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Only a few years ago the news of Oracle's dramatic takeover of Sun would scarcely have troubled the wireless newswires, but the heart of the plan is Java, and while Java used to thrive for its ability to span various enterprise operating systems, its future lies in spanning fixed, mobile and embedded devices. And in a twist of fate, Oracle is seeking to blindside Microsoft in a model that has originated in mobility - the tight integration of hardware and all layers of the software stack.

Enterprise database and apps giant Oracle is to acquire Sun in a deal worth about $5.6bn - or $7.4bn including Sun's cash and debt, which in per-share terms only just trumps the reported $9.40 offered by IBM in a revised proposal. IBM, which has been chasing Sun for weeks, appears to have been wholly wrongfooted by Oracle's characteristically decisive action, while Microsoft may feel the keenest pressure.

At the core of the deal is control of Java, which Oracle CEO Larry Ellison referred to as "the most important software" his company has ever obtained. Of less obvious value is Sun's hardware server business, given that the acquirer has no experience in hardware and relies on selling its software on multiple platforms - but this does indicate the trend for tight integration of boxes and applications to move up into the enterprise sector. Sun also gains the Solaris Unix-based operating system - the premier platform for the Oracle database - and the MySQL open source database, which has been a thorn in its side and which it tried to acquire several years ago.

Java is not only the basis of important Oracle products, notably its Fusion Middleware range, but strengthens its hands in terms of overall influence over industry software directions, and gives it a route into broader markets, including mobile enterprise - a track also being pursued by another company once confined to the large corporation, Cisco.

Implications for the mobile business will not be short term - Oracle has made fewer moves into this space than IBM had, and an IBM acquisition of Sun would have had far more immediate impact, possibly even throwing up a Java-based 'universal operating system'. However, the potential role of a Java OS as a path to a more efficient mobile enterprise platform will be clear to Sun too - such a product would remove the need for an

abstraction layer between the OS and Java-based apps, improving performance and developer efficiency. By acquiring Sun, it takes leadership of the Java community process, now open sourced, and gains more direct access to the huge Java developer base.

Java runs on 800m PCs and 2.1bn phones, yet has been woefully under-exploited by Sun in commercial terms, generating only $220m of its $23.9bn revenue last year. Oracle will be looking to boost that quickly to $1bn - "Java is the most valuable brand in software that has no value," Joshua Greenbaum of Enterprise Applications Consulting told BusinessWeek. For a start, sources say Nokia's Java contracts with Sun are up for renewal soon - still valuable, despite the core Java technologies now being in open source.

Oracle is talking about integrating hardware and software to produce 'Oracle-in-a-box', reducing cost and complexity for enterprises and increasing its own control. It will not be long before that concept starts to filter down into mobile devices, as these become essential to businesses, and then Oracle's full influence over mobile Java will be felt.

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