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Sun Cutting Up To 3,000 Jobs As It Awaits Oracle Deal By Jordan Robertson October 22, 2009 7:11AM     Sun Microsystems, a dot-com-era star, was banking on the $7.4 billion deal with Oracle as a lifeline after a decade of financial struggles. As delays have mounted, Sun has had to fend for itself, losing ground to rivals, including IBM and Hewlett-Packard, which have exploited uncertainty about the deal to poach customers.   Related Topics Sun Microsystems Oracle Job Cuts Layoffs Antitrust Java Latest News Plasma-TV Ban Could Be Costly Barnes & Noble Nook Is Delayed Flat PC Shipments Hurt Dell's Stock Ballmer Says Windows 7 Sales Good New Pogoplug 'Cloud' Gets Social Sun Microsystems Inc. plans to eliminate up to 3,000 jobs, or 10 percent of its worldwide work force, as it awaits a takeover by Oracle Corp., a deal being held up by antitrust regulators in Europe. The layoffs Sun outlined Tuesday in a regulatory filing are the latest in a series of job cuts at the world's No. 4 server maker. Sun, a dot-com-era star, was banking on the $7.4 billion deal with Oracle as a lifeline after a decade of financial struggles. As delays have mounted, Sun has had to fend for itself, losing ground to rivals, including IBM Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., which have exploited uncertainty about the deal to poach customers. Sun's losses are mounting too: It lost $2.2 billion in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30. Sun said the job cuts will happen over the next year and affect all of Sun's major regions, including North America, Europe, Asia and emerging markets. Sun has already cut about 7,600 workers in the past three years in three rounds of layoffs, according to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Santa Clara-based Sun said it expects to incur $75 million to $125 million in restructuring charges over the next several quarters. Oracle's purchase of Sun is being held up by European antitrust authorities who are concerned about possible harm to the database-software market. Oracle makes the world's leading proprietary database software; Sun's MySQL is the leading open-source database. They have until Jan. 19 to approve the deal or block it. The deal has been approved by U.S. regulators. Oracle wants to buy Sun primarily because it wants more control over the development of Sun's Java software, which is a key ingredient in building Web sites. Oracle also claims that having Sun's hardware and Oracle's software teams working together will make the products work better together. Oracle and Sun are longtime partners. The deal may also have been partly a strategic ploy to keep Sun out of the clutches of IBM, an Oracle and Sun rival that was also bidding on the company.   © 2009 Associated Press under contract with YellowBrix. All rights reserved.   Advertisement  Enterprise I.T. 1.   Flat PC Shipments Hurt Dell's Stock 2.   Smartphones: New Security Risks 3.   FBI Says Hackers Targeting Law Firms 4.   Lock-and-Load Security for Your PC 5.   MS Study Sees Growing Worm Threat

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Network Security Spotlight

House Lawmakers Push Ban on Peer-to-Peer Software Stung by an embarrassing electronic leak revealing ethics investigations into dozens of lawmakers, Congress moved to prohibit federal employees from using the file-sharing software blamed for the disclosure.   GAO: Los Alamos Computer Security Has Weaknesses Security weaknesses uncovered in Los Alamos National Laboratory's computer network increase the risk of a classified-information breach, says the Government Accountability Office.   Computer Security Firm Fortinet Plans IPO This Week Fortinet plans to go public in an initial public offering, giving investors a chance to tap a network security provider with sales that are expected to grow. The IPO could be valued at $137.5 million or more.

Enterprise Hardware Spotlight

Flat Shipments Hurt Dell Despite Increased Earnings Dell's earnings are up and expectations are solid, but the company's stock still took a hit after analysts signaled the company isn't playing a key role in the PC market recovery.   New Pogoplug 'Personal Cloud' Does Social Networking Cloud Engines has released its newest version of the Pogoplug, a small "multimedia sharing device" that connects hard drives to the Internet and allows a user to access the files remotely.   Apple Tablet Rumored Delayed as Publisher Gears Up There have been so many rumors of an Apple tablet that it has taken on legendary status. But now the legend is being revised with reports of a delay and that a major publisher is getting ready.

Enterprise Technology Spotlight

Flat Shipments Hurt Dell Despite Increased Earnings Dell's earnings are up and expectations are solid, but the company's stock still took a hit after analysts signaled the company isn't playing a key role in the PC market recovery.   Smartphones: A Bigger Target for Security Threats Smartphones are increasingly prevalent and adept at handling more tasks, including trading stocks, paying bills, and buying stuff online. That makes them attractive to thieves and hackers.   FBI Says Hackers Targeting Law Firms, PR Companies Hackers are targeting law firms and public relations companies with a sophisticated e-mail scheme that breaks into their computer networks to steal sensitive data, often linked to large corporate clients.

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