Insert into Oracle select * from Sun;

Hello Everyone!!

Everyone would have heard about 'Oracle buys Sun' deal. Its indeed good deal for both giants.
I have worked with Oracle and working with Sun. From my experience the companies are very strong in terms of their cultural values, ethics, research patents and their standard practices and processes dealing with internal and external customers.

Tools and Practices are quite similar. Both are giants. With commit of the transaction ' Insert into Oracle select * from sun' Oracle will become the company of over 116,500 employees world wide. Oracle will become the number 1 company provides disk to application, the whole stack of products for the customers. This is only possible because of strong HR policies Oracle follows across its line of business. Oracle has grown huge by means of acquisitions recent years.
Both companies have the similar tools, LDAP, tracking techniques. Document place holder Sunsolve vs metalink, namefinder vs Aria, Bug DBs, Mysql vs Oracle DB, Oracle Apps GSI instances in both the companies and more to say. It will be easy for Oracle to merge the technologies and tools to its own way as it happened with big merging Peoplesoft, BEA etc.

What is there for DBA's?

37% of Oracle Databases running Sun Operating systems. Its expected to go up. Oracle will continue to support Linux but it will promote Solaris when it become its own. Be a command master in Sun Solaris. Fusion based on Java technologies. It would be nice to have Java knowledge to deal fusion applications(even 11i/R12 - JServ, OC4J)

Excerpt from Gartner Webinar: What to Expect from the Oracle Acquisition

• The Oracle/Sun announcement is the first time a major software company has bought a major hardware company
• Expected to close - Summer 2009
  
• Gartner predicted this acquisition in September 2008: This would be how Oracle could become a $50B company
• Both companies have provided very little guidance
• We don't expect to see detailed roadmaps for 4-6 months AFTER the close
  
• Attitude poll
  
• How will future acquisition affect your interest in purchasing Sun hardware?
• 28% increasing investments
  
• 27% decreasing
• 45% no impact
• If you are a decision maker, select all that apply
  
• 22% Oracle acquisition will not impact my purchasing decisions
  
• 45% Oracle will not sustain Sun's product roadmaps
  
• [low]% I prefer Linux over Solaris
  
• 70% I prefer to wait and see what happens
• Gartner's predictions: What to expect from Oracle
  
• SPARC
• We've heard from Oracle that they intend to support SPARC and hardware products
  
• For first few years, they will do that
• Would be terrible for them to disrupt Sun's customers - many of whom are Oracle customers too
• Longer term:
  
• Oracle may selectively choose not to maintain certain products
• Probably won't want to compete head to head with IBM and HP
• IBM and HP are playing for high stakes:
  
• They will attempt to migrate Sun users by offering attractive migration paths
• May reconsider Fujitsu relationship
• May reconsider lifecycle support of products
• Solaris
• Will likely survive on its own merits
• Oracle has no love of Linux, but won't dump Linux support either
• Don't be concerned about 6-12 months about projects
• Be careful about longer term investments
• Roadmap is a work in progress
• Recommendation: Lock in maintenance contracts of 5 years to minimize risk
• Sun Storage
• Sun storage products have limited strategic value to Oracle
  
• Storage is a very competitive market
• Gartner expects Oracle will retain for storage products for 2-3 years
• However, this prediction is very uncertain
• Oracle will not be able to grow the storage product line
• Oracle may benefit by separating storage into a separate business unit and keeping the revenue and service business
• Sun's open storage products will be the opportunity for a longer term perspective
• Recommendation: Inventory your installed base and decide if EOLing your Sun storage is the right strategy
• This is a great time to negotiate with alternative vendors on pricing and support
  
• Middleware/Open Source
• Don't expect middleware to play a strategic role for Oracle
• Sun has one of largest, most comprehensive stacks in the industry, but there's a huge overlap between Sun's middleware and Oracle's middleware
• Less than a year ago, Oracle completed an acquisition and has been integrating acquired middleware into their Fusion offerings
• It's unlikely that Oracle will do massive integration effort to integrate Sun middleware into Fusion
• Only a few minor components from Sun will be integrated into Fusion middleware
• But history says Oracle will support for at least 5 years
• Oracle is expected to take a reactive attitude to open source middleware like MySQL and Glassfish
• Will continue to provide an alternative to other suppliers
• Will not proactively provide to customers
• Will continue to support and invest in these technologies
• Java
• Oracle will own Java, but Gartner expects Oracle to continue the open nature of Java
• The Java trademark and licensing contracts will be owned by Oracle
• To use the Java trademark you must pay royalty
• Sun did a decent job of monetizing Java, but Oracle will do a much better job of monetizing
• Governance of Java community process
• Sun has been a major player in collecting industry requirements and proposing standards
• This role will move to Oracle
• Through Java ownership, Oracle will get entry into consumer and mobile devices market
• 1 billion mobile devices shipped; 80% have Java embedded
• Gartner doesn't believe Oracle will turn Java into a proprietary technology
• Oracle will keep Java open as a credible alternative to Microsoft
• If it becomes an Oracle-only technology, Microsoft will undermine credibility of Oracle
• Maintaining loyalty of Java community will be important
• Challenge for Oracle
  
• Oracle has to keep the interest of installed base, and excite the base with new technologies
• Competitors will drive hard during this time of uncertainty, trying to move customers away from Sun
• Big decisions for Oracle
  
• Picking their markets
  
• Could compete aggressively against IBM and HP in all markets
• Could pick sweet spots
  
• Solaris
• Could try to drive Solaris everywhere
• Could decide that Linux is more prevalent and let Solaris wind down
  
• Open source
• Could be power house
• Could be very selective
• SPARC
• Could rebuild/expand the sales organization
• Could let SPARC take its natural course via benevolent neglect
• Integration
• Could expand beyond existing systems integrators via new partners or an acquisition to counter IBM and HP
  
• Or not
  
• Hardware
  
• Could drive and grow capabilities OR
• Could sell, spin off some hardware capabilities
• Advice to Sun customers
  
• It's a period of uncertainty
• No one is sure what market will look like in the future
• Maintenance contracts
• Lock in longer term maintenance contracts now
• Risk assessments by product
• Evaluate current portfolio and don't invest in products that are likely to have a limited life
• Communicate with Oracle and Sun and let them know your thoughts and how they can retain your loyalty

Transaction 'INSERT INTO Oracle SELECT * FROM Sun;' has been initiated. Lets wait for 'Commit;' to happen !! :-)

Disclaimer:

Opinions expressed here are information purposes only. This is not to make any purchasing decisions. Its neither validated by Oracle nor Sun.