
By Jessica Davis

Companies can gain advantages by making big strategic moves and taking advantage of bargains. Big movers this year include Cisco and Oracle, certainly. But here are our picks for the biggest and most significant technology acquisitions so far in 2009.

Technology: Digital video (maker of the Flip)
Announced: March 2009
Status: Completed
Price:
$590 million

Technology: Java, Unix server hardware and operating system, mySQL
Rumored: March 2009
Status:
Rumor never confirmed by either company. Deal reportedly fell apart

Technology: Java, Unix server hardware and operating system, mySQL
Announced: April 20, 2009
Status: EU objection issued
Price:
$5.4 billion net of Sun’s cash and debt

Techology:
Data deduplication
Status: EMC beat NetApp in bidding war
Announced: July 2009
Price:
$2.4 billion

Technology: IT services
Announced: September 2009
Status: Pending
Price:
$3.9 billion

Technology: Phone systems for businesses
Announced: September 2009
Status: Avaya won auction bidding
Price:
$900 million

Technology: Business process outsourcing firm
Announced: September 2009
Status: Pending
Price:
$6.4 billion

Technology: Video conferencing for the midmarket
Announced: October 2009
Status: Pending—not all Tandberg shareholders are onboard
Price:
$3 billion

Technology: SAAS web security
Announced: October 2009
Status: Pending
Price:
$183 million

Technology: Networking equipment and security
Announced: November 2009
Status: Pending
Price:
$2.7 billion