Oracle Opens Wallet (Again) For Oblix

The database kingpin said late Monday it is buying the maker of security and identity management software. Terms were not disclosed. Oracle senior vice president Thomas Kurian will host a call discussing the deal on Tuesday morning.

Oblix CEO and Chairman Gordon Eubanks, who piloted Symantec to the top of the software utility market, before joining Oblix in 1999, citing a need for "directory-enabled applications." Since then the company has been a proponent of single-sign-on and other add-ons for popular software infrastructure.

In a press statement released Monday, Eubanks said the "strength of Oblix' leading identity management solutions combined with Oracle's worldwide presence and its extensive software and services business will bring to customers an unprecedented ability to build identity into their software infrastructure and applications." He added that this combination represents the "future of security software."

It was unclear from the release what role, if any, Eubanks will play at Oracle.

The news shows that Oracle is nothing if not voracious. Just last week it beat out enterprise applications rival SAP to buy retail specialist Retek for $670 million. And late last year it finally sealed its long-running quest to buy PeopleSoft for a whopping $10.3 billion. With that deal done, Oracle is positioning itself as a challenger to SAP for the enterprise applications crown, observers said.