from a MAJOR Firm's Research Release regarding SUNW this am:
Late in the day after Sun had announced and discussed its acquisition of HighGround Systems, Compaq issued a press release regarding its relationship with HighGround.
Although the press release indicated that Sun and Compaq would be working together on interoperability, we do not see
this as leading to Sun becoming an OEM partner with Compaq and IBM.
Our thinking is as follows:
-- HIGHGROUND SYSTEMS ACQUISITION SEEMS TO BE A SIGN OF SUN'S COMMITMENT TO HETEROGENEOUS STORAGE. One key point about HighGround's software is that it is written for a number of platforms - up until a year ago, it was primarily Windows NT-oriented - including Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, and Windows 2000. While Sun's storage sales have been traditionally more skewed towards Sun server customers, the purchase of HighGround gives Sun a more serious claim to being an open systems provider.
-- SUN IS UNLIKELY TO JOIN THE IBM-COMPAQ STORAGE OEM PARTNERSHIP. Although Compaq and Sun are still in the early stages of discussing their relationship, at this point it is unlikely that Sun would become an OEM partner with IBM and Compaq.
-- IBM AND COMPAQ CONTINUE TO TALK TO POTENTIAL STORAGE PARTNERS. When IBM and Compaq announced their agreement in July to collaborate on interoperability and OEM each other's products, we got the impression they were in discussions with other companies that could fill gaps in their combined storage lineup. While there have not been any announcements on that front, we believe the discussions continue.
-- COMPAQ WILL CONTINUE TO SELL AND SUPPORT HIGHGROUND SOFTWARE. Compaq has been selling HighGround software for the past year and the two companies have a joint development agreement working on SAN management solutions.
We believe that yesterday's announcement was primarily intended to reassure customers on this count.
Michael |
