It looks like there really are serious talks between IBM and SUN...
Ok, we all saw that WSJ article which broke the news. We then saw the round of articles that talked about the possiblility of IBM and Sun. Then things went quiet. Well, sort of. I spoke to a friend who knows something about Sun and my friend's sources tell her that things are happening that don't make sense by themselves. Now this is news from the grapevine, so you have to take it with a grain of salt. Sun announced a bunch of layoffs in December of last year. Part of those layoffs are surrounding their tape storage solutions. I have no way of confirming this, but if true, it sounds like Sun is jettisoning dead weight for a reason. What makes sense is that Sun is in serious talks with IBM. It means that those in the know, won't be able to comment since they are in the midst of the negotiations and quiet period. So intel from my friend suggests that the deal is in its early stages and that it looks like it will go through. Two major hurdles that IBM faces is the FTC (US) and the EU. The EU will object and 'investigate' the deal. Probably will want to look at what sort of concessions they can wrangle from IBM/Sun... ;-) Two other potential suitors could be Cisco and Oracle. While Mark the Oracle competitive tech wonk doesn't believe that Oracle would be interested in the purchase, I believe that his higher ups would have a different feeling if then consider the shape of the market post IBM/ Sun. Cisco has been rumored to be looking at a hardware partner and they've launched their own blade server line. If not Sun, you have SuperMicro and Dell that are much smaller and easier to swallow. (Only you lose the software piece of the pie.... ;-) So lets assume that the deal does go through.
> And Mark, if you don't think that would scare Oracle just a bit, then > someone is asleep at the wheel. All Hail the Mighty Gumby. So much clever than you or me, yet chooses to live a life of drudgery, one wonders what his next gig will be.
> From: markbtownsend@sbcglobal.net > Subject: Re: It looks like there really are serious talks between IBM and SUN... > Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:10:41 -0700 > To: informix-list@iiug.org > > > > And Mark, if you don't think that would scare Oracle just a bit, then > > someone is asleep at the wheel. > > > All Hail the Mighty Gumby. > So much clever than you or me, > yet chooses to live a life of drudgery, > one wonders what his next gig will be. Mark, I always wonder. It just seems that I keep getting this post cards in the mail telling me where to go.... ;-) (Ok, so you had to have read 'House of God' to get that reference.) Where I end up may surprise you. ;-) But I digress. I just happen to think that somewhere in Oracle, there's a competitive wonk who's job is to outline a viable long term strategy for Oracle. I think that Sun has a lot of technology and IP that is under valued because Sun couldn't monetize it. Oracle could. I do know that there are companies that are talking and thinking about how this merger will affect their business going forward and I know that clients of Sun and IBM are also considering this merger in going forward. >From a database perspective, IBM then has DB2, IDS, JavaDB/Cloudscape/Derby, and mySQL. Sure Oracle bought the key component that makes mySQL palatable, however as you point out, IBM could slap a different engine, SE, and it becomes a viable product where even in licensed customers, Oracle loses out. Its all just food for thought. I can imagine that by the end of April, the deal will be announced/finalized waiting for regulatory approval. FTC may rubber stamp the deal, EU might just hold it up until IBM makes some sort of gesture to appease them. (Maybe a promise of jobs in the EU?) But the deal will go through and by Jan 1, 2010, Sun will no longer exist and will be swallowed up by the borg. But hey! What do I know? My babble fish died from starvation. :-P _________________________________________________________________ Express your personality in color! Preview and select themes for Hotmail®. http://www.windowslive-hotmail.com/LearnMore/personalize.aspx?ocid=TXT_MSGTX_WL_HM_express_032009#colortheme
On Mar 24, 9:10 pm, Mark Townsend <markbtowns...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > > And Mark, if you don't think that would scare Oracle just a bit, then > > someone is asleep at the wheel. > > All Hail the Mighty Gumby. > So much clever than you or me, > yet chooses to live a life of drudgery, > one wonders what his next gig will be. LOL... Perhaps I should become a stock analyst or tech industry analyst? http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/26/oracle_hp_joint_sun_deal/ But hey! What do I know? :-) -G
Ian Michael Gumby wrote: > On Mar 24, 9:10 pm, Mark Townsend <markbtowns...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: >>> And Mark, if you don't think that would scare Oracle just a bit, then >>> someone is asleep at the wheel. >> All Hail the Mighty Gumby. >> So much clever than you or me, >> yet chooses to live a life of drudgery, >> one wonders what his next gig will be. > > LOL... Perhaps I should become a stock analyst or tech industry > analyst? > http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/26/oracle_hp_joint_sun_deal/ > > But hey! What do I know? :-) > > -G Hmm - who gets Jonathan ?