By Nathan Rudyk

Today's US $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun by Oracle is another prophetic sign that tech is ready to rumble once again. This is a far more dynamic fit than if IBM had swallowed Sun. Together, Sun and Oracle give companies like IBM and HP a true competitor. Out of competition comes more innovation, more sales channels, and more opportunities for tech entrepreneurs to participate in the ecosystem of a newly formed I.T. powerhouse.

And this deal's not the only rumbling out there. While the Dow Jones Industrials have lost 10% on the year, The tech-heavy NASDAQ has held its own. See comparison chart below. Other tech giants like Microsoft and Cisco are sitting on motherloads of cash. Oracle's move on Sun may well motivate more deal-making and get cash moving across the tech sector.

Meanwhile, veteran tech industry observer John Dvorak smells a bottom in tech markets, saying there's significant pent-up demand for technology.

Back to the Oracle-Sun deal, Enterprise 2.0 guru/blogger Mike Gotta speculates that one of the jewels in the Sun crown is a Corporate Facebook platform called SunSpace that includes a set of algorithms complimenting ones "Oracle acquired from Tacit and BEA (Pathways) to analyze a variety of network relationships across people, artifacts, activities, etc."

Powerful, innovative stuff. Just the kind of thing the tech industry needs to drive new demand.

(Nathan Rudyk is President and CEO with market2world communications inc., Ottawa, Canada's tech PR and product marketing agency.)