Oracle Corporation is to buy Sun Microsystems in a deal worth
$9.50 a share, valuing Sun at over $7 billion.
The deal comes a fortnight after
talks between IBM and Sun collapsed, following IBM's decision
to
significantly lower its offer.
It will give Oracle access to Sun's strategically important Java
and
Solaris technologies, which underpin the Oracle database.
"Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated
system - applications to disk - where all the pieces fit and work
together so customers do not have to do it themselves. Our
customers benefit, as their systems integration costs go down while
system performance, reliability and security go up," said Oracle
CEO Larry Ellison.
Oracle said in a statement that Java is the most important
technology it has acquired to date. The technology underpins Oracle
Fusion Middleware, Oracle's fastest growing business.
Oracle's acquisition of Sun's Solaris operating system will
allow it to optimise the Oracle database to take advantage of
Solaris high-end features, the company said.
Sun said the combination of Oracle and Sun's technology would
spur innovation across the technology market place.
"Oracle and Sun have been industry pioneers and close partners
for more than 20 years," said Sun Chairman Scott McNealy. "This
combination is a natural evolution of our relationship and will be
an industry-defining event."
Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's CEO said: "From the Java platform
touching nearly every business system on earth, powering billions
of consumers on mobile handsets and consumer electronics, to the
convergence of storage, networking and computing driven by the
Solaris operating system and Sun's SPARC and x64 systems. Together
with Oracle, we'll drive the innovation pipeline to create
compelling value to our customer base and the marketplace."