Larry Ellison has always wanted to be the Steve Jobs of the enterprise. With this morning’s announcement that Oracle will buy Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion, he took a big step towards making Oracle more of a soup-to-nuts provider of enterprise technology. With Sun, he will now be able to build and package together everything from chips and servers to operating systems, Java middleware, databases, and enterprise applications.
Here is the money quote from Ellison on the deal:
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
Like Apple, Oracle wants to take away complexity for its customers and bundle the entire IT stack neatly together so that it works without hassles and is optimized for Oracle’s software. With this deal, Ellison has come full circle from his early-1990s mantra of “best-of-breed” systems, which he abandoned long ago. Rather than look like Apple with its dedication to making the perfect product, Oracle just became IBM. It will use Sun’s existing server market share to push Oracle databases and software, and bundle it all with IT services. Sure, it will continue to support Dell and HP and even rival enterprise software, but the sales pitch will be around the bundled product. If that turns out to be a superior product at a lower price, then both Oracle and customers will win out. But to the extent that it takes away choice from IT buyers, it could be an even tougher sell than convincing them to give up their beloved Blackberries for an iPhone.
How different really is Oracle buying Sun than if IBM had bought it, other than the price? Sun’s powerful servers are a way to sell expensive software—always have been, always will be. A big motivation for the deal was to acquire Sun’s Solaris operating system and Java. As hardware margins keep getting squeezed, that software component becomes more and more important. At least with Oracle, Sun will stay in the Silicon Valley family, so to speak.
But what may be the most valuable part of the deal from Oracle’s perspective, although Ellison hardly mentioned it, is MySQL. Oracle now owns the open-source database Sun acquired last year for $1 billion. As MySQL grows in popularity, it keeps disrupting Oracle’s high-end database business from below. Now Oracle can at least try to disrupt itself, or kill MYSQL (which would be a bone-headed move).
What makes more sense is a two-pronged approach: On the high-end, sell highly optimized Sun servers running Solaris, Oracle databases, and Oracle enterprise apps. On the low-end, sell MySQL on Dell and HP servers running Linux.
Another unanswered question is what will happen to Sun’s cloud computing efforts, given Ellison’s disdain for the term. Watch him change his tune on that one as well.
Let’s just hope that Oracle doesn’t end up more like CA.
Apple rather sucks with their iPod being sad. And for iPhone they dictate terms, no vid rec in 2009 means nerd and purposeful insanity. We need businessmen like IBM, who mean business, and not imposing own philosophy on all users.
God save mysql, i donno any other db
I think mysql will be fine. Oracle i think knows the value of mysql. I think it will stay free and continue to be offered. It is oracle’s penetration to small clients. Try Microsoft SQL Server. They are not very different. Both uses SQL, tables, stored procedures.
I tried MySQL and was kind of hard from command prompt when I used it. MSSQLServer is easy and very neat. Try it. SqlServer is very powerful too and has Sqlserver integration services, report services. They are pretty cool. Data import mechanism in SQLServer is extremely easy.
The challenge with SQLServer is that it is tied to the Windows platform. Oracle, MySQL, and other database systems can be found on other platforms including Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.
huh!!!
MSSQL is easy? Are you on drugs? I can see clearly you are a Microsoft fan
FACT: The VAST majority of the db’s on the net are based on mySQL.
Imagine how many PHP scripts have mySQL query’s? I run more than 11,400 web sites on a server farm running Linux with mySQL. Imgaine changing all the query’s and config settings to match Oracle or MSSQL!!
Cut my throat please!
Raj, I think that Sun is a perfect match for Oracle. Now I can sit comfortably knowing that Oracle is a pro-Java, since their technology is mainly developed using Java that they will prolong the life of Java rather than killing it.
This makes sense, since Oracle is involved in many JSRs (Java Specification Request). Some of those JSRs, Oracle is the specification-lead spearheading their development and some of those JSRs, Oracle is just being members of the expert group in those JSRs. I had been involved in the expert group for drafting the JDM specs which was lead by Oracle. There were more than 20 members in the group and Oracle had about 4 or 5 members in the whole group (more than 20 people all together). So, Oracle’s effort in getting involved in JSR process, shows that itself is very committed to Java.
Great insight about MySQL. Has anyone else noticed that yet?
IBM melts everything it eats, but Oracle does a better job to integrate.
Agreed. Their handling of TimesTen has been sound.
http://www.orac...e/timesten.html
Like the vibrant MySQL market appears in many areas, the reliance upon TimesTen in markets that involve time sensitive provisioning and access (RT/carrier/telecom applications/etc.) gives Oracle greater relevance as a brand.
i hope so.
Actually the”insight” on mysql shows poor analysis. Oracle aready owns the most valuable portion of mysql, the transactional storage engine innodb. Come on shoney, I think that tc has actually covered this fact.
Only a fool would suggest that Oracle might consider terminating mysql.
Stick to vc, the straight business analysis just isn’t credible.
Ellison’s style is eating all the companies. He bought peoplesoft, siebel, sun, etc… what is next?
I think this is great news for both of them Sun was in serious trouble and probably went bankrupt very soon. That sun hardware is net selling in any fashion. Linux destroyed sun hardware. I think java is good for oracle, but i think the sun hardware is useless now. they might use the sun solaris in oracle, that might be good for oracle. Sun got lucky, they were practically bankrupt company. Java is good and Java+oracle is good combination. They still need to streamline their stuff to better compete with microsoft. Oracle seems so disorganized with ton of software, products and companies. They need to clean that up fast.
Not quite. Linux hasn’t destroyed anything, besides, Sun already has an open source *nix OS.
Turn of the LAMP , Larry is Home .
Haha, although Sun prefered SAMP (Solaris being the S)
may be SOAP (Solaris, Oracle, Apache, PHP)!
SOAJ (Solaris, Oracle, Apache,JAVA)
rofl, The Apple Of The Enterprise that just became ibm, awesome headline …!
Yeah, like the Zune will be the next iPod
btw; this photo of scott and larry is kinda weird: looking ar the malfitting billboard and the company logos, it seems the merger is broke before it even happened …
It is good if some one does something new or innovative. But if it is not innovative then how can one keep up the good face value? These days competition is stiff. So every company has to give something big. Just copycat systems might not work.
“Oracle wants to take away complexity for its customers and bundle the entire IT stack neatly together so that it works without hassles and is optimized for Oracle’s software”
you do that via a cloud
Could be a pretty worrying time for java / mysql companies.
The future of java development post Oracle? http://bit.ly/YCapj
Wait, this isn’t a twitter-related app. Stick to what you’re good at TechCrunch, and leave the important deals and analysis to the big boys.
Funny… but true.
Yeah! Second that! Techcrunch speaking about what Oracle can and will do??? Funny. Stick to twitter,FriendFeed
All about Sun & Oracle from http://search.m...mp;q=Oracle+Sun
I think this is a bad move. Hardware and system competitors that would have chosen to integrate oracle into a client solution might feel there is too much competition and choose a different database solution.
The customer could care less about some VARs business model. The customers wants easy, robust execution.
What I find interesting is the photo of Larry Ellison with Scott McNealy. Where’s Jonathan Schwartz? Somehow I have a hard time picturing him working for Larry.
At our company and working with Oracle applications, we’re not that sceptic about this buy-over at all.
Let’s just hope Oracle can make more waves with Open Office against Miscrosoft.
PS: intrested in Orace Applications, check out BAOA
Spot on.
The question about cloud computing _is_ interesting and about the only real unknown. Otherwise, the business plan for Oracle is pretty straightforward. I’m definitely betting on Oracle positioning MySQL as an entry level database with a clear upgrade path to Oracle on Solaris.
This is really going to shake things up.
Aaron, your comment is more insightful than the post itself.
WELCOME TO PostgreSQL!!!.
I think Oracle will leave MySQL alone. Many large enterprises are using MySQL for smaller projects to save money on Oracle licenses. Oracle can make money up and down the chain. However, if they do act rashly … yeah PostgreSQL.
my blackberry just died 13 months after getting it (ie 29 days after the warranty expired) which really PO’d me off so I bought an iphone. If stuff doesn’t work, people will move. IBM became a (high priced) services company years ago so Sun under Oracle makes more sense.
mySQL may well be the biggest loser out of this though
Another interesting twist is the IBM was porting MySQL to their iSeries platform. Do I hear a big “IBM OUCH”?
be nice if Larry had a natural language search engine to put all that premium hardware to good use. software seems so boring. developer this, developer that. so what. all we have seen mainstream is alot of weak hype. twiter, yamer, fazebk, is there any thing out there that can truly improve everyones bottom line? reminds me of the 20,000 ipone developer apps collecting dust. i went to that sun expo at the russian center in sanfrancisco last year. couldnt help but wonder what all the developer fuss was all about. we dont need another software developer when we have enough development to work with.
DeveloperLocator.com – build meaning
The MySQL situation is interesting, since my company is building a storage engine that enables MySQL to compete with Oracle RAC (shared-disk clustering). Oracle can’t really “kill” MySQL, since it is open source. There is an existing fork, Drizzle, and I suspect that any attempt to kill MySQL would result in one or more forks, probably from the Percona guys who forked InnoDB, creating XtraDB. In any case, it will be very interesting to see how IBM, SAP, RedHat and others respond. This also makes in interesting backdrop for the MySQL conference, which starts today.
Larry Ellison doesn’t want to be Steve Jobs, and Oracle is completely different company than Apple. There is nothing similar or related about them, except they both headquartered in Silicon
Valley. Not sure where the stupid blogger gets his stupid ideas from, but it seems TC is suffering from lack of Web 2.0 crappy startups ?
larry is at least 7 times richer so i doubt he want to be a copycat as well.
Yeah, exactly because of artciles like these that blogs will never replace professionally written and researched, unbiased articles.
well at least he’s right that now Oracle is becoming more like IBM, although much smaller overall (larger only in database software).
Larry Ellison was on Apple’s board until 2002 and Steve Jobs was photographer at Larry’s wedding. Nothing related about the 2 companies…
Did you honestly expect anything more out of Schonfield?
That money quote is a bunch of nonsense. IBM used to claim the same thing and purchasing and implementing IBM software was a nightmare to most organizations and a costly one at that.
No matter what happens with the integration, these are still two completely separate companies that operated independently of each other for many years on many different technologies. Integrating them to the point where that money quote becomes anything close to reality will take a huge shift in the way Oracle works and that is not an easy shift to make.
Anyway you look at it, both of these companies make money from consulting and implementation services and anything that will lower that revenue band will take a while to get to simply because it is still a business. I know many companies that use Oracle software and the Sun Platform and are working just fine. They paid a lot of money to get there, but there are no major integration issues that would cause them to be happier today than they were last year just because Oracle bought Sun.
Can Oracle/MySQL duo raise antitrust fears?
I thought of it.But if we think of it IBM’s DB2 has a decent share of the market already. So no it cannot be technically called a monopply.
hmmm cloud computing? what will they buy next?
I think MySQL is relevant to the acquisition. There are seveal options of interest to Oracle:
* Provide smooth migration from MySQL to Oracle (Oracle storage engine for MySQL)
* Make a premium MySQL product with some of the enterprise features of Oracle
* Sell MySQL services to enterprises
we should all be glad that java, and mysql are both open source products. Oracle is not known for its open stack
TC needs to stick to its deep expertise, which is Oprah and Twitter and gossip, where it is quickly becoming the Perez Hilton of tech media. Leave the Enterprise 2.0 stuff to people who know what they are talking about.
PLEASE KILL MYSQL
That DB is a hunk of crap. Sun and Monte are not doing anyone any favors by keeping that hunk of crap alive.
MySQL can’t scale beyond 4-6 CPU cores — it is total crap.
Or may be you just don’t know how to use it.
Been using MySQL for years, on large website, over cluster of servers, never had any problems.
Just hope they won’t kill it, or we’ll welcome PostGre in our familly.
Actually, IF killing it at some point becomes their strategic intent, killing it outright (i.e., vocally) would not be a good business strategy.
Instead they should pay lip service to MySQL, giving the impression of supporting it, but then work behind the scenes (e.g., with enterprises) to undercut it, diminish it, and reduce adoption.
Strategic behavior 101
This is a good move by both Oracle & Sun. They’re perfect match for each other. Oracle is committed to Java.
Well, as an insider, I have a lot to say.
Yes, I am an insider ( I am currently sending this note from inside Uncle Larry’s Bentley, here in front of the 500 building). So I know a thing or two about ORCL & SUN.
Comparing Uncle Larry with Steve-o? C’mon Eric!!! That would be like comparing The Bushman at Fisherman’s Wharf to Steven Hawkings. PLEASE!!!
Uncle Larry is a true genius. He came up with both the “cloud” concept and the “netbook” idea, all at the same time. Remember the NC? short for Network Computing. Yes, He was the one who thought about having a strip-down pc connected via the internet to a large server, and running everything out of it. He dreamed the dream, he promoted the idea, he saw it was crap, he killed it.
If Uncle Larry says the cloud is dead, then is dead. Same thing with the overrated internet. You all little humans will live your live according to ORCL, you will…you will…
Just wait until he buys MSFT, SAP, SyBase and CSCO. Then he will buy Wal-Mart, JP Morgan Chase and Merrill Lynch. once that’s done, he will adquire 51% controlling interest in GOOG and facebook. Once this is completed, we will kill Apple. We will kidnap Steve-o and make him eat a sausage & bacon pizza at Amici’s in Mountain View. He will eat it all, he will throw up and he will give away Apple to Uncle Larry, crying and weeping.
All Hail The Suave Furher – Larry Ellison!!!!!
I remember there was a lot of talk about the sad fate of Sun employees during the IBM buyout week but haven’t heard anything now that oracle has taken over.
Sing dat song like Brandy…”I wanna be down, wanna be down witchu”..LOL
This is an extremely smart move from Larry.
Like a chess grandmaster, he has solidified his position in the Enterprise Software market and simultaneously gained control over the new upstart – MySQL.
What a master of strategy!
Niyi
I think this is actually a good move of Oracle which gives Oracle tremendous synergy on bundles sales of Database, CRM, apps, and now server hardware. Now, where is Salesforce.com??
http://www.weal...rcecom-hits-1b/
I personally think salesforce will take a hit in this competition.
>Larry Ellison has always wanted to be the Steve Jobs of the enterprise.
Dig _up_, dude.
>he took a big step towards making Oracle more of a soup-to-nuts provider of enterprise technology.
Well, at least we know you read the comments of previous articles.
Again, it’d be pretty cool if you knew what you were talking about.
What about MySql ? Will Oracle continue it or not ?
can’t have your cake & eat it too..LOL
This is the definitive dead of Java. Microsoft, with dotnet, thanks.
When the world is turning to cloud computing (AWS with S3 and EC2), why buy a server company (”the network is the computer”) as a software/data base company?
Is java still so powerful seen the ever increasing number of Ruby on Rails applications (Twitter, 37 Signals, …)
Oracle has the policy of making you pay for any software.
SUN had the policy of giving away free a lot of software.
How would the deal affect Java and JEE?
answer a poll in LinkedIn:
http://tinyurl.com/c5fuo7
Boy do scott and larry look old.
I wonder if it means that, one day, we’re gonna be able to buy a database server in a sleek, portable device with a click-wheel?
IBM have finished everything it eats, but Oracle are doing a better job to integrate.
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