The purchase of Sun by Oracle for $7.4 billion has far less industry buzz and excitement than the rumored acquisition of Sun by IBM.
IBM stole the thunder and the impending acquisition of Sun became an imminent and expected event. While hardware overlap existed in the IBM deal, IBM would have provided a much needed home for Sun’s software assets. Software giant Oracle lacks a hardware portfolio, so the key Oracle / Sun overlaps are far fewer except for the $1 billion acquisition of MySQL by Sun in 2008. Given Oracle’s tendency to be proprietary in its markets, ownership of MySQL by Oracle would be perceived as a great risk in the open source community. (Register or Login to Read More)
The publication of the Open Cloud Manifesto is positive. The Cloud, driven by virtualization, is surfacing at the right time in the market and can advance computing in this generation.
The concept of “openness” is necessary for innovation to thrive. Publishing an open view with multiple and varied participants is an example of global lifecycle transformation where organizations work together across boundaries.
IBM, one of the key supporters of the Open Cloud Manifesto, has a long history of advancing collaboration around new technologies. In the 90’s, IBM attempted collaboration by creating consortium style companies such as Taligent and Kaleida. In the early part of this century, IBM was the leader of what has transformed in to Eclipse.org. This appears to be IBM’s attempt to get agreement on the Cloud at various levels.
It is clear that each organization in support of the Open Cloud Manifesto has an agenda based upon the Cloud. Agreement and discussion among a critical mass is a positive step to advancing Cloud technology.
The purchase of Sun Microsystems by IBM would be a win for IBM.
Sun has been in a holding pattern since the dot com implosion. And, while Sun positioned themselves as “the dot in the dot com”, that was the last innovation we have seen come from Sun.
Sun, while it once had very competitive hardware, had no idea how to productize and implement effective software products. Sun works on the assumption that all software must lead to Sun server sales – definitely a flawed idea that was proven wrong numerous times. Sun also was never able to quite grasp the idea of high volume and low margin sales. Sun continued on in its technology efforts like it was 1988.
IBM has clearly demonstrated that it is more than capable of:
IBM has also managed many acquisitions and always seems to find something in an acquisition worthy of continuing on with the IBM brand.
The potential of a Sun acquisition by IBM makes sense. IBM is a world class business organization and will be able to make business sense out of Sun’s academic assets.
The market has been aflutter with fanfare over the fifth birthday of Eclipse. Most of what has been reported has been on the positive side. However, to really accurately think about the future, the past must be considered. In this “Market Commentary”, we will examine two fundamental Eclipse questions:
Software has expanded its reach to become responsible for business processes, consumer purchases, transportation, communications, and devices that are always on and, in some cases, life-critical. The stakes of making sure that proper testing occurs at all levels are greater than ever. Testing is a comprehensive and critical part of the entire lifecycle. Today’s business executive must be able to guarantee working software free of defects to avoid compromising business, safety, or security.
This Market Mover Array™ report examines the history of the testing market and analyzes the vendors vying to move the market beyond the status quo.
The application lifecycle is an integral part of today’s business. Regardless of core competencies, all organizations are driven by software. Software that is created and customized to deliver a competitive advantage. The application lifecycle is now a strategic part of business.
This document is an overview of the evolution of the application lifecycle and the importance of the core vendors in providing a sound foundation upon which to continue to build and define the application lifecycle.
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