I.B.M. Reportedly Will Buy Rival Sun for $7 Billion

I.B.M. appears on the verge of acquiring Sun Microsystems, a longtime rival in the computer server and software markets, for nearly $7 billion.
The two companies have been negotiating for weeks, ironing out terms of an agreement that would turn I.B.M. into the dominant supplier of high-profit Unix servers and related technology.
I.B.M. is offering $9.50 a share, down from a bid of $10 a share, said people familiar with the discussions who were not authorized to speak publicly. The new agreement would restrict I.B.M.’s ability to walk away from the deal, these people said.
Even at $9.50 a share, the deal would value Sun, based in Santa Clara, Calif., at close to $7 billion. It is close to a 100 percent premium based on Sun’s value before rumors of an acquisition spread last month.
Representatives of I.B.M. and Sun declined to comment. People familiar with the negotiations say a final agreement could be announced Friday, although it is more likely to be made public next week. I.B.M.’s board has already approved the deal, they said.
I.B.M., based in Armonk, N.Y., has spent weeks poring over Sun’s patents and licensing agreements. Some 100 lawyers have been working in a hotel in Silicon Valley on intellectual property matters.
Although in a slump of nearly a decade, Sun is one of the largest sellers of server computers and is known for systems based on its Sparc chips. It has a vast software portfolio, including the Solaris operating system , the open-source MySQL database and the Java programming language.
“Sun has obviously been a lost child for many years, but they have some great assets,” said Rebecca Runkle, director of technology research at Research Edge, an equities analysis business. She said that Sun and I.B.M.’s cultures would mesh in their commitment to large research and development projects.
Sun’s software assets would fit into I.B.M.’s long-term strategy of chasing higher-profit software and services sales. It could also give I.B.M. more strength in competing against Oracle, which has sold its database software on top of Sun systems for years.
I.B.M.’s acquisition of Sun would disrupt that long partnership with Oracle. I.B.M. could also undercut Oracle by more actively promoting the free MySQL software, which has become the most popular database software with Internet companies.
Hardware inherited from Sun could present antitrust concerns. I.B.M. faces an antitrust complaint from T3 Technologies over its dominance in the mainframe market. By buying Sun, I.B.M. would gain close to total control over robotic tape storage devices used to file data on mainframes.
Sun has a sales and technology partnership with Fujitsu for the sale of Unix servers. If I.B.M. buys Sun, Fujitsu and Hewlett-Packard will be the combined company’s only major competitors in the Unix market, a possible concern for regulators here and in Europe. Sun faces a patent infringement lawsuit from the storage maker NetApp and has countersued. NetApp has a sales pact with I.B.M.
Silicon Valley executives, including Paul S. Otellini, chief of Intel, have said that Sun has spent months seeking a suitor.
Shares of I.B.M. rose more than 3 percent on Thursday, to $100.82, and Sun’s shares rose more than 2 percent, to $8.21.

Source : http://www.nytimes.com

Virgin eyes 150Mb broadband speed

Fibre optic networks are offering faster broadband speeds

Virgin Media will offer 100 to 150Mbps broadband speeds up to two years before BT completes its rival fibre network.

"We have an opportunity with our network to provide significantly higher speeds," Virgin Media's chief executive Neil Berkett told BBC News.

BT has said its fibre network will hit the first crop of UK cities by early 2010 and will be complete by 2012.

Virgin currently offers a top speed of 50Mbps while BT is pledging 40 to 60Mb.

Mr Berkett said its fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) network was capable of supporting up to 150Mbps but its roll out was a "function of timing".

He said: "When we look at the market I don't see us getting the returns right now for 100 or 150Mbps.

See what applications work at different speeds

"As we work with application providers, and content providers... there will be a natural point where we upgrade from 10, 20 and 50Mbps to something more.

"If BT were to meet the time frame they have suggested - of finishing by 2012 - I would see us as having much, much faster upstream speed, running at a minimum of 100Mbps downstream and possibly more. You can see a real opportunity there."

Faster speeds

Mr Berkett said he would be surprised if Virgin Media did not start the roll out of faster speeds next year.

BT has said it will deploy FTTC technology at 29 exchanges across the UK in the coming 9 to 12 months.

The network will offer speeds of up to 40Mbps - and potentially 60Mbps - to 500,000 homes and businesses.

Areas of Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Greater Manchester will be able to access the fibre network, which will be opened up on a wholesale basis to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who can then offer various broadband packages to customers.

Virgin Media says its network reaches half of all homes in the UK. The technology has a theoretical limit of 200Mbps downsteam speeds.

Mr Berkett said the firm had not ruled out the possibility of opening its own network to other ISPs.

He said: "We had this conversation with a bunch of investors recently. Our position is 'Let's prove the market'.

"Wholesaling is not off our agenda but right now it is not a priority for us."

He added: "Who knows, by the time BT have rolled out their next generation network we may be in position to explore wholesale."

Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7961135.stm

FED & SED Monitors; New technology 2009

Sony presented a FED monitor (Field Emission Display) of 19.2 inches, with a resolution of 1 280 X 960, a luminosity of 400 cd/m2 an exceptional contrast rate which reaches 20.000:1! Refresh rate would be between 24 and 240 images per second and the angles of vision would be total (180°), a perfect table.

Field emission display (FED) technology was invented in the 1970s as a possible alternative to the traditional cathode-ray tube TV but has been never commercialized.

What is a SED Monitor?It’s the next generation of television screens; the SED (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display) monitors offer a vivid color images, high definition displays and more larger screens.The researches began in 1986 by Canon and Toshiba, and later they formed SED Inc. in October 2004.FED and SED, Two Competitors? The FED approaches technically the SED, The two Technologies uses hundreds of thousands of micro guns (electron emitters), each one able to generate a pixel, from where the advanced quality of the image With no warm up, heat and No backlight. The FED uses micro guns in cones forms, whereas the SED uses micro guns in the shape of slits, the FED is as finer as the SED, it consumes less energy and it offers a broad angle of vision, and a total absence of dead pixels. Sony aims mainly the professional markets in particular the data-processing monitors (As Computer monitors & televisions) whereas the SED is intended for the market of the large screens.The marketing of the SED is planned by Toshiba Corp. and Canon for 2009 with Full HD models of more than 26 inches.

Source:http://www.xcess.info