The channel appeared overwhelmingly positive about Oracle’s shock announcement last week that it was buying Sun for $7.4bn (£5bn).

Oracle’s acquisition followed rumours of an IBM takeover of the server and storage vendor, which had circulated the industry for weeks (Channelweb, 18 March).

Despite neither side being able to talk about the implications for channel partners at this stage, the move has been welcomed by the industry.

Alastair Bell, managing director of Sun VAR Bell Microsystems, said: “I think this is a perfect fit because there is absolutely no double up. They now have the opportunity to make things even more efficient and better integrated. There are so many synergies there I cannot see it being anything but good.”

Terry Walby, director of solutions and technology at Computacenter, said the announcement was sudden but welcome.

“This is a good acquisition for Oracle; it is getting a bargain,” he said. “The key to acquisitions is successful integration and Oracle has demonstrated that it can do this. The move definitely secures the future for the Solaris platform, but if I were a MySQL customer I would be nervous. For Computacenter it brings two of our top 10 partners together, so it is great news for us.”

John Taylor, Sun business unit director at Interface Solutions, said the move had created excitement in the channel.

“Our reseller feedback has been very positive. We see that it brings together our two premium brands, complementing them as opposed to overlaying each other,” he said. “We are on a reseller recruitment drive right now, and our timing has been enhanced by this news. The buzz around the channel is very strong.”

Clive Longbottom, service director at analyst firm Quocirca, said the move might have different repercussions for different partners.

“If I was a software channel partner I would go in all guns blazing and say it is the best news possible and opens up more opportunities and choice,” he sa id.

“However, if I were a Sun hardware partner, now is the time to jump ship.”
Alastair Kitching, chief operating officer at VAR Esteem, erred on the side of caution.

“From a customer point of view it is great news as it gives confidence in a period of uncertainty,” he said. “From a channel point of view it is less certain. Oracle is not as partner-centric as Sun, so for now the jury is out on what this will mean for us.”