There are many product areas that will overlap
if IBM does acquire
Sun Microsystems, but especially key is the directory space.
IBM and Sun have directly competing
directory servers, and directories are at the heart of the access control
systems that end-user security products depend on. This is particularly true of
large, regulated enterprises, where IBM and
Sun are likely incumbent suppliers.
IBM Tivoli Directory Server is currently
available on a wide range of platforms, including Solaris, Windows, HP-UX,
various Linux versions and, of course, IBM's
eServer System i, p and z platforms. Sun's Directory Server, which runs on
Solaris, is also a high-performance LDAP data store for identity information.
It is likely that one of the two directory platforms would be ditched if IBM
were to acquire Sun, although it's hard to say which. In either case, a
customer company having to migrate from its Sun directory to IBM's
directory or vice versa would face some significant challenges at first.
That said, the directory that makes the cut will theoretically be the
beneficiary of both IBM's and Sun's
directory engineering prowess, which can only be good for customers in the long
run as IBM works to compete with Microsoft's
nearly ubiquitous Active Directory.
In addition, enterprises currently using one or the other of these platforms
could reasonably expect to see more rapid development of security tools on a
highly scaled directory platform.
And, while enterprise IT managers would encounter disruption in the face of a
directory migration, it's not such a bad thing to take a strategic moment to
thoroughly evaluate your directory platform. While there's never a good time to
switch directories, an inflection point like the merger of IBM
and Sun could be a golden opportunity to consolidate and secure directory
information.
More eWEEK Labs analyses of the effects of a possible IBM/Sun
merger:
eWEEK
Labs Examines IBM, Sun Product Synergies, Overlap
Storage
Is the Key Technology
Open-Source
Community Would Win
Databases
Would Feed Off Each Other