By Dominic Maher, 19 September 2000 18:30
NEWS The $2bn all-stock deal, announced on Tuesday afternoon, gives Sun access to Cobalt's Linux-based technology, and should - pending regulatory approval - be finalised by the end of the year. Gary Cooper, director of research at Butler Group, believes the company is acquiring skills it hasn't got. He said: "Sun will gain the Linux skills it currently lacks. This isn't a case of removing Cobalt from the marketplace, instead it'll be used to plug a gap in Sun's product strategy." Cooper expects Sun to leave its new acquisition alone to perform business as usual - except with the financial clout of the server giant behind it. He said: "Since they [Cobalt] are a smaller company, I think Sun will leave them as they are to get on with the job but with the financial and technical support of Sun." George Kochinsky, vice president EMEA operations at Cobalt Networks, said: "To have a prominent company like Sun buying us - it's got to be sweet magic. Although it's early days for the deal I expect it to go through by the end of this year. There are a number of regulatory aspects to go through but it will be business as usual. We are one of Sun's competitors and will remain so. We will still do our best to beat them wherever we can." Kochinsky added he was confident that Sun would retain the Cobalt name once the deal is finalised. Sun was unavailable for comment.
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