Think about stocks in the restaurant and apparel sector that catch fire and the imagination of investors.

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What followed was the biggest fire sale in the history of the sector, as two dozen medium-sized companies at the top of the food chain necked down to six.

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But after having put out the fire of an imploding global financial system, the public sector is also tightening its belt.

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According to Mr Bolton, over 50 fire services worldwide are now using it, part of 1, 500 public sector organisations in total.

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Nothing here is truly groundbreaking, per se, but it's the first time that we've seen such a giant company take a meaningful swing at a product sector that has caught fire for myriad reasons. 2012 is shaping up to be the year of the inexpensive tablet, but if Intel has its druthers, you'll be shaking off the hype and picking up a full-fledged computing tool instead.

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Strongly influenced behind the scenes by the Crown family of Chicago, which owned a controlling block of shares, the company sold off most of its military businesses when the Cold War ended in the biggest fire sale the defense sector had ever seen.

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