IBM-Sun deal would mean big things for telecom

The Wall Street Journal reports that tech giant IBM is in talks to acquire Sun Microsystems, a deal that, were it to happen, would have major implications in telecom markets. The WSJ is casting the possible deal as having the potential to ignite more acquisitions in the data center, cloud computing and IT services and communications worlds, though arguably, some of that has already happened. Hewlett-Packard last year bought EDS, and Cisco Systems acquired Nuova Systems, and both H-P and Cisco have since made strides particularly in the data center area, with Cisco announcing a new set of servers just this week. IBM may be looking to one-up those moves.

At the same time, it will be interesting to see what happens if these three giants--IBM, Cisco and H-P--dance away to their own competitive tango. All three are important partners to telecom network operators, and in this complex world, also can emerge as competitors to the carriers at times. Carriers increasingly are getting interested in offering their own cloud computing services, and that's another area in which an IBM-Sun combination could become very influential (It's worth noting that cloud computing a business that to some degree suggests the Sun mantra "The network is the computer.")

For more:
- The Wall Street Journal has this report

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