Oracle announced it is to acquire BEA Systems for
£4.3bn, to bolster itsservice oriented architecturestrategy.
Oracle chief executive officer Larry Ellison, said, "The
addition of BEA products and technology will significantly enhance
and extend Oracle's Fusion middleware software suite."
IT analyst Gartner
warned users that BEA's product portfolio and Oracle Fusion
Middleware overlaps significantly, so the acquisition could lead to
a lot of product rationalisation.
Although the outlook for BEA's existing users could be shaky
with such massive cross-over of products, Massimo Pezzini, analyst
at Gartner, said: "Some BEA products - such as Tuxedo and WebLogic
Server - have customers generating substantial maintenance revenue,
so it would be in Oracle's interest to keep supporting them, even
if they do not become strategic components of Oracle Fusion
Middleware."
Other products, like JRockit, AquaLogic BPM, AquaLogic PEP and
AquaLogic Enterprise Repository complement Oracle Fusion
Middleware, so Gartner expected these products could be fully
integrated with Oracle's own software.
Interestingly, it is Oracle's own products that may be at risk.
Pezzini noted that BEA's technology was generally regarded as high
quality. "It is not certain that Oracle's own products would always
be chosen as strategic. In some cases, the needs of Oracle Fusion
Applications would determine which component product became
strategic," he said.
Gartner expected the next version of Oracle Fusion Middleware
suite would incorporate products of both Fusion and BEA.
When completed, the acquisition will mean Oracle would emerge as
a portal, process and middleware supplier with revenue second in
size only to IBM, the market leader. Gartner said IBM and Oracle
would be the main suppliers of Java-centric middleware, well ahead
of the remaining providers. Oracle and IBM would also have a
significant lead over Microsoft, which focuses on .net-centric
middleware, although Microsoft and SAP will continue to be
formidable competitors in the larger application infrastructure
market, Gartner said.