Got up to see the news that Oracle closes in on Hyperion.
The rumored oracle –hyperion deal is confirmed.
Oracle says
The acquisition of Hyperion makes Oracle the category leader in the high growth enterprise performance management market," said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. "Hyperion's EPM software coupled with Oracle's Business Intelligence (BI) tools and analytic applications form an end-to-end performance management system that includes planning, budgeting, consolidation, operational analytics and compliance reporting.
BI is clearly the fastest growth area in enterprise application space today. The consolidation in the BI space was expected for sometime. Dana Gardner has an excellent assessment of the implications – surprisingly this is seen as a positive move.
I wrote months back,"Next : Watch out for some consolidation in this space. Microsoft is hardly alone in eyeing this sector.Oracle recently described Siebel’s analytics as hidden jewel. Cognos, Business Objects may look attractive to enterprise majors.SAS may be the only major left untouched. Microsoft could also make some acquisitive moves besides SAP & Oracle. Oracle used its recent Oracle Open World conference to outline analytics as a key focus going forward. While there is a near consensus about the imminent consolidation in this space, the barriers could be self made – oracle looking at smaller acquisitions moving forward( they may be content with siebel analytics), SAP is conservative in playing the acquisition game and IBM as usual may not see acquisition a good fit – given its emphasis on services and consulting more than apps. As the BI industry is a mega segment and a fast growing one at that( repeated surveys show BI as a high priority spend area for enterprises), and a very important technology that could be used for competitive differentiation by business - the four majors may still make aggressive moves".
Its indeed amazing to see Oracle making its move faster than IBM, which was widely expected to make a move into this space with an acquisition. All I can say is that once can expect more attention on Cognos & Business objects. Also on BEA, SFDC and other on-demand players. Meanwhile guys like outlooksoft, an ex-hyperion shop team would see more traction. Definitley focussed niche players with good execution ability would find some space to operate in..
Labels: Acquisition, Enterprise Software, Oracle
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