The UK Oracle User Group (UKOUG) has sent a
letter
to the European Competition Commission in support of Oracle's
$7.4bn deal to acquire Sun Microsystems.
The commission is delaying approval of the deal because of
concerns that the combination of Sun's MySQL database product and
Oracle's products could harm competition.
But the UKOUG, an
independent, not-for-profit organisation with more than 10,000
members, said MySQL is not the main issue.
Providing a determined future for Java and for those members
with a significant investment in Sun hardware is of vital
importance, the group said.
For this reason, the UKOUG said the acquisition should be
allowed to go ahead without further delay.
"Uncertainty over the future of Java risks our members'
investments in both Oracle technologies and in developed
applications," said Ronan Miles, chairman of the UKOUG.
"In terms of strategy and commitment to open source, Oracle will
provide a secure future for Java.
"Oracle's record of preserving customer investments and support
of open standards would indicate as safe future for MySQL as any
other 'owner'."
Oracle has also demonstrated how it is able to absorb the people
from acquired companies to drive the best product development - and
hence best customer value, said Miles.
Oracle is to
meet European Union regulators on 10 December in an attempt to
win approval for the acquisition of Sun Microsystems
European competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said earlier this
month she believed it was still possible to
reach a settlement with Oracle.
"Let's be optimistic, and let's find out if they could take us
to a point that we say, 'Okay, here we can take the result as a
satisfying result for fair competition'," she
told journalists.
The EC began an investigation into the acquisition in September
after lobbying by Oracle rivals. It is scheduled to make a ruling
by 27 January 2010.
If Oracle fails to satisfy EU regulators at the coming meeting,
the enterprise software supplier can appeal to the European courts
in Luxembourg.