Oracle to Acquire ATG for $1 Billion

Its always interesting to see technologies come and go during your life, and it seems that my generation will have the opportunity to see this happen countless times. The pace at which programming and other software is advancing is exponential, and has been for nearly two decades. Oracle has noticed the accelerating advancements and has conformed business strategy to keep up without becoming outdated. Oracle said Tuesday that it reached an all-cash deal to buy out e-commerce solutions provider Art Technology Group (ATG) for $6.00 per share, or about $1 billion. ATG provides software and services that help organizations establish Web storefronts and conduct e-commerce operations.

In the past, corporations purchased software from other companies rather than designing their own systems in order to save time and money. Oracle has always offered certain, specific programs for companies, but never a comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) system. In order to use Oracle’s programs along with other programs to run a business, translators must be implemented to ensure compatibility. However, with Oracle’s purchase of ATG the need for program translators will no longer be a factor. Oracle said ATG's front-end commerce tools will fit nicely with its lineup of back-of-house customer analytics and database offerings.

"Driven by the convergence of online and traditional commerce and the need to increase revenue and improve customer loyalty, organizations across many industries are looking for a unified commerce and CRM platform to provide a seamless experience across all e-commerce channels," said Thomas Kurian, executive VP for Oracle Development.

"Bringing together the complementary technologies and products from Oracle and ATG will enable the delivery of next-generation, unified, cross-channel commerce and CRM," said Kurian.

Oracle's deal to buy ATG is the latest splash from a wave of consolidation that's swept across the IT industry over the past several quarters. ATG's customers include blue chippers like AT&T, Best Buy, AARP, and CVS drugstores. Big vendors like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Oracle itself are racing to assemble comprehensive product portfolios that extend from data center hardware to customer-facing applications and services.

Oracle’s hope is CIOs will prefer to fulfill the bulk of their requirements through a single vendor rather than risk an integration mess by cherry picking offerings from multiple sources. Oracle fired the first big salvo with its $7.4 billion purchase, completed earlier this year, of server builder Sun Microsystems, and has followed up with deals for Silver Creek, Convergin, AmberPoint, Phase Forward, and several others.

The transformation going on in the technology sector of the economy is incredible. The amount of money being spent on research to improve the CRM systems that corporations use is crucial in order for business to stay competitive. Also, the transformation from companies using several different components to them using Oracle’s system will create a system which will run more smoothly.

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