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Oracle Snatches Up Telecom Tech Specialist Convergin

Paul Lilly — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:36:55 -0600

Oracle on Wednesday said it was going to scoop up Convergin, an Israeli startup specializing in software that helps telcos extend their services across multiple networks.

"As communications service providers transition from legacy telephony networks to next-generation networks, the combination of Oracle and Convergin will accelerate new service innovation while reducing network complexity and cost," said Bhaskar Gorti, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Communications.

Oracle said it is still looking over Covergin's product roadmap and plans to update customers at a later date. Convergin's customers include T-Mobile and SaaskTel.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Oracle-Sun Merger Finally Comes to Fruition

Paul Lilly — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 07:20:04 -0600

It's finally over, and we couldn't be happier. Not because we have any kind of vested interest in Oracle's takeover of Sun, but now that the acquisition is complete, we can stop following the rollercoaster ride and gain a sense of closure in a story we've been following for too long.

But as happy as we are, Oracle has to be thrilled to put this whole thing behind them, though you'd never know it from the company's ultra-brief press release (see here).

Maybe's Oracle's just worn out, and who can blame them. After gaining quick approval from the U.S. Department of Justice for its proposed $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems, Oracle, an unstoppable force, ran into the European Union, an immovable object. What happened? Oracle stopped and the EU moved, but not before Oracle gave up a series of concessions dealing with Sun's free MySQL database software.

"My hat is off to one of the greatest capitalists I have ever met, Larry Ellison," Sun Chairman Scott McNealy said in a memo. "To be honest, this is not a note this founder wants to write. Sun, in my mind, should have been the great and surviving consolidator. But I love the market economy and capitalism more than I love my company."

So will Oracle make good on its promise not to treat its MySQL database like a red-headed stepchild? That's the only question that remains to be answered.

EU Ends Three-Month Roller-Coaster Ride, Signs Off on Oracle-Sun Merger

Paul Lilly — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:20:07 -0600

It's finally over, at least as far as the European Union is concerned. The big news in the IT industry today is that Oracle has officially been given the green light by EU regulators to proceed with its $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems.

"I am now satisfied that competition and innovation will be preserved on all the markets concerned," said EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes, in a statement. "Oracle's acquisition of Sun has the potential to revitalize important assets and create new and innovative products."

It wasn't that long ago that EU regulators were singing a different tune. The major stumbling block had been Oracle's impending control of the free MySQL, which drew concern over what Oracle would do with the database software in light of selling its own database product. But those concerns were put to rest when Oracle agreed to a series of concessions, some of which included promising to pay $72 million over the next three years in R&D to improve MySQL, and extending MySQL's existing commercial licenses for up to five years.

"The Commission's in-depth investigation showed that although MySQL and Oracle compete in certain parts of the database market, they are not close competitors in others, such as the high-end segment," the EU said in a statement.

There's still work to be done, and before Oracle can pop the cork on the champagne bottles, it will need to convince regulators in Russia and China to jump on board. Protesters from the MySQL community recently turned their attention to these very markets in hopes of blocking the deal, but Oracle still says it expects "unconditional approval" to come soon.

MySQL Community Takes Anti Oracle-Sun Merger Protest to the East

Paul Lilly — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:19:28 -0600

After next week, Oracle's $7.4 billion roller-coaster ride will finally come to an end, as there remains little doubt that the European Commission will approve the company's acquisition of Sun Microsystems. With that being the case, protesters from the MySQL community have all but given up the battle in Europe and are now turning their attention to regulators in Russia and China, ITNews.com reports.

"The European Commission showed courage and competence during most of the investigation but looked very weak in the end," said MySQL founder Michael 'Monty' Widenius in a statement on Monday, adding that China and Russia "are powerful, self-confident, and open-source friendly countries and they have every right to do a better job on this than the EU."

Both nations are still investigating the deal and have yet to give Oracle the green light. So far, Widenius' helpmysql.org campaign has managed to attract 600 supporters in China and over 800 in Russia. On a global scale, the campaign stands at 30,000 signatures strong since its launch on December 28.

Oracle Preps Critical Patch Update

Paul Lilly — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 07:07:12 -0600

Oracle over the weekend made a pre-release announcement of an upcoming 'Critical Patch Update' slated for release this Tuesday, January 12, 2010.

The upcoming patch will contain no less than 24 new security vulnerability fixes intended for hundreds of Oracle products, including the Oracle Database and Oracle E-Business Suite, the company said. Some of the bug fixes affect more than one product.

Two new security fixes for the Oracle Primavera Products Suite are also included, although Oracle said "these vulnerabilities are not remotely exploitable without authentication, i.e., may not be exploited over a network without the need for a username and password."

More info here

Oracle Acquires Silver Creek Systems, No One Protests

Paul Lilly — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:05:40 -0600

Oracle probably hoped its first acquisition of year would be with Sun Microsystems, but while that transaction is still playing out, the database outfit went and snatched up data-quality vendor Silver Creek Systems.

Silver Creek Systems specializes in helping companies simplify and standardize product descriptions across various information stores through the use of its DataLens software. And up until now, the company competed with Oracle in data quality and data integration, which included some heavyweight customers, such as IBM.

Details of the deal are pretty sparse, including financial terms of the transaction. It's also unknown what Oracle plans to do with the future development of Silver Creek's products.

MySQL Community Organizes Last-Minute Anti-Oracle Protest

Paul Lilly — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:07:06 -0600

MySQL developers from around the world are doing what they can to convince the European Union to rule against Oracle's proposed $7.4 billion takeover bid of Sun Microsystems. And therein lies the problem: there's not much the MySQL community can do at this point.

In a last ditch effort to block the deal, developers took to emailing regulators from not just the EC, but also Russia, China, and various other countries. In addition, they've put together a petition signed by 14,000 MySQL users, all protesting the acquisition.

"In less than one week, during the holiday season, we gathered 50 times more customer support than Oracle claimed three weeks ago, when it presented a few hundred orchestrated letters from customers to the European Commission," MySQL creator Michael Widenius said in a statement. "The campaign has only started, and the number of signatures will double very quickly."

The problem for Widenius, and everyone else who opposes the deal, is that time is quickly running out. Oracle made a series of concessions that has EU regulators ready to approve the deal, and according to eWeek's sources, it's going to happen within the month.

Nevertheless, Widenius promised to keep drumming up support for his campaign right up until the bitter end, which might not be that far off.

Oracle Accused of Fraud and Copyright Infringement

Paul Lilly — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:09:01 -0600

Not all of the news centered around Oracle deals with the company's proposed takeover bid of Sun Microsystems. Instead, Oracle's in the headlines for allegedly infringing on a Georgia company's technology to build user interfaces associated with Fusion.

MB Technologies, the company who filed the complaint, is the developer of Bindows, a toolkit that lets developers create a replica of the Windows UI for their Web apps. The company entered a licensing agreement in 2004 with EPM (enterprise performance management) vendor Hyperion, and after Oracle acquired Hyperion in 2007, MB asked for an addendum to the original agreement.

In October 2007, Oracle sent MB a draft of the addendum, which included a section stating it would license Bindows "for use in Oracle Fusion products," and that's what has MB in a tizzy.

MB claims it has made several "good faith" attempts to reach an agreement with Oracle, but has been unable to do so. Now MB is seeking damages, including any profits Oracle has made from the use of Bindows.

Image Credit: Flickr Joe Gratz