July 12, 2008 8:08 AM PDT

Who is buying Sun?

by Matt Asay

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The Register's Ashley Vance started stirring the pot with the suggestion that Fujitsu should buy Sun, given that its market capitalization is down to $7 billion. IBM's Savio Rodrigues steered clear of suggesting that IBM would be a fit (too much overlap), but veers toward an HP acquisition.

Me? I think if someone were to acquire Sun, EMC would make a lot of sense, even despite Sun's StorageTek overlap. That could be spun out and sold. I think the combination of EMC storage hardware and Sun's Solaris hardware could prove a tempting combination for financial services, pharmaceutical, and other technology-intensive industries.

Like Savio, I doubt Sun will be consumed, and I continue to cheer for Sun to succeed. But in our consolidating technology world, that simply may not be on the cards.

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

Topics:: Industry news,; Strategy

Tags:: Sun,; EMC,; StorageTek,; M&A

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About The Open Road

Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to the Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is general manager of the Americas division and vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

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