Oracle spends $3.3bn on Hyperion

Oracle aims to further undermine rival SAP with the purchase of Hyperion

Oracle has agreed to acquire enterprise software firm Hyperion Solutions Corporation for $3.3bn 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.

With the purchase of Hyperion, Oracle aims to further undermine rival SAP, whose software is often used in conjunction with Hyperion's. 

Oracle has stepped up its rivalry with SAP in recent years through a series of acquisitions.  

"Thousands of SAP customers rely on Hyperion as their financial consolidation, analysis and reporting system of record," said Oracle president Charles Phillips.

"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."

Boris Evelson, principal business intelligence research analyst at Forrester Research, told vnunet.com that Oracle is attempting a strategic manoeuvre to get the attention of SAP's large enterprise customers, rather than making an outright bid to convince businesses to drop SAP right away. 

"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," he said.

Evelson suggested that the transaction could kick off a series of acquisitions in the enterprise performance management space as IBM and SAP seek to obtain technology that ends their reliance on Hyperion.

Potential acquisition candidates include Cognos, MicroStrategy and Information Builders.