Charles Phillips talks up Oracle-Sun deal; F5 Networks revamps partner program

Oracle prez talks up Sun deal, company rebuilds Beehive

ORLANDO -- Oracle President Charles Phillips talked up the company's blockbuster plan to buy Sun Microsystems on Monday, lauding Sun Solaris as a top operating system and singing Java' s praises.

Phillips' remarks at Collaborate 09 here, were his first public comments on the $7.4 billion deal since a conference call announcing the buyout a few weeks ago.

Phillips said Oracle sees the constraints and pressures the economy has put on it, but said the company will be able to deliver valuable products to users, according to SearchOracle.com.

Oracle also rolled out a spiffed up version of its Beehive collaboration platform with a new Web-based Team Workspaces feature that could enable teams to better manage and share information, according to SearchOracle.com

Team Workspaces feature team calendaring, contextual search, wikis, file sharing, support for RSS and a micro blog for sending out announcements. The new features can be centrally accessed or set up by individual teams, and don't require a portal to function, Oracle said.

F5 Networks updates partner program

F5 Networks' revamped North American partner program could help VARs better deliver Application Delivery Networking solutions to customers, the company said.. It adds incentives for partners selling F5 gear into VMware environments and may help partners sell into Microsoft environments as well. The Lightning Program offers enhanced deal registration and the elimination of partner audits, the company said Tuesday.

And, "Specialist Partners" can get special incentives for service renewals, the company said.

Check out yesterday's IT channel news briefs.