Sun looking to buy software companies

BOSTON (Reuters) - Computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA.O) Chief Financial Officer Michael Lehman said the developer of Solaris and Java software is looking to buy software makers to help boost its sales of computer programs.

"I am not going to tell you which companies we are going after," he said at an analyst day in New York.

Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz said the company is unlikely to do a large-scale, high-profile purchase. Acquisitions will be more likely to have "strategic merit" than "financial merit" as company executives look to expand product lines, he said.

"Having said that, they will have financial merit," added Lehman.

They made the comments during a question-and-answer session following presentations by Schwartz and Lehman at the analyst day.

The company, long best known for its computer servers and storage equipment, is looking to boost its profile as a software maker.

On August 27 it changed its Nasdaq trading symbol to JAVA, a reference to its Java software, which allows companies to write one set of code that works on multiple operating systems.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston)