With the fate of its proposed US$7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems Inc uncertain amid antitrust scrutiny, Oracle Corp is moving ahead with a new product incorporating both companies’ technology, and snubbing Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) in the process.
Sun and Oracle unveiled a new database machine on Tuesday built from Sun hardware and Oracle software.
The companies claim the Exadata machine works twice as fast as the previous generation of the device. The earlier version of the machine was built by Oracle and HP and when it was introduced last year marked the first time in Oracle’s history that the company sold computer hardware.
The machines are a combination of servers, which carry out heavy computing chores, and database software, which companies use to store and retrieve information they have stored, such as payroll data.
Oracle is the world’s No. 1 database software company.
Oracle confirmed it was no longer making database machines with HP.
HP declined to comment.
Oracle’s proposed takeover of Sun, which is being held up by EU regulators, has touched off a fight for Sun’s computer-server customers. Sun rivals HP and IBM Corp have sought to lure business from Sun by raising concerns among customers about the future of Sun’s hardware products under Oracle.
The tactics have been working. Sun’s worldwide market share in servers stood at 10 percent in the latest quarter, down more than a percentage point from last year, market researcher IDC said.
Oracle has fought back with advertisements promising to invest more deeply in Sun’s products than Sun, which has struggled with financial problems for nearly a decade, could do. Oracle has also said it will “dramatically improve” the performance of Sun’s hardware by designing it to run better with Oracle’s software.
The US Justice Department has already approved the Oracle-Sun deal.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique