Ian Abramson, president of the Independent Oracle Users Group, is traveling to Belgium in order to present the IOUG position on the pending acquisition of Sun by Oracle to the European Union's Competition Committee. Abramson, who will arrive in Brussels on Wednesday, was asked by Oracle, on behalf of the IOUG, to be a part of the company's presentation this week to the EU.
The IOUG's leadership believes the purchase will not affect competition in the database market, notes Abramson in a recent blog post. He adds that the technology community is comprised of innovators, and they will respond to the needs and desires of the marketplace.
Last month, the IOUG released a letter sent by Abramson on behalf of the IOUG to the European Commission. The letter was sent in response to the European Commission's objection to the Oracle acquisition of Sun Microsystems. In that letter, Abramson writes that IOUG organizations support complex, multi-vendor database environments. Its members run Microsoft, IBM and Oracle platforms; similarly many members are Sun customers. Because of this, Abramson says, the IOUG has a unique perspective on the state of the database industry, including how Oracle approaches and supports the community. According to Abramson, the recent objections from the EU inferring that competition and innovation will be reduced in the database industry through this acquisition does not translate to those in the IOUG community who support the profession. In fact, they believe competition will increase, according to Abramson.
By not approving this acquisition, the EU's decisions are actually diminishing competition by making a significant impact on Sun and its ability to remain competitive, Abramson contends.
Read Abramson's recent blog posts on the subject here.
To read Abramson's letter to the European Commission go here.