Oracle Buys Sun Microsystems

As the two companies claim in announcing the acquisition, Java is one of the computer industry’s best-known brands and is a widely deployed technology. Sun’s Solaris operating system is the leading platform for the Oracle database which represents the biggest chunk of the provider’s business.

Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun, enthusiastically supports the acquisition. "This is a fantastic day for Sun's customers, developers, partners and employees across the globe, joining forces with the global leader in enterprise software to drive innovation and value across every aspect of the technology marketplace," he says. "From the Java platform touching nearly every business system on earth, powering billions of consumers on mobile handsets and consumer electronics, to the convergence of storage, networking and computing driven by the Solaris operating system and Sun's SPARC and x64 systems. Together with Oracle, we'll drive the innovation pipeline to create compelling value to our customer base and the marketplace."

Sun’s Board of Directors unanimously approved the transaction. It is anticipated to close this summer, subject to Sun stockholder approval, certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

From the perspective of Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO, "The acquisition of Sun transforms the IT industry, combining best-in-class enterprise software and mission-critical computing systems. 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. Our customers benefit as their systems integration costs go down while system performance, reliability and security go up."

Oracle’s fastest growing business unit, Fusion Middleware, is built on Sun's Java language and software. Oracle claims it will ensure continued innovation and investment in Java technology for the benefit of customers and the Java community.