Palmisano. In a Wall Street Journal interview, Palmisano made more than a few candid comments about the poor judgment used by HP.

The comments exemplify the ongoing rivalry between IBM and HP, particularly as we approach a pivotal point in the direction of both firms. Palmisano spoke specifically to HP’s decreased investment in research, noting he’s not worried about HP as a competitor at this point.

“H-P used to be a very inventive company,” Mr. Palmisano said in an interview at a Wall Street Journal event on Tuesday. IBM would never have paid what H-P did to buy data-storage provider 3PAR Inc., he said. “[H-P] had no choice,” said Mr. Palmisano. “Hurd cut out all the research and development.”

Palmisano also criticized HP’s board on former CEO Mark Hurd’s exit, saying “That is not a good use of shareholder money,” said Mr. Palmisano. “It was not handled in the best interest of shareholders.”

While Palmisano isn’t concerned about the HP rivalry, he is wary of Oracle’s next moves. Larry Ellison, head of Oracle, had also made early comments about HP’s lackluster management regarding Hurd’s oust, and has since brought him on board as the software maker’s new President.

But Palmisano has a few ideas of his own on investing. IBM has announced today its intent to acquire OpenPages, a software company for identifying and managing risk and compliance activities as central enterprise tools. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition will bolster IBM’s offerings for virtualization management tools, as businesses seek secure and organized environments for handling domains, data sharing and more. OpenPages will be integrated with IBM’s business analytics tools towards supporting compliance and risk management, targeting the finance and healthcare industries to name a few.

“Unforeseen risk can hurt a company’s bottom line as well as its brand reputation,” said Rob Ashe, general manager, business analytics, IBM. “Integrating risk management systems across once-divided units and functions is essential to seeing the bigger picture. The combination of IBM and OpenPages will provide a holistic and consistent approach to risk management helping companies combine that insight with performance management to drive better decision making.”

Risk management and analytics tools will only rise in demand within enterprise structures. Tuesday brought an announcement from SAP, unveiling the company’s new real time analytics tools. TheCUBE was there live, streaming the press event on SiliconANGLE.tv.