The EC's decision to
probe Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems because of
monopoly concerns is bad news for all stakeholders, says an
analyst.
The
$7.4bn deal has been
cleared by US authorities, but EC competition commissioner
Neelie Kroes plans to ensure customers will not face reduced choice
or higher prices as a result of the acquisition.
Although well meaning, the EC's decision is disappointing and is
likely to have a detrimental effect on both Sun and its customers,
according to Gartner analyst Andy Butler.
User confidence in Sun's products is going to be further
affected and end-users will be unable to move forward until they
know what products will continue, which could now be delayed
another four months, he said.
The EC has until January 2010 to wrap up its investigation of
the proposed acquisition and to make a decision on whether to give
it the go-ahead or not.
Butler dismissed EC concerns that the acquisition could be
anti-competitive because Oracle databases and Sun's MySQL compete
directly in many parts of the market.
MySQL represents less than half a percent of the commercial
database market, which includes many competitors to Oracle such as
Microsoft, IBM, Teradata and Sybase, he said.
According to Butler, the only winners as a result of the EC
investigation will be companies like IBM and HP.
"They can now be even more aggressive about targeting Sun's
install base and take advantage of the fact that they will
represent a safer investment strategy for new projects," he
said.