Oracle close to acquiring Virtual Iron

[Mike]

With little to no success in pushing its own virtualization product, Oracle is in talks to acquire Virtual Iron, according to insiders at the startup.

Oracle Corp. has signed a letter of intent to acquire Virtual Iron Software Inc. and is said to be at the "checking-into-how-things-are-run stage," according to a source, who requested anonymity.

The terms of the deal were not available, but industry analysts believe it's likely to be a fire sale. In a fifth round of funding in January 2008, Lowell, Mass.-based Virtual Iron clinched $20 million bringing its total funding to date to $65 million.

Virtual Iron claims to have around 2,000 small and medium-sized business customers, but it's "very much an also-ran in this market," according to Gordon Haff, principal analyst at Illuminata Inc. "They might be the fifth largest virtualization player, but that's like being a fourth-string quarterback," he said. They'll pay "whatever Larry Ellison has lying around in his sock drawer," he added.

Full Story: Oracle close to acquiring Virtual Iron