Networking gear vendor QLogic is the latest tech company that announced a stock buyback recently. In a press release that went out today, QLogic confirmed that its board has authorized a repurchase of $200 worth of its own shares over the period of the next two years.

This news follows a couple of major updates for the company. Earlier this month its 8200 Series 10GbE converged network adapters have been certified by Juniper Networks to run in QFabric environments, and Cadence Design Systems released a case study that covers some details about QLogic’s use of their design platform to develop a new networking solution.

Big Blue is also looking to keep its shareholders happy by buying back its stock. IBM threw in another $7 billion into its share buyback plans, a sum that comes in addition to an existing $5.2 billion announced earlier.

“The buyback program, given their exceptional cash flow, is one of the key elements of continuing to grow their earnings” per share, said Louis Miscioscia, a Collins Stewart analyst in Boston, who has a “buy” rating on the stock.

The company is taking other measures as well to maintain its shares, including the annual dividend increase it has been providing for quite some time now. This massive sum has been authorized not long after IBM entered into an agreement with a Chinese retailer to build new centers in the U.S and China, extending existing investments in the nation.

Back in August, storage vendor EMC filed papers with the SEC to approve similar plans. The company is hoping to buy back an additional $2 billion worth of shares by the time fiscal year 2011 ends, in addition to $1.5 billion already on the table.