Sun plans to acquire Encore Computer

Sun Microsystems (Mountain View, CA, http://www.sun.com

) has signed an agreement with Encore Computer (Fort Lauderdale, FL, http://www.encore.com), a supplier of universal data storage, retrieval and sharing technologies, to acquire Encore's storage business. Still under negotiation, the transaction "reinforces Sun's commitment to be the industry's leading open enterprise systems vendor," according to John Shoemaker, VP of Sun's Enterprise Server and Storage Group.