Oracle Makes Its Seventh Acquisition Of 2008Oracle Makes Its Seventh Acquisition Of 2008

Oracle acquired Silicon Valley startup ClearApp on Tuesday, a move that compliments both its stated focus on service-oriented architectures and its $8.5 billion acquisition of BEA Systems earlier this year.

ClearApp, founded in 2002, makes software that manages and monitors composite applications that are brought together via a SOA approach. ClearApp will become part of the Oracle Enterprise Manager software family.

"As customers deploy more SOA-based applications, the task of effectively managing them becomes paramount," said Leng Leng Tan, Oracle VP of applications and systems management, in a prepared statement. Oracle did not disclose the acquisition price.

As Oracle's seventh acquisition of the year, the ClearApp buy keeps Oracle in tempo with previous years' pace: it acquired 11 companies last year, and 13 companies in both 2006 and 2005.

ClearApp clearly plays into Oracle's BEA Systems strategy, as evidenced by how the ClearApp customer case studies. TransUnion uses ClearApp for the credit services it extends to consumers via Web-based applications that were implemented using SOA and BEA's WebLogic platform, according to ClearApp's Web site, and Accredited Home Lenders uses it for loan processing apps implemented via SOA and BEA's WebLogic integration, portal, and server software.

In related news, information has published independent research, analysis and best practices for implementing a SOA management strategy. Download the report here (registration required).