Oracle has announced that it will buy Endeca Technologies, a provider of unstructured data management, Web commerce, and business intelligence solutions. The value of the deal has not been disclosed and it is expected to be completed before the end of 2011.
Based in Cambridge, Massachusets USA, Endeca provides products that enable companies to analyze unstructured data and retrieve business intelligence using its core technology, the MDEX engine.
Endeca has two products: Endeca InFront and Endeca Latitude. Infront is a customer experience management platform that helps businesses deliver targeted customer experiences online. Latitude is a technology platform that enables businesses to produce business intelligence reports from unstructured and structured information sources.
For those in the procurement, supply chain and manufacturing worlds who don't know Endeca, they should. The company represents what is believed to be a truly next generation toolset for managing not only general ledger, invoice and related spend data, but more important, combining these financials insights with material information, part specification data, warranty claims insight and many forms of third-party structured (and even unstructured) data.
Yet because they've been going in so many directions (e.g., fueling lots of consumer sites from a search/faceted/guided navigation/shopping perspective), the manufacturing vertical as well as the emphasis on selling into procurement and supply chain was only given limited focus at Endeca.
Oracle has always had its own data management product, called Secure Enterprise Search (SES), which is able to sort through unstructured data but has limited capabilities, say analysts.
Thomas Kurian, executive vice president of Oracle Development, referred to a "changing data environment" in which the combination of Oracle and Endeca would be extremely compelling. “Together, we will provide best-in-class technology to manage structured and unstructured data together; business intelligence tools to analyze structured and unstructured data together; and a broad suite of packaged applications which extends the value of unstructured data into ERP, supply chain, CRM, EPM, Web commerce, and specialized applications," Kurian said in a statement. It just makes sense as Oracle seeks to consolidate its hold in the ever volatile ERP space.
By acquiring Endeca, Oracle appears to be acknowledging the need to pursue the unstructured data market, notes Nick Patience, research director of information management at 451 Group. "For years Oracle has championed the use of relational databases, but now they're finally acknowledging that not everyone is on a relational database and they need a company like Endeca which has a mix of enterprise search, analytics, and e-commerce management [for dealing with unstructured data]," he says.
Whit Andrews, a vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner Research, says the acquisition makes sense. "Oracle is more agile in its business intelligence solutions, but it is also looking for ways to increase its e-commerce footprint, which makes this acquisition interesting," he says. "There's no reason to think that Endeca won't be a huge asset."
The company adds that the combination of Oracle ATG Commerce and Endeca InFront will enrich cross-channel commerce and online customer experiences, while the integration of Oracle Business Intelligence and Endeca Latitude will provide a comprehensive business intelligence foundation and analytic applications.
The acquisition, subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close before the end of the year. Each company will continue to operate separately until the deal closes.
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