Oracle Acquires Web Application Testing Tools

One day after it reported a 21 percent increase in its fiscal third quarter 2008 software revenues to $4.2 billion, Oracle announced yet another acquisition, albeit a small one.

The company announced March 27 that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the e-TEST product suite from Empirix, a company that provides voice and Web application testing and monitoring software.

Oracle plans to integrate the software with its Enterprise Manager and Real Application Testing portfolios. The combination, company officials said, is "expected to result in a comprehensive solution for testing packaged and custom built applications."

Oracle is also in the process of acquiring BEA Systems, which has substantial application development tools. The e-TEST suite will likely augment any application development capabilities in BEA.

"Customers are looking for automated application testing solutions that help prevent costly application performance problems, avoid unplanned outages of business-critical applications, and automate the manual steps involved in application testing," said Leng Leng Tan, vice president of applications and systems management at Oracle, in a statement.

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 "We expect that the combination of Empirix's e-TEST suite and Oracle's Enterprise Manger will create a best-of-breed systems management portfolio spanning the full application life cycle, from development and testing to production deployment and management."

Oracle did not disclose the financial terms of the deal with Empirix.

Oracle has been on a buying spree since 2005, when it acquired PeopleSoft along with JD Edwards, which PeopleSoft had acquired. Since then the company has bought more than forty companies that span database, middleware and applications development.

Ovum analyst David Mitchell said in a March 27 research note that, while Oracle's earnings call Wednesday showed some elements of the company's continued success, there are signs that the global fiscal problems are beginning to have an impact on the industry. "This makes Q4 more interesting than ever in the Oracle economy and with more at stake than ever."