Yahoo Board Buyout Rumors Say Sun is the One,
Surprised no one has addressed the discussion taking place in
this other arena. Posted are some recent discussions: Most
recent is first. Might help to read from bottom up.
(Are these guys better connected than people here???? Hmmmm.)
(Also hope those guys don't mind that I lifted their posts.)
Peter.
Blinded by the light/ jnow_97/ May 12 1998
Perhaps I am being blinded, but I like to look at some of the facts.
Sun is a unix box maker. Their hardware runs on their proprietary sun operating system. They have a Software company that writes Java code, which they want to become the propietary owner of and displace their arch enemy MSFT. Sure, they need a lot of ban width to make this stuff work, however the Cisco's, Bays, LU,s and the NT's of the world provide this very well, thank you very much. Attend an Interop once, and you will see that there are more ATM company's than Carter's got pills.
FORE is probably the leader in medium/small ATM switches and they are pretty much the leader in building ATM cards for the desktop.
All of this leads to the fact that the sales model for FORE vs. SUN is worlds apart. It's pretty much safe to say that most Sun Sales people (account managers and SE's) think that a switch is something you use to turn on the lights. If you compare this (Sun and FORE) to say, Intel's networking division, I think you may be making an error in that Intel's networking products are pretty much commodity items. This is a different model completely. Last but not least, why would Sun put theirselves into a competive situation with the WAN vendors of the world. Sun has enough trouble competing against the HP's IBM's and SGI's of the world, and they currently are in a fierce war with MSFT. Does it really make a lot of sense to you that they would want to get into another fiercly competitive area in which they are absolutely clueless about? Maybe the rumors are true. I think it would be a rather stupid move on Sun's part. All of the rumors aside, I am VERY positive on FORE. They are a well run, have very good products, and are set in a market that will see very good growth.
Basic knowledge/ banarne/ May 12 1998
I don't know anything about Sun taking over Fore, what I know though is some fundementals about what Sun's business is. As someone mentioned before SUN:s vision is "the network is the computer". The computer doesn't work if there's no reliable high performance network. That's where Fore comes in.
Sun has developped a solution where up to 16 Sparcs (some people call those "boxes")are connected in a
cluster that works as one machine. What holds them together is 16 x 622 Mbps of dedicated bandwith from an ASX200. This machines outperform most Crays for far less money.
Second Fore has always been early in developing adapters for Sun machines. A lot of installations are built around Sun servers that connect directly to a Fore switch to dedicated 155 / 622 ports.
Finally Forethought, the management software runs on Solaris (and other OS).
If it's enough to make a merger I don't know but Sun and Fore definitly have common interests.
I have the scoop on FORE rumors/ EddySpaghetti/ May 11 1998
I (not FORElife) posted details of the FORE-INTEL deal while others were rumor-mongoring. As for the
FORE rumors, yes there was heavy speculation in Las Vegas that Ascend and SUN had their eyes on FORE (as reported in PC week). The people I know at FORE have told me that SUN is going to take a run at FORE. They have been in right in past; I have no reason to doubt them now.
SUN *IS* interested, why I don't know/ broomball/ May 11 1998
SUN is interested in FORE. I've heard it from a couple sources; PCWeek doesn't just make this stuff up. An alliance would not make as much sense as an Ascend-FORE alliance, but that's business!
FORE rumors: I WAS AT interop/ DMP27/ May 11 1998
I was in Las Vegas for the conference and SUN is *DEFINITELY* interested in buying FORE. It doesn't mean it will happen, but my friends from SUN said management is looking to make a run at FORE. I don't know anyone at Ascend well enough, but there were rumors they were interested. How interested - I don't know.
PC Week got it **HALF** right/ FORElife/ May 11 1998
My FORE contacts have told me that if FORE is indeed bought out, SUN would be the the buyer. Most people assume Ascend is the front runner, but in actuality, it is SUN. Once again, the price I am hearing is $40 a share. One of my contacts think the price could reach $45, but I doubt it, although a bidding
war could occur.
Obviously, someone from FORE is piping info to PCWeek as they have broken more than FORE story in the past.
Takeover Rumors/ Bearrish/ May 11 1998
FRom PCweek
www.pcweek.com
go to Spencer Katt
At NetWorld+Interop, in Las Vegas, the M&A rumors churned nonstop. Fore Systems was on the tips of many tattlers' tongues, with Ascend and Sun tabbed as two potential buyers.
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