MetroWest

Richards Barry Joyce & Partners, a commercial real estate brokerage with a significant presence in the MetroWest region, has been acquired by the Houston-based real estate firm Transwestern, RBJ announced this week.

The acquisition of Bellingham-based Torwel Industries, a maker of road sanders, salters and snowplows, is expected to created new jobs at the plant and improve distribution to customers in the Midwest and Canada, according to the firm that brokered the acquisition.

Framingham-based office supply retailer Staples Inc. will open a development center in Seattle to boost its ecommerce efforts, the company announced today.

IT services provider Xand, which has operations in Marlborough, said it has secured more than $200 million in extra debt financing to help grow, with a significant portion of the money to be used for acquisitions and facility expansions.

The wired world is tipping increasingly toward tablets and smartphones and away from desktop and laptop personal computers, according to Framingham-based IDC.

Computer chip maker Intel will end its manufacturing operations in Hudson by the end of next year, a move that will result in the loss of about 700 jobs, the company said yesterday.

An analysis by Framingham-based International Data Corp. (IDC) showed revenue for the worldwide data storage software market grew 4.1 percent in the second quarter of 2013 compared to 2012, to nearly $3.5 billion.

AMSC, a Devens-based wind and power grid company, will connect South Africa's largest wind farm to the electricity grid under a new contract with high-voltage construction company Consolidated Power Projects (CONCO), based in that country.

Cities and towns in Massachusetts control more of their economic fate today, especially with less support from the federal and state governments, about 100 MetroWest business and government leaders were told this morning.

A New Jersey-based military and government contractor recently signed a lease for office and light assembly space in Marlborough.