Kompanija Oracle je nedavno kupila firmu Metasolv inc. vodećeg svetskog vendora u oblasti aktivacije, te jednog od lidera u oblasti inventory i provisioning. Metasolv je, inače, jedan od naših principala u OSS domenu. Uz ranije obavljenu akviziciju firme Portal, jednog od lidera u oblasti billinga, Oracle je napravio strateški korak ka Telco OSS i BSS tržištu. Rezultat ove dve akvizicije je nova divizija u okviru Oracle-Communications Global Business Group, te ulazak ovog giganta na tržište OSS, BSS koje je već privuklo velikane poput IBM i HP. U nastavku dajemo interesantan tekst analitičara OSS observera ( Nezavisne grupe za analizu OSS tržišta - www.ossobserver.com) koji govori o značaju ove akvizicije na globalno OSS, BSS tržište.

In the past year, Oracle has changed from a company with no discernible focus on telecommunications software to a leading supplier. Oracle has long been a leading supplier of databases and financial applications that are the same for telecom as any other industry. This week Oracle announced it would acquire MetaSolv, the latest step in a series of moves to address the unique needs and opportunities in telecommunications software. OSS Observer’s Larry Goldman attended the Oracle OpenWorld customer and partner conference this week to meet Oracle executives and customers.

Earlier this year, Oracle acquired Portal Software in a dramatic move that signaled Oracle’s shift. On September 1, Oracle formed the Communications Global Business Unit (CGBU) under Bhaskar Gorti, Portal’s former CEO. The CGBU has its own development, marketing and sales teams. Once the MetaSolv acquisition closes, the MetaSolv team will become part of CGBU.

Less dramatically but equally important, Oracle acquired Hotsip, a SIP server supplier, in February 2006, and Net4Call, a Parlay gateway supplier. The SIP server and Parlay gateway provide important parts of the Oracle Service Delivery Platform (SDP), announced in April. Oracle’s SDP is built on its J2EE-based Fusion Middleware infrastructure. Oracle SDP also provides identity management and other service support infrastructure for CSPs and application developers.

Before acquiring these telecom-specific companies in 2006, Oracle’s 2005 acquisitions of PeopleSoft and Siebel gave them a much stronger presence in telecom CRM. Although these CRM products are essentially the same for telecom as for other industries, Oracle is investing in telecom-specific features in order handling and analytics and in telecom-specific integration support.

Complementing the CGBU, Oracle’s Communications, Media and Utilities Industries Business Unit, led by Group Vice President Lars Wahlstrom, develops an overall Oracle strategy for the telecom industry. This strategy is to provide a “pre-integrated and integration-enabled” end to end solution for telecom that embraces customer care, billing, fulfillment, SDP, accounting, ERP and HR built on SOA-based technologies. In this way, all of Oracle’s products for telecom will have pre-built integrations. More importantly from OSS Observer’s point of view, they will be easily integrated into the other systems telcos have developed or purchased.

Underpinning Oracle’s OSS, BSS and SDP products are J2EE development and integration technology. In addition to supporting Oracle’s own Fusion Middleware, they readily support integration based on other J2EE technology.

The Oracle OpenWorld customer conference in San Francisco was a very large event. 41 thousand people attended, taking over the city’s hotel and convention facilities – even leading the city to shut down a two-block stretch of Howard Street beside the Moscone Center. The four day event included 1,500 sessions. At times 50 different sessions ran in parallel. Over 400 Oracle partners exhibited on a show floor bigger than all but the very largest trade shows.

While OSS Observer focused on the telecom announcements and briefings, most attendees jammed sessions such as “General Ledger Extreme Makeover.” Major Oracle announcements include Oracle Linux support and Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 that encompasses CRM, ERP and supply chain management.

Over the past year, Oracle has sharpened its focus on telecom and invested heavily in the sector by its purchase of telecom-specific software companies. Oracle has quickly assembled a unique combination of BSS, OSS, SDP and infrastructure software products. We think it is likely Oracle will make further acquisitions in OSS and SDP. The most important capabilities Oracle lacks is a strong systems integration capability to deliver telecom software integrated with CSPs established systems. However, Oracle is highly unlikely to move in this area, sticking instead with their strategy of working closely with major integrators such as Accenture and HP.