Sun Microsystems may be interested in memory technologies

Sep 13, 2007 09:42 GMT  ·  By

It is widely believed, thank you rumor spreaders, that Sun Microsystems is looking to expand its business reach into the field of random access memory by bidding for the Rambus company which is specialized in the development of memory technologies, even if it does not directly produce memory modules. While the acquisition of the Rambus company may not really impact Sun's business too soon, it may have some serious effects on the computer industry as a whole.

Rambus is the company that developed a lot of the currently used technologies that are needed to build dynamic random access memory modules, as well as technologies related to the chip-to-chip communication processes and as the company does not own manufacturing plants, it makes its money from licensing the use of its technologies to interested third parties, the actual manufacturers. Among the best-known products that are on the market today and which use technologies created by Rambus, there are the Sony PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 game consoles (the DRAM memory modules) and the Cell processors (the FlexIO processor system bus).

While Rambus owns many patents concerning the technologies used in the process of manufacturing random access memories, most memory manufacturers consider that the company acted in an immoral manner and deceived them, using a method called ''patent ambush''. Because of those problems, Rambus is currently under investigation by the European Union and United States antitrust organizations.

If rumors are true and Sun Microsystems is going to acquire the Rambus company, it will gain access to all its portfolio of memory technology patents as well as staff of engineers and present and future development plans. This move may very well contradict Sun's recent claims that it will make its server platforms and processors less proprietary and as the company is not known for its mass producing abilities, it may continue Rambus' tradition of licensing technologies instead of mass producing memory modules.

While Sun Microsystems is one of the most important players on the server market, its total capital is in the range of $20 billion, much less than the market capital of companies like Intel, which are above the $100 billion mark. Even so, when compared to Rambus' capital of only $1.72 billion, Sun Microsystems looks like a giant and it may accomplish its proposed acquisition plans.