June 5, 2008 3:35 PM PDT
Oracle sticks a fork in BEA AquaLogic
Word on the street is that Oracle is in process of killing the AquaLogic brand that BEA spent over $300 million to assemble, and probably $100 million more to market. This is a bit of a surprise as BEA had gone to extraordinary lengths to build the brand, which I would argue was much more popular than Oracle's SOA offerings.
The Register has learned from individuals close to the company that BEA's new owner Oracle is merging the AquaLogic and WebLogic professional service teams. Oracle is also splitting the AquaLogic products between "web products" - user interaction, collaboration and the Web 2.0 suite - and AquaLogic business process management (BPM). The Web products originate from the Plumtree buy in 2005 and the BPM suite comes from the Fuego acquisition in 2006, deals that totaled nearly $300m.
You have to wonder if this portends some downside of consolidation...that seems like an awful lot of money to go out the window. On the other hand, I am sure the guys who got bought out by BEA aren't complaining right now.
Dave Rosenberg dishes up "Software, Interrupted" with nearly 15 years of technology and marketing experience that spans from Bell Labs to multiple start-up IPOs to open-source enterprise software companies. He is co-founder of MuleSource and currently serves as the general manager of Hardy Way. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can contact Dave via e-mail at softwareinterrupted@gmail.com.
