The executives at server and operating system maker Sun Microsystems have been uncharacteristically quiet since the $5.6bn Oracle deal was announced back in April. And they’ve been silent since Sun’s shareholders approved the deal last Thursday. This - from one of the most aggressive, PR-driven firms on the planet - is a bit disturbing. But Oracle is calling the shots, which is why the IT trade press had to figure out for itself that Sun has actually done a good thing and boosted the clock speeds on its ‘Niagara’ family of Sparc T2 and T2+ processors.

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HP is rolling out its new Complete Sun Care program in hopes of luring away Sun customers ahead of the acquisition of Sun by Oracle. The HP program includes a variety of services, support programs and financial incentives designed to convince customers to migrate to HP technology. HP’s announcement comes the same day that Sun shareholders are gathering to vote on whether to accept Oracle’s $7.4 billion offer for Sun.

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Sun and Fujitsu are offering improved performance and virtualization features for their UltraSPARC-based servers through the adoption of new processors and LDoms virtualization software. The rollout comes at a time when uncertainty surrounds the Unix space, with Oracle buying Sun and delays in Intel’s next-generation Itanium chip. At the same time, IBM is paving the way for its upcoming Power7 platform.

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People outside of IT seldom think of Oracle as a Linux company, but it is. Not only does Oracle encourage its customers to use its own house-brand clone of RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), Oracle Unbreakable Linux, Oracle has long used Linux internally both on its servers and on some of its desktops. So, what does a Linux company like Oracle wants to do with its newly purchased Sun’s open-source operating system, OpenSolaris? The answer appears to be: “Nothing.”

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Mass Speculation Suggests Oracle May Kill OpenSolaris

Why Is OpenSolaris Gathering Dust on a Shelf at Oracle?

With the new Crossbow network virtualisation system and VirtualBox supported, OpenSolaris wets appetites for upcoming Solaris features.

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If reports this week that Sun Microsystems killed development on its next-generation UltraSparc processor are true, the news could be an omen for the rest of Sun’s hardware technology as Oracle’s takeover of the company nears.

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Sun Microsystems Inc.’s takeover by Oracle Corp. faces extended scrutiny after the U.S. Justice Department requested more information on the transaction.

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Oracle/Sun’s ZFS file system seems set to get deduplication added to it later this year.

ZFS or the Zettabyte File System is a 128-bit file system that Sun says radically simplifies file system administration.

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Sun Microsystems stockholders will get their chance to vote on Oracle’s proposed $7.4 billion acquisition when they meet July 16 at Sun’s Santa Clara, Calif., campus. The deal would end more than seven months of negotiations between Sun and several interested suitors—including Oracle, IBM and HP—vying for Sun. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has said his company will continue to invest in Sun’s Java technology, but there are questions around the future of Sun’s hardware business.

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Oracle-Sun acquisition: marriage destined for divorce

As it comes closer to becoming reality, Oracle’s purchase of Sun makes more sense, for the simple reason that there is plenty of good technology in Sun — like Java — that Oracle can put to good use. But what is Oracle going to do with its newly acquired OSes?

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