andison_2009
March 18th, 2009, 10:04 PM
IBM is reportedly in talks to acquire struggling Sun Microsystems for at least $6.5 billion, giving it new weapons against market rivals HP and the increasingly aggressive Cisco Systems. Sun, which reorganised into three business units and laid off more than 6,000 employees last fall after reporting a nearly $500 million loss, has been struggling to find its place in the marketplace as the demand for its high-end servers and storage devices decline.
IBM has one of the largest reseller and solution provider channels in the world with more than 100,000 business partners. An IBM acquisition of Sun would plunge the comparatively smaller Sun channel into a much larger pool. The impact would provide Sun resellers with more products and services for its customers, while placing them into a more competitive marketplace.
Sun has steadily declined in recent years as the market shifted toward cheaper x86 servers over the company's high-end, high-capacity RISC servers. Under the leadership of CEO Jonathan Schwartz, Sun has been migrating toward software, building up capacity in its Java programming language and Solaris operating system. Yet, even reorganizing with a focus on software hasn’t stopped the company’s slide.
Published reports say Sun has approached several potential buyers, including HP, but was turned away. HP reportedly declined the offer.
IBM has one of the largest reseller and solution provider channels in the world with more than 100,000 business partners. An IBM acquisition of Sun would plunge the comparatively smaller Sun channel into a much larger pool. The impact would provide Sun resellers with more products and services for its customers, while placing them into a more competitive marketplace.
Sun has steadily declined in recent years as the market shifted toward cheaper x86 servers over the company's high-end, high-capacity RISC servers. Under the leadership of CEO Jonathan Schwartz, Sun has been migrating toward software, building up capacity in its Java programming language and Solaris operating system. Yet, even reorganizing with a focus on software hasn’t stopped the company’s slide.
Published reports say Sun has approached several potential buyers, including HP, but was turned away. HP reportedly declined the offer.