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20 April 2009, 12:33

Oracle buys Sun - Updated

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Oracle have purchased Sun Microsystems in a transaction valued at $7.4 billion. Oracle's CEO, Larry Ellinson said "Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated system – applications to disk – where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves". Oracle say they see "substantial long term strategic customer advantages" to owning Java and Solaris.

Both Java and Solaris are available under open source licences. Oracle believes it has now ensured "continued innovation and investment in Java technology" and points out that its Fusion Middleware is built on Java and is the "fastest growing business within Oracle". The announcement from Oracle says it plans to optimise Oracle Database for some of "unique, high end features of Solaris" but restates the company's commitment to Linux and other open platforms.

Notably missing from the announcement was any mention of Oracle's plans for MySQL, the open source database, which Sun acquired in 2008 for a billion dollars. It is unclear if Oracle have any plans for MySQL. The board of directors of Sun Microsystems have unanimously approved the transaction, and subject to stockholder and regulatory approval, the companies expect completion in the summer. The deal has come barely weeks after IBM had reportedly walked away from negotiations to acquire Sun.

Update: Oracle have now published an FAQPDF which gives more detail on its plans for Sun. MySQL is mentioned as a continuing product; "MySQL will be an addition to Oracle’s existing suite of database products, which already includes Oracle Database 11g, TimesTen, Berkeley DB open source database, and the open source transactional storage engine, InnoDB".

(djwm)

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