Oracle Further Orchestrates Its SOA Forays
Part One: Event Summary and Market Impact
P.J. Jakovljevic - March 14, 2005

Event Summary

The main idea behind this article is not to further delve into the strengths and weaknesses of the impending merger between Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL), the largest database and enterprise software provider (recently "inaugurated" the number two leading business applications provider), with its second largest rival, PeopleSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSFT). Its purpose is to analyze why one should never underestimate Oracle. Oracle has been depicted as a high-roller, especially given its exploit with PeopleSoft and its unwavering appetite for other direct, large competitors. Its acquisition "wish list," revealed in 2004 during its anti-trust trial (Oracle’s antitrust trial versus the Department of Justice at the US District Court in San Francisco, California), included high-profile competitors like the middleware rival BEA Systems, the database competitor Sybase, the leading business intelligence (BI) provider Business Objects, and other notable business applications players like Siebel Systems and Lawson Software. Yet, Oracle persevered and overcame several hurdles to acquire PeopleSoft and the court trial subsequently resulted with a favorable ruling for Oracle by the federal judge on September 9, definitely marked the turnaround point of the hostile acquisition saga...