While I think that it makes good sense for Oracle to sell off the hardware business that they acquired from Sun, I find it hard to imagine H-P as a potential buyer. I'd be much more likely to believe the story if the buyer were Fujitsu, who has been involved with Sun and SPARC since the 1980's.
Here's why I think that H-P is unlikely to do this:
They are trying to focus more on their services business, having recently spent $14 Billion acquiring EDS
The SPARC line and the Solaris operating system would
* They are trying to focus more on their services business, having recently spent $14 Billion acquiring EDS
See the dog food argument, above
* The SPARC line and the Solaris operating system would go head-to-head with HP's high-end servers (Itanium-based) and HP-UX operating system. While it would take a strong competitor off the table, it would also create uncertainty with the large SPARC installed base, especially in the financial community.
There is no longer a need for 4 distinct architectures in non-specialized high-end computing. HP could be in a comfortable position to weigh the options for cost/profit, per platform, and for a relatively minimal investment, weigh what had been a primary opponent against their own assets. In light of their services business, the systems with the most attractive service projections would be the cards to keep.
H-P's acquisition of COMPAQ...
Compaq isn't a solid comparison, and neither is the reign of Fiorina.
Mark Hurd is extremely cost-conscious and very focused on quarter-to-quarter results for Wall Street. A big acquisition like this would be very disruptive and require some significant writeoffs and future earnings impairments.
See the dog food argument above, and the results deliverable from owning Sun's hardware business compounded with EBS results. This economic phase provides an excellent, stable ebb for acquisition and staging.
HP buying the SPARC hardware biz -- seems unlikely (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's why I think that H-P is unlikely to do this:
Counters (Score:2)
* They are trying to focus more on their services business, having recently spent $14 Billion acquiring EDS
See the dog food argument, above
* The SPARC line and the Solaris operating system would go head-to-head with HP's high-end servers (Itanium-based) and HP-UX operating system. While it would take a strong competitor off the table, it would also create uncertainty with the large SPARC installed base, especially in the financial community.
There is no longer a need for 4 distinct architectures in non-specialized high-end computing. HP could be in a comfortable position to weigh the options for cost/profit, per platform, and for a relatively minimal investment, weigh what had been a primary opponent against their own assets. In light of their services business, the systems with the most attractive service projections would be the cards to keep.
H-P's acquisition of COMPAQ...
Compaq isn't a solid comparison, and neither is the reign of Fiorina.
Mark Hurd is extremely cost-conscious and very focused on quarter-to-quarter results for Wall Street. A big acquisition like this would be very disruptive and require some significant writeoffs and future earnings impairments.
See the dog food argument above, and the results deliverable from owning Sun's hardware business compounded with EBS results. This economic phase provides an excellent, stable ebb for acquisition and staging.