Oracle had agreed to acquire Netsure Telecom Ltd, which provides network intelligence, analytics and network data integrity software. Netsure Telecom is based in Dublin, Ireland, and will become part of Oracle's Communications Global Business unit once the transaction has closed.
The Oracle acquisition spree continues, with no sign of a slowdown. The communications industry is strategically important for Oracle, being one of the sectors with a high reliance on IT and, consequently, strong software spend. The latest acquisition is one in a long chain of communications industry acquisitions—HotSip, MetaSolv Software, Net4Call, Portal Software, and Telephony@Work. Of course, many of the horizontal acquisitions such as Times Ten also play strongly into the communications vertical. Oracle has always been a major software player in the communications industry, with market share dominance in its database technology. The string of acquisitions has turned it an even more significant player in the market.
In terms of functionality the NetSure products fall into two categories. First, the ANO (Active Network Optimisation) suite provides network optimization, capacity planning and trending, and network financial modelling. Second, the Reconciler product improves network data integrity for communications service providers. These two areas are complementary to the rest of the Oracle communications portfolio and position it well to provide software infrastructure support to the growing NGN phenomenon.
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison was asked at the end of Oracle's last fiscal year whether Oracle would continue to make more acquisitions. His response was robust, indicating that the market should expect Oracle to make at least as many acquisitions in the year ahead - compared with the previous 12 months. The Netsure transaction shows that he is going to keep his word. The credit crunch in the US is not currently impacting Oracle's strategy, but time will tell whether the new lending environment will force a change of strategy.
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