Sun Microsystems plans to acquire applications tool developer Forte Software in a stock deal worth about $US540 million.
The merger should be final sometime during Sun's second fiscal quarter, ending December 31, Sun said. Forte shareholders still must approve the merger.
Assuming that approval is granted, Forte will become a Sun subsidiary when the deal is completed, and will operate as a subsidiary of Sun.
Forte was founded in 1991, and develops and integrates distributed applications. The company is known for its development tools, as well as its enterprise-application environment.