With the aim to further undermine rival SAP, Oracle has agreed to acquire enterprise software firm Hyperion Solutions Corporation for $3.3 billion in cash. Hyperion develops enterprise performance management software that helps companies plan, map and keep track of business plans and financial data. Oracle will integrate the Hyperion software into its Business Intelligence offerings, alongside technology from previous acquisitions Siebel and PeopleSoft, as well as its own proprietary business software.
"Thousands of SAP customers rely on Hyperion as their financial consolidation, analysis and reporting system of record. Now Oracle"s Hyperion software will be the lens through which SAP"s most important customers view and analyse their underlying SAP enterprise resource planning [ERP] data," said Oracle president Charles Phillips.
"While this move will do little to sway SAP ERP customers to Oracle, it will position Oracle closer to SAP"s customers and will give Oracle a share of the dollars that SAP customers spend on performance management applications," said Boris Evelson, principal business intelligence research analyst at Forrester Research.