A good Oracle for Sun

In January, the vendor announced improved sales of entry-level SPARC and x86-based servers and increased billings for its Java and MySQL software.

However there was a drop in overall revenue of 10.9 percent to US$3.6 billion in its second fiscal quarter, which ended 28 December 2008.

The company also reported a loss of US$209 million, or US28 cents per share, a dramatic drop compared to its profit of US$260 million, or 31 cents per share, during the same period last year.

The vendor reported to CRN's sister publication Channelweb.com, that it planned to reduce its global workforce by between 5,000 to 6,000 employees, or about 15 percent to 18 percent of its workforce, and that in January it sent layoff notifications to about 1,300 employees as part of that action.

IBM was also thought to be a front runner for Sun, however it shut down talks to purchase the company in early April.

David Mitchell, vice president IT Services at research firm, Ovum, told CRN, the deal would enhance an already strong component of its go to market portfolio.

"They do very much complement each other," he said.

"Once integration is completed we will [get] answers to the main questions around product portfolio, sales and marketing organisation, customer support, etc.

"[Sun fills] in the holes in Oracle's portfolio of offerings."

Mitchell said the acquisition was a continuation of a massive industry consolidation that has been happening over the past few years and will only continue.