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IDG News Service - Sun Microsystems Inc. will pay $1 billion for Swedish software company MySQL AB, whose open-source database is used for some of the most widely visited Web sites in the world, the company announced today.

Sun said the deal will augment its position in the enterprise IT market, including the $15 billion database market.

The news comes as Oracle Corp. said it will acquire BEA Systems Inc. for $8.5 billion.

MySQL's product line will help Sun give further support to the open-source Web application platform known as LAMP, the acronym for Linux, the Apache Web server, MySQL database and the PHP/Perl programming languages.

MySQL's strength in software-as-a-service offerings -- where applications are delivered over the Internet through a Web browser -- are also a plus, Sun said.

Databases are crucial for Internet-based applications in sites offering a range of services, from e-commerce to social networking.

Sun will pay $800 million in cash and $200 million in options.

Sun's acquisition ends speculation that MySQL might become a public company.

MySQL has become a formidable competitor to other relational database management systems from companies such as Oracle and IBM. The database itself is free for people to download, and MySQL makes money by offering subscription support packages.

MySQL CEO Marten Mickos, whose business cards list him as "Open Sourcerer," will join Sun's executive team. MySQL will be folded into Sun's software, sales and service organizations.

Sun said it plans to create a joint team to integrate MySQL, which has 400 employees in 25 countries, into its operations.

For Sun, the acquisition marks another phase in its turnaround after foundering following the dot-com bubble burst.

Since being appointed in April 2006, CEO Jonathan Schwartz has helped revive Sun's software and storage businesses and returned the company to a more stable financial footing.

For its first fiscal quarter of 2008 that ended Sept. 30, Sun reported a net income of $89 million. It lost $56 million for the same period a year before.

Since Sun's server software and operating system are free, the 32,000-employee company depends on revenue from hardware sales and support services.

In a conference call, Schwartz said that while MySQL is used by companies such as Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., it's not widely deployed in mission-critical environments because of support concerns.

Sun, however, is in a good position to build enterprise confidence in MySQL support, Schwartz said. "That's exactly what we will be focused on immediately as we prepare to put the two companies together," he said, calling the deal the most important in Sun's history.

Further, Sun will have an opportunity to offer more of its services