What Oracle/Peoplesoft Means For Networking

Oracle's announcement that it is buying Peoplesoft should be a cautionary tale to network buyers and vendors everywhere.

Peoplesoft? Oracle? What do they have to do with networking?

Nothing directly except that enterprise applications, of course, ride on top of networking hardware and software.

No, the key here is not technology, but business. The merger means that those looking to buy enterprise applications have even fewer choices than ever before. For now, this is a sharp contrast to the networking world, where even though Cisco dominates, competition is fierce.

But with 3Com's announced purchase of TippingPoint, and Cisco's buy of a network design firm, is all that changing?I think not. Networking technology is changing astonishingly rapidly, with WiFi, WLAN, VoIP, IP Telephony, various security measures...the list could go on for quite some time. There's always room for startups, and there is so much money to be made, that a handful of vendors simply won't be able to dominate. In enterprise applications, on the other hand, there are only a few well-known big vendors. The shakeout has already happened.

That doesn't mean that it will never happen in networking. It's certainly possible. Let's hope that it doesn't, though. Because fewer vendors means less choice, less innovation, and a technology whose better days are behind it.