Envisioning Sun on IBM's horizon

An IBM acquisition of Sun Microsystems would mean big change for the companies, cloud computing, and the technology landscape. We've rounded up our breaking stories, analysis, and interviews from the past few weeks as the story has unfolded.

Featured stories

Sun shares plummet on reports of failed talks

Company's shares fall nearly 23 percent in premarket trading, following reports that IBM has withdrawn its buyout bid for the struggling hardware maker.
• Sun's board may have 'a lot of explaining to do'
• Sun stands by its man
(Posted in Business Tech by Dawn Kawamoto)
April 6, 2009 6:21 AM PDT

No IBM deal? Confusion en route for Sun customers

In the grand scheme of things, Sun was small potatoes for Big Blue. For Sun, the failure of the IBM-Sun talks was huge.
(Posted in Business Tech by Larry Dignan)
April 6, 2009 5:06 AM PDT

Report: Sun rejects IBM offer, IBM withdraws bid

Sun spurns a formal buyout bid and terminates Big Blue's right to exclusive negotiations, prompting IBM to withdraw its offer, according to The Wall Street Journal.
(Posted in Business Tech by Dawn Kawamoto)
April 5, 2009 4:07 PM PDT

CNET News Poll

Deal or no deal
Should Sun let itself be bought?

Yes, by IBM.
Yes, by someone else.
No, it's fine on its own.

View results

Report: IBM eyeing Sun buyout at $9.55 a share

Big Blue is reportedly homing in on an acquisition price of $9.55 per share, as negotiations head into the final stretch, according to The Wall Street Journal.
(Posted in Business Tech by Dawn Kawamoto)
April 3, 2009 7:57 AM PDT

Microsoft server boss on Sun-IBM, economy, more

In an interview, Bill Laing says the sluggish economy probably accelerated merger discussions. As for Microsoft, a deal would mean both one fewer partner and one fewer rival.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)
April 3, 2009 11:37 AM PDT

Report: IBM cuts price on Sun deal

IBM has reportedly lowered its buyout price for Sun Microsystems to a range of $9 to $10 per share, shaving a dollar off its previously discussed range, according to the Journal.
(Posted in Business Tech by Dawn Kawamoto)
April 2, 2009 11:05 AM PDT

Previous stories

Will Sun/IBM deliver on open cloud computing?

Sun Microsystem's Sun Cloud Compute Service may be a very well-conceived open cloud service, but would an IBM acquisition let it execute?
(Posted in Wisdom of the Clouds by James Urquhart)
March 18, 2009 3:16 PM PDT

Sun Microsystems shares fall in afternoon trading

Stock falls as low as 13 percent in afternoon trading, as investors await word of whether an IBM merger is a go, or no go.
(Posted in Business Tech by Dawn Kawamoto)
March 30, 2009 1:16 PM PDT

IBM server VP talks about Sun strategy

An IBM server vice president discusses IBM's strategy to tap into Sun Microsystems' customer base.
(Posted in Nanotech: The Circuits Blog by Brooke Crothers)
March 29, 2009 6:15 PM PDT

Intel CEO says Sun was shopped around

In the past few months, Sun was beating the bushes looking for a buyer to acquire the entire company, or its pieces, says Intel CEO Paul Otellini during an employee Webcast.
(Posted in Business Tech by Dawn Kawamoto)
March 25, 2009 3:22 PM PDT

Sun CEO sees future of open source in the cloud

How do you make money with open source? You don't, argues Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz. You monetize the cloud, instead.
• IBM + Sun = Perfect for open-source monetization
(Posted in The Open Road by Matt Asay)
March 25, 2009 9:24 AM PDT

IBM wouldn't benefit from Sun's open-source plan

It's unlikely that Sun would have much to teach Big Blue. CEO Schwartz reveals the company's open-source playbook--one that IBM already knows by heart.
(Posted in The Open Road by Matt Asay)
March 23, 2009 9:07 AM PDT

Report: IBM combs through Sun contracts

Big Blue, as it weighs a potential merger, is seeking to understand where Sun stands with its complex cross-licensing agreements and other contracts, according to The Wall Street Journal.
(Posted in Business Tech by Dawn Kawamoto)
March 20, 2009 3:29 PM PDT

Will Sun/IBM deliver on open cloud computing?

Sun Microsystem's Sun Cloud Compute Service may be a very well-conceived open cloud service, but would an IBM acquisition let it execute?
(Posted in Wisdom of the Clouds by James Urquhart)
March 18, 2009 3:16 PM PDT

Is it a bad idea for IBM to buy Sun?

Sun has some nice assets, but IBM already has many of them under its own roof. Here's a look at some of the difficulties IBM could face digesting its rival.
(Posted in Business Tech by Stephen Shankland)
March 18, 2009 10:59 AM PDT

Sun activist shareholder to get payday?

Southeastern Asset Management, which holds a 22 percent stake, said last fall that it would engage in talks with not only Sun's management but also third parties.
(Posted in Business Tech by Dawn Kawamoto)
March 18, 2009 6:13 AM PDT

Why an IBM purchase of Sun would make sense

Server market positioning and open-source resources, says ZDNet's Larry Dignan, are just a couple of the reasons to like a $6.5 billion takeover reportedly in the works.
(Posted in Business Tech by Larry Dignan)
March 18, 2009 4:45 AM PDT

[pokiri]

My concern is how many of Sun employees will be kicked out once the deal goes through.

[zkysr]

I was a Sun employee for many years and have many friends and family who have worked at Sun or still do.

I am more concerned about the fact that Sun and IBM are the only big technology companies out of the server vendors that are doing any significant R&D and have the budgets to prove it.

HP and Dell have pathetic R&D spend and are the whipping boys of Intel and Microsoft.

Dell is so bad that HP had this to say about them:

"Dell has announced the following:

?The PowerEdge M-Series server was developed over two years and 55,000 man hours, the "most extensive R&D program we've ever done," said Rick Becker, vice president of solutions for Dell.?

55,000 man hours over 2 years equates to less than 15 full time people and this is Dell?s most extensive R&D program to date?"

This is scary stuff when you think about the consolidation that is going on that will hamper innovation and kill American jobs.

Thank God that AMD was around to force Intel to create the innovative products they have announced over the past few weeks. If not for AMD this would be a world of Itanium and pentium crap, and we would have never known the great technology we now have in x86-64.

Who knows what the future could have been.

[idfubar]

Perhaps you mean "or what it could be"? AMD's present financial situation is nothing short of precarious.