Big, big news today. Dennis Byron's analysis is right here, don't miss it.

I'll do my best to get up some more items on this. In the meantime, here's the raw news:

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MySQL AB, an open source icon and developer of one of the world's fastest growing open source databases for approximately $1 billion in total consideration.

ebizQ received the following:

The acquisition accelerates Sun's position in enterprise IT to now include the $15 billion database market. Today's announcement reaffirms Sun's position as the leading provider of platforms for the Web economy and its role as the largest commercial open source contributor.

With millions of global deployments including Facebook, Google, Nokia, Baidu and China Mobile, MySQL will bring synergies to Sun that will change the landscape of the software industry by driving new adoption of MySQL's open source database in more traditional applications and enterprises. The integration with Sun will greatly extend the commercial appeal of MySQL's offerings and improve its value proposition with the addition of Sun's global services organization. MySQL will also gain new distribution through Sun's channels including its OEM relationships with Intel, IBM and Dell.

"Today's acquisition reaffirms Sun's position at the center of the global Web economy. Supporting our overall growth plan, acquiring MySQL amplifies our investments in the technologies demanded by those driving extreme growth and efficiency, from Internet media titans to the world's largest traditional enterprises," said Jonathan Schwartz, CEO and president, Sun Microsystems. "MySQL's employees and culture, along with its near ubiquity across the Web, make it an ideal fit with Sun's open approach to network innovation. And most importantly, this announcement boosts our investments into the communities at the heart of innovation on the Internet and of enterprises that rely on technology as a competitive weapon."

MySQL's open source database is widely deployed across all major operating systems, hardware vendors, geographies, industries and application types. The complementary product line-ups will extend MySQL's database reach and are expected to bring new markets for Sun's systems, virtualization, middleware and storage platforms.

"The combination of MySQL and Sun represents an enormous opportunity for users and organizations of all sizes seeking innovation, growth and choice," said Marten Mickos, CEO, MySQL. "Sun's culture and business model complements MySQL's own by sharing the same ideals that we have had since our foundation -- software freedom, online innovation and community and partner participation. We are tremendously excited to work with Sun and the millions of members of the MySQL open source ecosystem to continue to deliver the best database for powering the modern Web economy."

MySQL's open source database is the "M" in LAMP - the software platform comprised of Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP/Perl often viewed as the foundation of the Internet. Sun is committed to enhancing and optimizing the LAMP stack on GNU/Linux and Microsoft Windows along with OpenSolaris and MAC OS X. The database from MySQL, OpenSolaris and GlassFish, together with Sun's Java platform and NetBeans communities, will create a powerful Web application platform across a wide range of customers shifting their applications to the Web.

More than 100 million copies of MySQL's high-performance open source database software have been downloaded and distributed and an additional 50,000 copies are downloaded daily. This broad penetration coupled with MySQL's strength in Web 2.0, Software as a Service (SaaS), enterprise, telecom and the OEM embedded market make it an important fit for Sun. With MySQL, Sun will have the ability to deepen its existing customer relationships and create new opportunities with companies seeking the flexibility and ease-of-use of open source systems.

Following completion of the proposed transaction, MySQL will be integrated into Sun's Software, Sales and Service organizations and the company's CEO, Marten Mickos, will be joining Sun's senior executive leadership team. In the interim, a joint team with representatives from both companies will develop integration plans that build upon the technical, product and cultural synergies and the best business and product development practices of both companies. MySQL is headquartered in Cupertino, CA and Uppsala, Sweden and has 400 employees in 25 countries.

As part of the transaction, Sun will pay approximately $800 million in cash in exchange for all MySQL stock and assume approximately $200 million in options. The transaction is expected to close in late Q3 or early Q4 of Sun's fiscal 2008. Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. The deal is expected to be accretive to FY10 operating income on a GAAP basis.

Posted by elizabeth in Open Source | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the hottest topics in the enterprise technology space right now is open source. Open source is kind of the Wild West of software and, increasingly, application development. There is just so much going on, what with the Free Software Foundation people screaming at each other, with general public licensing debates, with Linux development, JBoss, Red Hat, Google, Salesforce.com, even the government is getting in on it... and it's hard to keep it all straight.

For an open source neophyte like me, this story about the FCC fighting open source just brings more questions than answers. And we have IONA and Mulesource, both companies we've been following for some time, developing their open source ESBs faster than we can even think of uses for optimized service-oriented messaging.

That's why here at ebizQ, we've brought on a top industry analyst to talk about these issues, with our audience's input, every day. ebizQ's new senior open source software analyst, Dennis Byron, has spent the last 30 years analyzing middleware and other emerging technologies for various firms, and we're really happy he's here with us now, to "agnostically" help us navigate the exciting new world of open source.

I invite you to read Dennis' most recent piece, "The 411 on Open Source Software Development", and to bookmark ebizQ's brand new Open Source tab, right here.

About Dennis Byron:
Dennis Byron, ebizQ's Senior Open Source Software analyst, is also a Senior Analyst for Research 2.0, which is aimed at institutional and individual investors in information technology (IT), or just anyone who likes to peer under the covers of "the financials" where both large companies and emerging IPOs like to bury their most interesting facts. Byron has more than 30 years experience researching and analyzing all areas of information technology and information-systems use. He was the ERP and Middleware Analyst with the Datapro division of McGraw-Hill and at IDC FROM 1991 TO 2006. He has conducted over 500 specific information-systems case studies, and has contributed to Application Development Trends magazine and other publications.

Posted by elizabeth in Open Source • SOA and Web Services | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ebizQ blogger Dennis Byron let me know in advance yesterday of a bunch of excitement going down in the Open Source world today. For all those people not sure why Open Source is such a big deal, read this now!

The Free Software Foundation basically announced that the new version of its general public license will go through an additional review process before being released. You can read all about it from Dennis here.

The blog seekingalpha.com reported some stuff from Reuters about it yesterday, but Dennis commented on that blog and then on his own, that there were inaccuracies rife in that particular announcement.

Posted by elizabeth in Open Source | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)