The completion of the acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle last week signaled a new strategy for information technology companies. Funny, though, this new way of doing business isn't new at all; rather, it borrows strongly from principles established more than 50 years ago.

Back in the 1960s and well into the '70s, there was only one information technology company of any significance: IBM, aka Big Blue. You bought your hardware from IBM, your software from IBM, your services from IBM. IBM put in your network, provided you with support and maintenance and, if you were a big enough customer, wined and dined you. Of course, the IBM of the old days made plenty of money.

Competitors began to take market share away from IBM as computers got cheaper and smaller. Some specialized in software (like Microsoft and Oracle), some in hardware (like HP, Wang and Sun), some in networking (like Cisco) and others in services (like EDS).

As these new vendors and their products took hold, a new mantra was adapted. “;Interoperability,”; the capability of vendors' products to play nicely with others vendors' products, became a key focal point.

Despite the focus, interoperability has proved difficult. Vendors look to rely upon standards that help support interoperability. Such standards, however, often don't exist or aren't tight enough to enforce compliance and compatibility.

This is where Oracle's purchase of Sun comes in. Oracle's basic pitch is that by controlling the servers, storage, processors, operating system, development languages, databases and applications, they can provide a superior solution to one pieced together by different vendors.

From a technical perspective this seems to make sense. Theoretically, the hardware folks will keep the software folks aware and informed of new developments, and the teams can work in lockstep. In practice, however, we've seen situations in much smaller companies where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

While similar to IBM's old strategy, it is not quite the same. In today's market there are many competitors to the new Oracle, while there were precious few in the old days.

Free-market evangelists decry that such a strategy will result in higher prices, less innovation and less competition. Interestingly enough, most experts believe that such an acquisition would be impossible in prosperous times. The point is that we're playing by different rules in today's economic climate.

Only time will tell how this deal plays out and whether history repeats itself.