* Has Oracle bitten off more than it can digest?
Back in January, I predicted in Network World’s Wired Windows column (link below) that in the identity management market, half-dozen well-known companies would be assimilated this year through mergers and acquisitions. Little did I know how quickly this would come to pass. Last week’s acquisition of Oblix by Oracle was perhaps the biggest deal yet this year – but probably won’t be the last.
Oblix, founded in 1996, could be considered the granddaddy of identity management companies. While directory services providers (Novell, Netscape, Computer Associates and others) are (or were) older, and while some had released services and applications that were directory-enabled, Oblix was perhaps the first to try to put together a complete package of identity services. It was the first to market with an electronic provisioning solution, for example.
Oblix was always proud of the fact that it could solve any identity problem (as long as there was a solution) with a customized service or application offering and considered that to be its greatest strength. This also was its greatest weakness according to some experts in the field. It always seemed to be difficult to, in 25 words or fewer, define what it was that Oblix actually did. This may be part of the reason why the rumored price Oracle paid was $90 million.
Oracle, the database giant, is no stranger to the identity management scene. The Oracle Internet Directory is a fully Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) compliant identity repository and has been around for years. The company also has offered single sign-on and provisioning services for a while, albeit mostly for its own applications. The company also has been somewhat involved in the federated identity space after its purchase of Phaos Technology last May. Because of Phaos’ involvement with the Liberty Alliance, Oracle also joined that consortium. In fact, with the chutzpah typically associated with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, the company announced its membership in the Liberty Alliance by saying: “Through its membership in the Liberty Alliance, Oracle plans to leverage its expertise in security and identity management to help further the organization’s success and development…” I’m sure we all look forward to Mr. Ellison and his minions letting us know where we’ve gone wrong in this whole identity management arena.
It’s no wonder that Gordon Eubanks, one of the nicest gentlemen in high tech and CEO of Oblix, decided not to join the management of Oracle, but to find other outlets for his expertise and acumen.
Oracle’s been on a feeding frenzy of mergers and acquisitions lately (e.g., PeopleSoft/J.D. Edwards) and many wonder if it might have bitten off more than it can adequately digest in the near term. Next issue we’ll examine what some industry experts have to say about this possibility.
