This past April, Oracle shocked the technology world by announcing its intention to acquire industry icon Sun Microsystems. The deal was approved exactly 3 months later by the U.S. Department of Justice but as of this writing, the European Union has yet to sanction the merger. Apparently there is some concern on the Continent about Oracle’s ongoing support for the MySQL database as well as some specific issues raised by SAP.   There is a hearing scheduled for December 10 with the final review deadline extended until January 27.

While discussions persist in the EU, one particular customer segment is completely in the dark with no light switch in sight. While there is almost no overlap between the two companies, both have extensive identity management portfolios with strong market share. How will Oracle manage this overlap to the satisfaction of Sun and Oracle customers? It is in a quiet period and can’t say. Oracle has made broad statements about leveraging both product suites, leading with the best technologies, and supporting all product through the transition but nearly 8 months has passed since the Oracle/Sun shocker and identity management customers still have no clue what the future will bring.

This situation has created some consternation in the market. I met some folks last week who had recently joined a security vendor from a Sun identity management services firm. They told me flat out that business completely died after the merger was announced and they really didn’t know what to say to concerned customers. In the meantime, other identity management leaders like CA, Courion, and IBM were aggressively attacking the installed base with swap out deals, migration services, and deep discounts.

Oracle is a huge company and the Sun acquisition is pretty bold, but Larry Ellison and company probably never imagined that it would take 8 months to close. That said, the EU is dragging its feet and making this process much more expensive and tedious than it should be. Unfortunately Sun identity management customers have been thrown under the bus through no fault of their own.

I hope the EU and Oracle work this out soon. Identity management isn’t a commodity technology widget, it must often go through cumbersome customization to meet business and operations processes. None of Sun’s identity management customers want to repeat the identity management lifecycle anytime soon.

Related posts:

1. Is Oracle Becoming an Identity Management Leader?
2. First Impressions from Oracle Open World
3. Anticipate Big Changes In Identity Management
4. Identity Management Niches
5. Oracle Server Virtualization: The Quiet Killer Technology

Tags: CA, Courion, Department of Justice, European Union, IBM, Oracle, SAP, Sun Microsystems