NEW YORK, USA: Dell Inc is preparing to sweeten its bid for 3PAR Inc after its earlier bid was topped by rival Hewlett-Packard Co's $1.6 billion offer for the data storage company, according to a report on Bloomberg's website.

The report, which cited one person familiar with the matter, said Dell may send the offer within days. A representative for Dell was not immediately available for comment.

In early trade on Tuesday, 3PAR's shares were trading up 3.1 percent at $26.90, above the $24 a share that HP has offered. HP's price is about 33 percent higher than Dell's $18-a-share bid.

Bidding wars are rare in the tight-knit technology industry, where deals are often made behind closed doors, with exceptions like the 2009 battle between Oracle Corp and IBM for Sun Microsystems. Oracle eventually bought the computer maker for $7 billion.

For 3PAR, a deal with a large company like Dell or HP would give it a broader sales reach, helping it compete against rival EMC and smaller players like Isilon Systems Inc and Compellent Technologies Inc.

IBM, HP and Oracle have been boosting investment in cloud computing and virtualization technology, which allows users to access data and software over the Internet and corporate networks.

In premarket trade, shares of HP were off 1.2 percent at $38.56, while Dell was down 2.1 percent at $11.69.