Yesterday Oracle shocked the world by announcing it will acquire SUN Microsystems. Now, the day after it's a good moment to take a look at what hit us... As we all know Oracle has been buying a lot of companies in the last couple of years. Although this is not the largest purchase (e.g. BEA and Peoplesoft were larger) and not the smallest (Hyperion wasn’t that big) to my opinion this is one which is really one of the most significant ones. SUN being the founder of Java and a lot of Open Source programs it is a unique step in history! So what's behind it? Well, as Larry Ellison puts it in his voice over (which can be found here) the solid reason for it is Oracle's strategy to be Complete, Open and Integrated. Complete Well Oracle can definitely say they are complete now: from applications, through Fusion Middleware, security and governance all the way down to virtual machines (Java and hypervisor), databases and Operating systems and as a small plus even hardware: SUN Sparc server technology. You would say this completes the total stack... Open and Integrated Because of the wide variety of products within their stack Oracle has a strong strategy on integrating their products. Fusion applications, means seamless integration of all applications with each other, but also with customly build component based applications all the way down to the way the connect with their data-storage and OS. The heart of Fusion applications is Oracle Fusion Middleware, the number 1 middleware stack out there, believe me this is not a Oracle commercial, it's really great! And as you might know it's Java based Integration technology. This means by buying the founder of Java the key of the innovative power behind Java is in good hands since Java is the key foundation of the Fusion middleware stack and thus the Fusion application strategy. So how about Open then?! Well let's be honest, when a company has so many products in its product stack, the only way to get all of those components integrated is to use Open standards and adopt Open source components. Like with other acquisitions it's my opinion, that Oracle will only pick the cherries especially for the Open Source projects they will contribute to, of course. But they will definitely be contributing and actively invest in Open standards and Open Source projects, simply because they have to, to reach their goals in integrating the complete product stack. So, I think this acquisition will mean great new investments in Java, it gives another boost to the development of Fusion Middleware and thus Fusion Applications and it makes Oracle a true one-stop-shop which give major TCO benefits. Question is what will be next? Will Oracle be buying the moon?
Oracle buys the sun
Arjan Kramer
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Arjan Kramer is leading an Expert group of Java based Integration Technologists and Thoughtleader on Oracle Fusion Middleware
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Nice post Arjan. You beat me to it. I was already composing an item titled: "The oracle swallows the sun: what will it digest and what not". Maybe I will still post it. My concern is that Oracle will only consume the meaty bits of SUN and leave a carcass for other scavengers. Now, what do you think will be in the carcass?
The question is: what happens to MySQL and OpenOffice ?
@Mark, thanks and sorry I was the first one :-)
Regarding your question: Looking at the previous acquisitions Oracle's strategy is to pick the best of breed products from his own stack and those of the acquired company and merge the product stack. Taking as much advantage as possible from the new acquired company.
For the products that are less attractive the strategy is to either converge the useful and unique features into the best of breed products or to EOL them as per the already existing scheme's. A very good and honest approach to my opinion.
Furthermore as you can tell they buy #1 parties like BEA which was #1 in middleware and now SUN which is #1 in Java, Solaris (which is the #1 OS, footprintwise for Oracles database server) and in combination with that the Solaris SPARC hardware. In line with this they really want to take advantage of and adopt the innovative way these companies do their Research and Product development.
I think today the only thing we can do is just guess what will happen to each separate product.
As far as the two products you mention @Giovani are concerned: MySQL can be a perfect launch product line to "try" new DB features and have it as a light weight database opposite to Oracle’s Enterprise Database server.
And OpenOffice, well Larry didn't have a complete Office suite in his stack yet, so it might have a good chance of surviving just because it's a nice addition to the enterprise applications in their application stack. Now companies can very well have everything Oracle. Now that I'm writing this, it struck me that the only thing really missing is a serious Desktop Operating System... Hmmm you never know when Larry and Bill will meet...
Regarding your question: Looking at the previous acquisitions Oracle's strategy is to pick the best of breed products from his own stack and those of the acquired company and merge the product stack. Taking as much advantage as possible from the new acquired company.
For the products that are less attractive the strategy is to either converge the useful and unique features into the best of breed products or to EOL them as per the already existing scheme's. A very good and honest approach to my opinion.
Furthermore as you can tell they buy #1 parties like BEA which was #1 in middleware and now SUN which is #1 in Java, Solaris (which is the #1 OS, footprintwise for Oracles database server) and in combination with that the Solaris SPARC hardware. In line with this they really want to take advantage of and adopt the innovative way these companies do their Research and Product development.
I think today the only thing we can do is just guess what will happen to each separate product.
As far as the two products you mention @Giovani are concerned: MySQL can be a perfect launch product line to "try" new DB features and have it as a light weight database opposite to Oracle’s Enterprise Database server.
And OpenOffice, well Larry didn't have a complete Office suite in his stack yet, so it might have a good chance of surviving just because it's a nice addition to the enterprise applications in their application stack. Now companies can very well have everything Oracle. Now that I'm writing this, it struck me that the only thing really missing is a serious Desktop Operating System... Hmmm you never know when Larry and Bill will meet...
