Oracle Gets Out Chequebook For Database, Middleware Boost

Oracle is adding to its stable of acquisitions, announcing yesterday that it is buying GoldenGate Software, a private company that specialises in real time data integration technology.

Oracle is expected to close the deal with GoldenGate later this year. The two companies did not disclose any financial details.

While Oracle is just announcing its latest acquisitions, the two companies have worked closely together for about 10 years. Right now, many of GoldenGate’s products are already integrated with Oracle Database, Oracle Fusion Middleware and other Oracle applications.

Although Oracle did not specify how it would integrate GoldenGate’s technology into it products, it’s likely that Oracle plans to enhance its middleware and database products through the company’s data integration technology.

The goal, according to Oracle, is to allow data to move between heterogeneous systems in real time without any downtime. The new offers are expected to also increase business intelligence while enhancing replication and reducing maintenance.

This should allow high-volume transitions, such as online banking, insurance claims and retail purchases, to continue without any disruption to the service or the customer.

“The need to improve operating performance in a global 24×7 environment has led to the need for data integration to support real-time and high availability capabilities,” Hasan Rizvi, senior vice president Oracle Fusion Middleware Product Development, wrote on Oracle’s website. “With the addition of GoldenGate, Oracle expects to help our customers achieve better performance through improved business intelligence and business continuity with real-time information.”

While other companies have hunkered down as the global recession continues, Oracle has gone a high-profile buying spree since the beginning of the years. Its most significant acquisition, the $7.4 billion deal for Sun Microsystems, is expected to close soon.

In addition, Oracle has picked up a number of smaller companies including Virtual Iron, a small firm that specialises in x86 virtualisation technology. Like GoldenGate, Oracle has not specified how it plans to integrate Virtual Iron’s products into portfolio just yet.

Earlier this month, Oracle announced the latest version of its middleware – Fusion Middleware 11g – and the new platform takes better advantage of virtualisation, as well as offering new developer tools to help build better applications. Oracle also integrated features into the new middleware that allow enterprises to take advantage of social networking tools and other types of collaboration technology.