Summary
Will IBM maintain Solaris operating system and SPARC hardware? Will IBM phase out Advanced TCA platform in favor of their blade system? What about MySQL database compare to IBM's Database?
Analysis
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. Many major telecom equipment vendors use Sun's hardware, operating systems, and databases/software applications as part of their core offerings. For instance, majority of the softswitches run on Solaris operating system and SPARC hardware (which recently have been transitioning to Intel, but slowly). Also, Sun is one of the leading vendors for Advanced TCA hardware that is used as the core telecom hardened computing platform for carrier grade applications. ATCA competes directly with IBM's blade center and could be phased out very quickly.
The equipment vendors will have to watch this transition closely since IBM has not been a major player in the telecom networking hardware and software domains (mostly IT side) and may be forced to transition away from the Sun architecture with high R&D expenses.
