As IBM walks away from its acquisition of Sun Microsystems, it is clear that Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard have a renewed opportunity to pursue Sun Microsystems. There are several factors favoring these vendors:

1. The Sun Microsystems Board of Directors is probably frustrated in dealing with IBM and would welcome another more aggressive suitor.

2. The last offer Sun Microsystems was willing to explore was $9.55 per share or approximately $7 billion. In other words, both vendors know approximately how much the acquisition would cost.

3. Chances of anti-trust issues would be minimal compared to IBM.

Would HP bid on Sun Microsystems or is Cisco going to strike first?