Rumours

I've heard a couple of juicy acquisition rumours are circulating. I may be a bit behind the time actually, Googling them brings up stories from weeks ago. Finger back on pulse from now on...

Firstly, I've heard that VMware may be looking at buying Novell. This I can fully understand, VMware need to work with a full-blown operating system and they'll never be on Microsoft's Christmas card list. Novell also bought PlateSpin a while back so VMware would inherit those VM reconnaissance, right-sizing and management capabilities. I just wonder what they'd be prepared to pay; Novell have refused $1 billion in the past. VMware have loads of cash and I can't see Novell attracting any other serious suitors in the way 3Par did recently so I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Quite honestly, I think VMware would be far better off buying F5 - especially if they are serious about delivering desktops.

The figure of $1 billion pales into insignificance compared to the other rumour I've heard though: EMC being bought by Cisco. Can you imagine it? This would comfortably be the most significant IT acquisition ever, both in terms of value as well as industry fallout. Symantec paid $13 billion for Veritas, HP paid $25 billion for Compaq but, according to V3, this could be the largest ever. Regardless of what the final figure is, it will have to be north of $30 billion anyway - surely?

There are thousands of people better qualified to assess the impact of something like this than I but, in all honesty, I must admit I'd be surprised if it did happen. At least right now anyhow. Not that Cisco couldn't afford it - it has $26 billion in the bank at the moment - I'm just not sure shareholders would approve of such a major play in these times. Yes it would extend their reach further up the stack and the whole EMC/VMW/RSA Security family is a great proposition but banks are still jumpy and debt ain't cheap.

My, my, my - and there was me thinking I was quids in by selling a golf trolley I won in a raffle for 300 quid.