Re:IBM in Talks to Buy Sun in Bid to Add To Web Heft
by Xichekolas on Wednesday March 18, 2009 @11:21AM
(#521769)
Except that IBM has been selling their hardware units off for years... hard drives to Hitachi, laptops to Lenovo, etc. IBM's core competency now is consulting services supporting software.
I think Sun makes sense for them to acquire (their business models are becoming quite similar already)... but IBM's days of having a hardware focus are over.
Re:IBM in Talks to Buy Sun in Bid to Add To Web Heft
by TJensen on Wednesday March 18, 2009 @11:53AM
(#521834)
Do you think their HPC and server hardware will go, too? I'm guessing they'll stay in whatever hardware business is not commoditized, which means a lot of Sun's hardware fits into IBM's portfolio.
Re:IBM in Talks to Buy Sun in Bid to Add To Web Heft
by Xichekolas on Wednesday March 18, 2009 @12:16PM
(#521894)
Yeah definitely agree that they'll stay in HPC... like you say, anything that is custom and requires design/support.
The danger, of course, would be in losing that innovation when/if the acquisition occurs. If IBM does end up acquiring Sun, it would probably be a good idea to let it maintain as much independence as possible. There seems to be an inverse relationship between size of an organization and its ability to adapt and innovate.