Oracle buys document capture vendor Captovation
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On the same day its plans to&#160;buy middleware giant BEA Systems&#160;rocked the technology world, Oracle also revealed Wednesday that its string of niche acquisitions will continue through the purchase of document-capture vendor Captovation.
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(InfoWorld) - Adobe Systems on Tuesday is announcing Adobe Captivate 2, an upgraded version of its Flash-based software for developing computer-based demonstrations and interactive simulations. Geared to e-learning professionals, trainers, and others who provide computer-based instruction, Captivate 2 generates interactive content in Flash and does not require users have programming knowledge or multimedia skills, Adobe said. New in version 2 are workflow enhancements for developing scenario-based training that visually branches out to different learner paths depending on the user's choices. A simulation wizard in version 2 helps in developing "soft skills" simulations, adding content to placeholder slides and setting up branching with point-and-click functionality. Soft skills are skills relating to the ability to communicate with other people, such as in customer support, Adobe said. A placeholder slide is an empty slide to help authors get started with presentations. A zoom capability in version 2, meanwhile, lets users zoom into specific areas of the screen. "Adobe Captivate is a tool that empowers people," to do things they could not do before, said Silke Fleischer, product marketing manager for Adobe Captivate. Flash video can be imported into Captivate presentations. Captivate 2 content can be integrated with other e-learning systems such as Macromedia Breeze, Macromedia Authorware, and Questionmark Perception. Available on October 5, Adobe Captivate 2 costs an estimated $599. Registered users can upgrade for an estimated price of $299.
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Oracle is near a deal to acquire Hyperion Solutions, which makes business analysis software, for about $3 billion.
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DECEMBER 13, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Oracle Corp. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire PeopleSoft Inc. for $26.50 per share, or about $10.3 billion, the companies said today, ending an acrimonious
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(InfoWorld) - Oracle Corp. has shipped a new version of Portal's billing and revenue management software after winning a hard-fought battle to acquire Portal earlier this year. Portal's software is designed to let communications and media companies bill and manage a range of services including wireline and wireless phones, broadband, cable, VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol), IP television, music and video. The application can handle both prepaid and postpaid services as well as different billing plans such as family and corporate calling plans. Now known as Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management, Oracle made version 7.3 of the Portal software generally available Monday. The focus of the new release is improved systems management capabilities including a real-time centralized operations management console and a performance optimization dashboard, according to Jennifer Kyriakakis, director of product marketing at Oracle. The new version has strong ties into Hewlett-Packard Co.'s OpenView systems management software and can also hook into consoles from other systems management software vendors, she said. Acquiring Portal was a strategic move on Oracle's behalf. It was part of the vendor's endeavors to build up domain expertise across a number of vertical industries, said Bhaskar Gorti, a senior vice president at Oracle. Previously at Portal, he now heads Oracle's newly formed communications global business unit, which houses what was Portal. In creating the new business unit, Oracle intends to emulate the approach it took last year when it set up a new retail business unit based on its purchase of retail management software vendor Retek, he added. Oracle first announced plans to purchase Portal for around US$220 million in April butÂ had to renew its tender offer for the company twice in the wake of some Portal shareholder opposition to the deal. "I was a little surprised it took so long; we all were," Gorti said. "But we were very confident that we'd done the necessary due diligence and that the deal would get completed." Oracle officially took over Portal in late June and completed the buy in early July having acquired more than 88 percent of Portal's outstanding stock. Oracle has since purchased the remaining stock and now owns 100 percent of Portal, Gorti said. The database and applications vendor is working on integrating Portal's billing and revenue management into its ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications as well as tightening the existing ties between Portal and the CRM (customer relationship management) software Oracle acquired through the purchase of Siebel. Definitely on the agenda is a plan to integrate Portal's software with Oracle's General Ledger (GL) application, Gorti said. Portal already integrates with the GL of Oracle's main applications rival SAP AG. Although Portal has focused on the telecommunications and media industries, Gorti confirmed that Oracle is looking to expand the use of the software to other vertical industries, though he declined to name which ones. Oracle intends to provide more details on its planned road map for the Portal products and technology later this month at its OpenWorld user conference in San Francisco, Gorti said. Â
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NEW YORK -- Oracle Corp. , the world's top database software maker, is near an agreement to buy Hyperion Solutions Corp. , which makes software that lets companies analyze and track their performance, for about $3 billion, The New York Times said yesterday in its online edition.
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Storage company EMC has agreed to buy Document Sciences, a developer of software for personalizing mailshots and other communications. The acquisition will allow EMC to extend its offering in the field of transactional content management, which it sees as the fastest-growing part of the enterprise content management market. It plans to incorporate Document Sciences into its content management and archiving division.Using xPression, Document Sciences&#39; flagship application, companies can automate the creation and delivery of personalized communications such as brochures and contracts. The data can be drawn from CRM (customer relationship management), ECM (enterprise content management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems, it said.Automating the processes can save companies money or speed deals along, Document Sciences said. It has more than 500 customers using its software, it said.Document Sciences and EMC have been partners since 2004, when Document Sciences signed an agreement to integrate its xPression software with EMC&#39;s Documentum platform.Acquiring Document Sciences will allow EMC to further its goal of delivering systems for handling business problems end to end, it said.The xPression software could be useful for companies building transaction-intensive consumer financial applications such as new account enrollment, wealth management, brokerage and claims processing.The acquisition, for $85 million in cash, already has the approval of the companies&#39; boards of directors. Subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of regulators and Document Sciences&#39; shareholders, the companies expect to close the deal by the end of March.EMC went on a buying spree in 2003, buying Legato and&#160;Documentum&#160;and has added around 20 companies since then, including security and encryption company&#160;RSA Security, virtualization specialist&#160;Rainfinity, and other companies such as Acartus,&#160;Captiva,&#160;and&#160;Internosis.
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InfoWorld - Adobe Systems on Tuesday is announcing Adobe Captivate 2, an upgraded version of its Flash-based software for developing computer-based demonstrations and interactive simulations.
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Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to buy data center automation software vendor Opsware Inc. for about US$1.6 billion.
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InfoWorld - Storage company EMC has agreed to buy Document Sciences, a developer of software for personalizing mailshots and other communications. The acquisition will allow EMC to extend its offering in the field of transactional content management, which it sees as the fastest-growing part of the enterprise content management market. It plans to incorporate Document Sciences into its content management and archiving division.
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ScanSoft Inc. said it plans three acquisitions. The company will acquire Phonetic Systems Ltd., a provider of automated directory assistance and voice-based programs, for $35 million in cash, and an additional consideration of up to $35 million, based on the achievement of performance targets and the potential vesting of a warrant to buy 750,000 common shares. ART Advanced Recognition Technologies ...
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Oracle has agreed to acquire business intelligence software vendor Hyperion for $3.3 billion
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(InfoWorld) - On Monday, Oracle unveiled an addition to its Fusion middleware, Oracle Data Integrator, to help users quickly bring the huge amounts of information in different databases and applications across their organizations together in a single place. Data Integrator is based on technology Oracle acquired when itÂ purchased French data integration company SunopsisÂ in October, according to Ashish Mohindroo, senior product director for Oracle's Fusion middleware. Customers can use Data Integrator to pull data from different sources into one location, helping them with data analysis and queries in BI and data warehousing applications. But the tool is not limited to BI, Mohindroo said. It can also be helpful for users engaged in master data management, SOA, and BAM (business activity monitoring) as well as application migration and consolidation, he said. One of the main reasons Oracle bought Sunopsis was to improve Fusion's ability to bring in data from non-Oracle products. Data Integrator supports databases, data warehouses, and applications from vendors including IBM, Microsoft, NCR's Teradata, Netezza, and Sybase. Mohindroo wouldn't comment on Oracle's plans to support Hewlett-Packard's offerings other than to note that HP continues to be a partner.Â HP has been ramping up its data warehousing business recently, debuting its Neoview data warehouse software, server, and storage product family in October. Data Integrator competes with Informatica's PowerCenter data integration software and IBM's rival Information Serverm, which it gained through theÂ 2005 $1.1 billion purchase of Ascential. Oracle inherited an OEM relationship with Informatica through itsÂ acquisition of applications vendor Siebel. In October, Oracle and Informatica reaffirmed that partnership, extending it for four years. The release of Data Integrator won't affect that relationship, Mohindroo said. "We offer it as an alternative to Data Integrator," he added. "Customers can pick and choose." Naturally, Data Integrator is also optimized to work with Oracle's own database, application server, SOA Suite, and BAM software. Customers can use the tool to build data warehouses that are then queried by Oracle's Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition. Oracle shipped the most recent version of that software last week with a focus on tighter integration with Oracle's own applications and new native access to applications rival SAP's Business Information Warehouse. Oracle BI Suite EE 10g Release 3.0 also features a lot of work the vendor has done on the usability side, said Rick Schultz, vice president of Oracle Fusion middleware, including enhanced integration with Microsoft's Office desktop applications suite and drag-and-drop layout editing. Oracle Data Integrator is now shipping at a cost of $12,000 per database target CPU and $4,000 per database source CPU. Users can also try out an evaluation copy of the software online. Â
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TechWeb - Oracle has launched software that the company says is designed to provide &quot;low-cost&quot; management of Office documents, PDF and image files, and other unstructured data.
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NewsGator has signed an agreement to resell the RSS feed-generation engine of /n Software, which will let its corporate users use RSS to access data stored in databases, spreadsheets and business apps.
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Oracle&#39;s agreement to buy PeopleSoft for $26.50 per share, or approximately $10.3 billion, means a new era for users of PeopleSoft&#39;s enterprise applications.
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Business software maker BEA Systems Inc  has agreed to be acquired by Oracle Corp  for $8.5 billion, the companies said on Wednesday.