Intel has announced a 15 percent raise in dividends following the trend of other IT giants such as Microsoft Corporation that raised its quarterly dividends in September by 3 percent to 16 percent and Cisco Systems raising its dividends between 1 and 2 percent.  Intel also saw a raise in quarterly dividends up to 18 percent per share or 72 cents per share on an annual basis, reports CNN Money.

“Our ongoing operational performance and confidence in our business going forward provide the ability to return more cash to shareholders,” Chief Executive Paul Otellini said, referring to 2010 as Intel’s “best year ever.”

The first cash dividend pay was made in 1992 and in the first three quarters of 2010 the company has shared out dividends worth of $2.6 billion.

The changes come at the onset of the holiday season, and Intel’s gearing up for that as well.  Intel has launched a new product, Intel X25-M 120GB SSD that will be available at the price of $249 will several improved features: a low-power performance improved up to 56 percent for regular PC users and also gamers and considerable reliability.

To begin enjoying the high-performance world of solid-state computing, users can install their own SSD, have a computer technician install it for them, or purchase a brand new system from HP, Lenovo and others, with an Intel SSD already pre-installed. To make the process of copying, or cloning data, from a user’s old hard drive to a speedy new Intel SSD, Intel also includes a free cloning utility called the Intel Data Migration Software. The easy-to-use Intel Data Migration Software will help transfer information from the old hard drive, including operating systems, applications, documents and personal settings, in just minutes.