Less than a month after acquiring Sun Microsystems, Oracle announced that it is going to acquire Virtual Iron. Why would Oracle want to buy Virtual Iron if it already has Oracle VM and nearly completed Sun xVM Server? Here are some potential drivers for the acquisition:

1. Virtual Iron has a mature, field-validated server virtualization offering that includes a comprehensive set of virtual infrastructure management applications.
2. Virtual Iron is one of the best known brands in the virtualization space.
3. Oracle VM probably does not yet have a critical mass of customers and mindshare. Meanwhile Sun xVM Server is not generally available.
4. Virtual Iron applications are developed in Java. This will make it easier for Oracle to integrate and maintain Virtual Iron technology, especially after acquiring Sun Microsystems.
5. By acquiring Virtual Iron, Oracle is also going to cut off other vendors such as Novell from entering into direct competition with Oracle in the virtualization space.

There is no question that Oracle could have continued to increase its marketshare by building Oracle VM and Sun xVM Server. However with Virtual Iron under its wing, Oracle is able to accelerate its entry into the virtualization space with a credible and proven virtualization offering.

Lanamark Suite already supports server virtualization analysis, planning and design for Virtual Iron.