Analysis: The Oracle-Sun Deal And The Tech Fallout

Oracle buying Sun Microsystems will have a significant impact across several different layers of the IT space, from desktop software to midmarket to enterprise.

Here's how:

The first and most obvious benefit to Oracle will be with enterprise database offerings. Solaris running on SPARC-based equipment has always been a preferred platform for Oracle databases. This acquisition could mean the lessening of some of the pain points for partners that deploy and maintain a complex solution such as Oracle running on Solaris.

Furthermore, the acquisition would solidify Oracle's reign in the enterprise database space. Which company would be able to compete with database technology resulting from combined Oracle and Sun know-how? Even archrival Microsoft SQL Server 2008 running on Intel would be hard-pressed to meet the I/O demands in database-transaction-heavy environments such as those found in the finance and government sectors. The biggest competitor of Oracle-Sun in this space would be SAP. SAP potentially has a lot to lose with this merger.

There is even more Oracle can gain from this acquisition: a better entryway into the midmarket space. MySQL is a solid database acquired after Sun's purchase of open-source MySQL AB. Sun kept the product as an open-source option, only charging for some enterprise-level features. Oracle has been attempting to take out some of the complexity of its database deployment and maintenance, evidenced with some new features released in its 11g database product. Even with these features, Oracle's database platform has simply been out of reach for most SMBs, in both deployment requirements and sheer expense.

Perhaps if Oracle focuses on some of the R&D that went into making MySQL a viable database for SMBs, Oracle can deliver a robust-yet-affordable solution for SMBs that would not tax so many resources, both technically and financially, to deploy.

Oracle also would be smart to keep attention focused on other great software products that have been developed by Sun. For example, Sun's child, the OpenOffice.org productivity suite based on its Star Office software, has earned its place at the forefront of alternatives to Microsoft Office's stranglehold in the office productivity suite space. Netbeans, Sun's platform for Java desktop applications, is another viaduct for Oracle to make gains into the desktop and midmarket spaces. And let's not forget VirtualBox, Sun's free-for-download desktop virtualization software.

Other speculation surrounds the question of whether or not Oracle will keep Java open source. Oracle's Fusion Middleware is built on top of Java technology; it's a critical software component for Oracle. Oracle's sometimes-exorbitant fees for its products will hopefully not extend to Java.

It will be interesting to see just what exactly Oracle will do with Sun. Will it simply focus on the boxes Sun makes and scrap software such as GlassFish? Many are hoping that's not the case. A lot of innovation has come out of Sun Microsystems and many Sun fans are hopeful that Oracle will continue on that same trajectory.