5 O’Clock Roundup: VC dry spell, Sun layoffs, another doomed e-reader
VC spending increases, but mostly on existing companies – Here’s a different way to look at the survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association that VentureBeat writer Anthony Ha reported on earlier: Brand-new startups will find it harder than ever trying to raise capital. VC spending increased to $4.8 billion in the quarter that just ended, according to the survey. But the money is going to keeping existing companies afloat. New startups only received… Continue Reading
Oracle gets green light to acquire Sun for $7.4B
Sun Microsystems just announced that its shareholders have approved its landmark sale to Oracle for $7.4 billion at a rate of $9.50 a share. But the software titans aren’t done yet — the deal still has to survive antitrust inspection by the U.S. Department of Justice.
While the DOJ is very close to green-lighting the merger, there’s one last sticking point concerning licensing of Java. Regardless, Oracle says these loose ends should tie themselves up by… Continue Reading
Sun Microsystems’ code-named Rock chip crumbles due to delays
As Oracle closes in on its acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Sun has voluntarily decided to lose some weight by canceling its Rock server chip project.
After five years in development, Sun’s commitment to the Rock chip has crumbled, even though the chip was key to Sun’s turnaround in the high-end server market, according to the New York Times. It’s a little sad in some ways, since the computing industry is going to lose some of its… Continue Reading
Vyatta lands $10.3M for open-source networking
Vyatta, maker of open-source network software, has raised nearly all of its planned $10.3 million round of equity. It adds this amount to the $11 million in second-round funding it brought in two years ago from ArrowPath Venture Capital, Comcast Intractive Capital, Fuse Capital and J.P. Morgan Partners, reports VentureWire.
Based in Belmost, Calif., Vyatta positioned itself as a rival for Cisco Systems when it first launched in 2006. In fact, its web site’s tagline is… Continue Reading
Roundup: Microsoft’s team-up with Verizon, Wolfram/Alpha’s demo, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Are Microsoft and Verizon teaming up on an iPhone rival? — That partnership may be the real source of rumors about negotiations between Verizon and Apple, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Stephen Wolfram demos Wolfram/Alpha search engine — Larry Dignan of ZDNet says the “computational knowledge engine” (a search engine that understands your questions and computes the correct answer, rather than just digging up relevant web pages based on keywords) probably isn’t a Google… Continue Reading
Oracle to buy Sun Microsystems for $7.4B — finally, this makes sense
Updated
Oracle Corporation, the large software database company, said Monday it will acquire the server company Sun Microsystems for $9.50 a share, or about $7.4 billion. It brings together two iconic Silicon Valley powerhouse tech companies that have long shared a spiritual alliance, initially to resist dominance by Microsoft during the 1990s.
The marriage comes after speculation increased last week that such a deal might be in the works, because it makes a lot of sense. Sun… Continue Reading
Roundup: Apple patents surface, Second Life grows, Rosetta Stone IPO takes off
Here’s the latest action:
New Apple patent filings raise eyebrows — The next versions of the iPhone could make use of a motion-aware user interface, based on some recent patent filings. MacRumors has more.
Nokia’s net income takes a dive — Phone maker’s net income falls 90 percent in the first quarter. CNET has more.
Bartz unlikely to sell Yahoo? — A profile in Fortune of Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz cites unnamed sources as saying that Bartz doesn’t want to sell… Continue Reading
IBM walks from Sun deal, but it could come back
IBM has withdrawn its $7 billion acquisition offer to buy Sun Microsystems, shelving at least for the moment a merger that would have created a dominant global market leader in computer servers.
The collapse of talks hammered Sun’s stock price. It dropped 23 percent to around $6.50, or well below the purchase price being talked about — reportedly around $9.50. However, in a sign the market doesn’t believe the talks are over for good, Sun’s shares… Continue Reading
Roundup: Solyndra scores major green, Windows braces for worm, car takes to the skies and more
Department of Energy shines on Solyndra — The solar company landed a $535 million loan to continue developing its technology. The New York Times has more.
A wormy April Fool’s Day — The Conficker computer worm is set to be unleashed on April 1, exploiting Windows weaknesses to create millions of zombie computers. “Joke or apocalypse?” asks the New York Times.
Study says, “Do or do not, there is no try” — A new Harvard Business School study of venture-backed… Continue Reading
IBM rumored to be in negotiations to buy Sun Microsystems for $6.5 billion
IBM is in negotiations to buy Sun Microsystems for $6.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported today.
If the deal happens, it would be one of the biggest consolidations in the computer industry since Hewlett-Packard merged with Compaq in 2001.
IBM would eliminate a major competitor if it follows through with the all-cash deal, which would be a big premium over Tuesday’s closing price of $4.97 a share. The deal would strengthen IBM’s hand against HP, which… Continue Reading
Sun looking to claim space in the cloud
Sun Microsystems jumped on the cloud computing bandwagon today with the announcement of its own platform for applications that run in the Internet cloud. The company is launching its effort with two products — Sun Cloud Services and Sun Cloud Compute Service.
With Amazon already an established leader, and with Google and Microsoft — plus many others — developing their own solutions, how does Sun plan to stand out? A big selling point will be the… Continue Reading
Data management software maker Q-layer sells out to Sun
Q-layer, a young provider of software to manage virtual data centers, has sold out to Sun Microsystems, collecting a healthy return for its investors Wellington Partners, Partech International and Big Bang Ventures. Last year was the first its products were on the market, and they did well, company representatives told VentureWire.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Q-layer is a smart acquisition for Sun, which already relied on its technology to quickly build cloud computing systems for its clients…. Continue Reading
Sun Microsystems to cut 5,000 to 6,000 jobs
Sun Microsystems said today it’s going to cut 5,000 to 6,000 jobs to align its costs to deal with the weak global economy. It’s another sign of how weak the economy has become, and how Sun is still struggling to find its footing after years of cutbacks.
The cuts are likely to fall heavily on an already reeling Silicon Valley. Cuts like this show just how bad the companies — particularly already battered ones such as… Continue Reading
Sun co-founder departs to challenge Cisco
Pounded by the stock markets after a poor showing in its recent earnings report, Sun Microsystems now has another thing to worry about: Co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim, who most recently served as chief architect for its systems group, is leaving [update: A Sun spokesperson notes than Bectolsheim will continue to do part-time work at Sun] [second update: the NYT has more detail; Bechtolsheim will spend at most one day a week at Sun] to help run… Continue Reading
Sun Microsystems pre-announces earnings drop and write-down
After teetering along a recovery path for years, Sun Microsystems is slipping into the mire of a weakening business market.
The company said in a pre-announcement today it would swing to a large quarterly loss. The company expects to lose 25 cents to 35 cents a share on revenues of $2.95 billion to $3.05 billion in the first fiscal quarter. The company will report earnings on Oct. 30.
Sun’s shares closed at $5.78 a share today, down… Continue Reading
Roundup: Amazon vs eBay, YouTube search ads, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Amazon is like Apple, eBay is like Microsoft — Or at least that’s the tech-industry analogy that comes to mind when reading this piece about the increasingly competitive battle between the two e-commerce giants.
“Black” silicon is a better light receiver — A silicon variation discovered in Harvard University’s labs and licensed out to a company called SiOnyx, is far more receptive to light than ordinary silicon. The substance (pictured) may be useful for X-ray… Continue Reading
Austin game event: Sun Microsystems tailors its services for online games
Sun Microsystems is at the Austin Game Developers Conference this week, pitching developers on its latest R&D effort, Project Darkstar – an open-source server platform for massively multiplayer online games, social networks and virtual worlds.
This isn’t the first time a company has created a platform that developers can use to create MMOs and virtual worlds; in fact, it’s a market that might be described as having more lions than gazelles. IBM is among those promoting… Continue Reading
Data warehouser Infobright takes $10M
It’s no simple task to store terabytes of information. In addition to just keeping the data safe, companies often require analytics and upkeep for their stored info. Infobright, one of the companies that provides such services, has just raised another $10 million in funding.
Infobright currently targets small and medium sized businesses, handling up to 30TB of data. And the company also released an open source “Community Version” today, at Infobright.org, which is open for anyone… Continue Reading
Roundup: MyHeritage raises funding, news feed psychology, Bell drops “basic research,” and more
Here’s the latest action:
Genealogy site MyHeritage raises $15 million — The Israel-based company has grown from 17 million to 25 million registered users over the past year. Investors include Index Ventures and Accel.
High-imaging satellite GeoEye-1 launches — It claims to take the highest-resolution images of any commercially-available satellite — enough to “show home plate on a baseball diamond.” Google has an exclusive contract to this satellite’s images. [Image of GeoEye launch site, using GeoEye.]
The psychology of news… Continue Reading
Roundup: Apple backdating probe dropped, AMD takes big write-off, Webroot founder missing
updated
Apple criminal backdating probes dropped: It’s a happy day for Apple, and not just because of the iPhone 3G launch. The criminal backdating probe of Steve Jobs and other Apple executives has been dropped, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Attorneys involved in defending various participants said the Justice Department concluded no charges should be brought against Jobs or anyone else invovled in the backdating. The Securities and Exchange Commission, however, is still pressing… Continue Reading