Thursday, 17 May 2007

Oracle to Buy Agile Software

Oracle is planning to purchase Agile Software for an estimated USD 495 million cash deal. This deal aims to provide Oracle with a launchpad in the arena of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) business. "Oracle has virtually zero in the PLM business, and this deal will help them figure...

Oracle is planning to purchase Agile Software for an estimated USD 495 million cash deal. This deal aims to provide Oracle with a launchpad in the arena of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) business.

"Oracle has virtually zero in the PLM business, and this deal will help them figure things out, like collaboration applications for engineering or marketing," said Bruce Richardson, an analyst with AMR Research.

According to AMR, the PLM market space is predicted to have skyrocketing growth this year. The segment is expected to grow by USD 6 billion this year, up from USD 5.2 billion last year, according to AMR. The PLM market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 9 per cent until 2010.

"Agile gives Oracle a horizontal application that serves a lot of big customers like Cisco in a number of industries," Richardson said. "It gives Oracle more exposure in the medical business and Agile is also making inroads in the food and beverage industry."

"SAP looked at acquiring Agile and other third parties in this space, but a couple of months ago it decided to build its own (PLM)," he said.