Sun Microsystems has agreed to purchase MySQL, developer of one of the world's fastest-growing open source databases, for $1 billion. MySQL's open source database is deployed across all major operating systems, hardware vendors, geographies, industries, and application types. It is the "M" in LAMP &mdash: the software platform comprised of Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP/Perl that's often viewed as the foundation of the Internet. More than 100 million copies of MySQL's database software have been downloaded, and an additional 50,000 copies are downloaded daily, according to a release from Sun. The acquisition pushes Sun into the $15 billion database market, accelerating its position in enterprise IT. Jonathan Schwartz, CEO and president of Sun, said the move reaffirms Sun's position as the leading provider of platforms for the Web economy as well as its role as the largest commercial open source contributor. "This announcement boosts our investments into the communities at the heart of innovation on the Internet and of enterprises that rely on technology as a competitive weapon," Schwartz said in a statement. Sun said the deal will help bring MySQL's software to large corporations, which have been the biggest customers of Sun's servers and software, and boost its distribution through Sun's relationships with other server makers like Intel, IBM, and Dell. 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. The transaction is expected to close in Sun's late third or early fourth quarter.
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