Oracle buys data-integration specialist

Oracle Corp. said it is buying GoldenGate Software, a San Francisco maker of data integration tools, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is expected to close later this year.

GoldenGate's technology helps companies pull together data in real time from a variety of sources for analysis. Major players in data integration include Informatica and IBM.

With the GoldenGate acquisition, Oracle will bolster its data-integration portfolio, which includes tools gained from its 2006 acquisition of Sunopsis.

GoldenGate's technology “offers advanced change data capture (CDC) capabilities that allow ongoing real-time pulls from the database log files of production environments – meaning that the performance of these production environments won't be impacted from the ongoing queries into their database,” Forrester Research analyst Rob Karel said via e-mail. “This is a critical requirement to enable high-volume data extraction to support real-time data warehousing and BI, as well as master data management.”

Oracle will also gain deeper inroads into the world's large enterprises. GoldenGate has more than 400 customers, including the top three busiest automated teller machine networks and four of the top five telecoms, according to a presentation.

It is unclear how Oracle will fold in GoldenGate's technology once the deal is complete. In a FAQ document, Oracle said has “initiated a review” of the vendor's portfolio and will advise customers once it is completed.

GoldenGate's products are already integrated with a number of key Oracle technologies, including its database, Fusion Middleware stack, BI (business intelligence) and EPM (enterprise performance management) tools.

But in the presentation distributed along with the announcement, Oracle said it is committed to supporting a wide range of platforms and applications.