Sun was in merger talks with IBM. Talks that had fallen through. Today, the Sun website says “Oracle to Buy Sun.” Oracle is the largest database company in the world and has been tinkering with selling support contracts for Linux and the Oracle suite of database products, that already includes PeopleSoft, Hyperion and Siebel. This merger, valued at $7.4Billion, will give Oracle access to sell hardware bundled solutions, further the Oracle development product offerings and give Oracle one of the best operating systems for running databases on the planet.
Oracle doesn’t just get hardware and Solaris though. This move also solidifies a plan for Oracle customers to integrate Sun storage. Oracle had previously been working with HP in a partnership that never seemed to gain traction. Then there is Java, MySQL, VirtualBox, GlassFish and OpenOffice.org. A number of the Sun contributions will be Open Source projects, but overall it’s possible to see a strategy that can emerge from a new Oracle + Sun organization.
As a Sun partner, 318 can assist its clients through this transition, be it with storage, MySQL, Java, Solaris or Oracle middleware scripting. Overall, this deal makes a lot of sense and 318 is behind doing whatever possible to ease our clients through the transition.
Finally, for those concerned that Oracle might just be buying Sun to kill off MySQL, keep in mind that the Open Source community built MySQL in the first place (or was integral to building it) and it can build another in its place just as easily, this time faster and with less required legacy support. MySQL is not a fluke. PostgreSQL or a newer solution will take its place if MySQL were to fall by the wayside under the Oracle helm. Oracle is not going to make MySQL into a martyr of sorts, and is going to want to capitalize on their investment (a Billion dollar purchase by Sun and obviously part of this purchase); especially with a clear business plan for MySQL to be profitable (which is why Sun bought them for such a lofty price in the first place). Overall, Oracle has no reason to kill MySQL; instead, with Siebel, MySQL, Oracle, PeopleSoft, etc – they can simply tout “All Your Databasen Are Belong To Us!”
