I did indeed see the analysis – extracts below in “”

“Then is it perhaps because Oracle thinks that it is worth harvesting the TimesTen user base? Given that this is peanuts compared to Oracle and that many of them are joint customers anyway then it is obvious that this is not the case.!”

Whilst I acknowledge that TimesTen’s user base is very small compared to Oracle I don’t think it’s the size of the customer base, but rather the fact that TimesTen has seen success in markets where Oracle has not been traditionally strong – capital markets and telecommunications (including the equipment manufacturer OEM channel) – particularly as 50% of TimesTen’s customers are not Oracle customers.

“Do you begin to see a pattern here? It certainly looks as if the acquisition of TimesTen is actually about preventing Progress from making inroads into Oracle accounts. Progress is miniscule compared to Oracle so it would be difficult to conclude that Oracle was running scared of Progress per se but this strengthens the argument that I have written about before: that Oracle is increasingly under attack and, moreover, is increasingly seen as vulnerable by other suppliers. If that is the case then one part of a defensive strategy would be to shore up the battlements – the purchase of TimesTen seem sto fit within that picture.”

I really don’t buy this. I fail to see that Oracle is threatened by Progress, which has seen the vast majority of its success from the ISV community based on it’s database and tools combination. Progress operates Apama as part of a separate business unit – much like it does Sonic – and I believe that the primary motivation for Progress is to target a discrete market opportunity with Apama rather than to try and upsell its database into the same market: it just doesn’t have the credibility (or the product) to take on the likes of Oracle.

I did indeed see the analysis – extracts below in “”

“Then is it perhaps because Oracle thinks that it is worth harvesting the TimesTen user base? Given that this is peanuts compared to Oracle and that many of them are joint customers anyway then it is obvious that this is not the case.!”

Whilst I acknowledge that TimesTen’s user base is very small compared to Oracle I don’t think it’s the size of the customer base, but rather the fact that TimesTen has seen success in markets where Oracle has not been traditionally strong – capital markets and telecommunications (including the equipment manufacturer OEM channel) – particularly as 50% of TimesTen’s customers are not Oracle customers.

“Do you begin to see a pattern here? It certainly looks as if the acquisition of TimesTen is actually about preventing Progress from making inroads into Oracle accounts. Progress is miniscule compared to Oracle so it would be difficult to conclude that Oracle was running scared of Progress per se but this strengthens the argument that I have written about before: that Oracle is increasingly under attack and, moreover, is increasingly seen as vulnerable by other suppliers. If that is the case then one part of a defensive strategy would be to shore up the battlements – the purchase of TimesTen seem sto fit within that picture.”

I really don’t buy this. I fail to see that Oracle is threatened by Progress, which has seen the vast majority of its success from the ISV community based on it’s database and tools combination. Progress operates Apama as part of a separate business unit – much like it does Sonic – and I believe that the primary motivation for Progress is to target a discrete market opportunity with Apama rather than to try and upsell its database into the same market: it just doesn’t have the credibility (or the product) to take on the likes of Oracle.