Sun Microsystems to Acquire MySQL

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) has entered into an agreement to acquire MySQL AB, developer of one of the world’s fastest growing open source databases, for approximately $1 billion in total consideration. The acquisition accelerates Sun’s position in enterprise IT to now include the $15 billion database market.

As part of the transaction, Sun will pay approximately $800 million in cash in exchange for all MySQL stock and assume approximately $200 million in options. The transaction is expected to close in late Q3 or early Q4 of Sun’s fiscal 2008. Following completion of the proposed transaction, MySQL will be integrated into Sun’s Software, Sales and Service organizations and the company’s CEO, Marten Mickos, will be joining Sun’s senior executive leadership team.

With millions of global deployments including Facebook, Google, Nokia, Baidu and China Mobile, MySQL will bring synergies to Sun that will change the landscape of the software industry by driving new adoption of MySQL’s open source database in more traditional applications and enterprises. The integration with Sun will greatly extend the commercial appeal of MySQL’s offerings and improve its value proposition with the addition of Sun’s global services organization. MySQL will also gain new distribution through Sun’s channels including its OEM relationships with Intel, IBM and Dell.

MySQL’s open source database is widely deployed across all major operating systems, hardware vendors, geographies, industries and application types. More than 100 million copies of MySQL’s high-performance open source database software have been downloaded and distributed and an additional 50,000 copies are downloaded daily.

MySQL’s open source database is the “M” in LAMP - the software platform comprising Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP/Perl - often viewed as the foundation of the Internet. Sun is committed to enhancing and optimizing the LAMP stack on GNU/Linux and Microsoft Windows along with OpenSolaris and MAC OS X. The database from MySQL, OpenSolaris and GlassFish, together with Sun’s Java platform and NetBeans communities, will create a powerful web application platform across a wide range of customers shifting their applications to the web.

Switch Off for a Good Night’s Sleep

Having trouble falling asleep? It could be that your late night e-mail habit is causing exhaustion. Light from a mobile phone or laptop is intense enough to halt production of sleep-enhancing melatonin and experts are warning workers to switch off at least an hour before bedtime.

Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts teamed up with top sleep expert Dr. Chris Idzikowski, of the Edinburgh Sleep Center. Idzikowski trawled through existing research and found that tech addicts are actually crippling their on the job performance when they refuse to “switch off.”

“Checking your work e-mails before bed on any electronic device is essentially the equivalent to drinking a double espresso last thing at night,” said Idzikowski. “Research has shown that light from a laptop or Blackberry is concentrated enough to signal your brain to stop production of melatonin, a natural hormone known to aid sleep disturbances. Being in a relaxed environment and incorporating essential wind-down time into your day is your best chance of securing a great night’s sleep - along with silence, darkness and comfort.”

UAE IT Outsourcing to Reach $170.5m by 2010

The market for outsourced IT services in the UAE is projected to reach $170.5 million in 2010 from the $81.27 million recorded in 2006, according to the latest IDC reports. The UAE’s IT market began experiencing unprecedented growth in 2005 and this led to the IT services market accounting for a total value of $413.73 million. The study revealed that the continued economic prosperity in the country and a number of IT and general development initiatives by the UAE government has increased the need for IT services. Outsourcing accounted for 15.3 percent of the total IT services market in 2005 and by the year 2010, the market is expected to comprise 22.4 percent of the local IT market’s earnings.

Tapas Roy, COO, Raqmiyat, discussed the factors that have led to a surge in outsourcing in the UAE. Raqmiyat is a services provider which has more than two decades of experience in the UAE market. “The drivers of outsourcing make business sense in the UAE as they have done elsewhere in the world. Businesses in the UAE will increasingly outsource to remain competitive,” said Roy. “Again, the traditional triggers of increasing costs, flexibility in the management of resources, user satisfaction and reduction in cycle times have contributed to this trend. Added to these are factors such as leveraging the provider’s extensive investments in technology, methodologies and people, and reducing the burden of managing IT resources while retaining control of strategic decision making.”

See What Can Be Done With Photoshop

The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) has announced the winners of its third annual Photoshop User Awards — a worldwide competition exclusively for Adobe Photoshop users. Winners were selected from more than 1,200 entries after several rounds of judging and deliberations by a panel of photography and design experts. The awards were handed out in areas that included Advertising Design, Artistic Work, Composite/Collaging, General Photography, Illustration, Restoration, Student Work and Wedding/Portrait. Winners came from as far afield as Mauritius, UK, Mexico and Norway.

The winner in each category receives a prize package valued at over $2,500. The Best of Show Grand Prize winner will be sent by Photoshop User magazine on a dream assignment to Maui, Hawaii. Check out the winning images at www.photoshopuserawards.com/winners.php.

New Corporate Identity for Xerox

With the expansion of the virtual world and increasing globalization, companies in every industry are making changes to corporate identity. Document management corporation, Xerox, becomes the latest firm to rebrand itself.

The new Xerox logo is now a lowercase treatment of the Xerox name in red, alongside a sphere-shaped symbol sketched with lines that link to form an illustrative “X,” representing — according to Xerox, the company’s “connections to its customers, partners, industry and innovation” The new brand was designed to be more effectively animated for use in multi-media platforms. For those of us out in the real world, it will also help to effectively date Xerox products in our market.