Wow..I have to admit that I didn’t think that one was going to happen. Out at OpenWorld in November, the general conses from the folks I talked with was “Why does Oracle even want BEA?”. Obviously it eliminates one of or the(not sure where IBM compares) biggest competitor in the Portal and Application server market, but they now have quite a bit of product overlap, especially with their portals.
Take a look at Oracle’s potential future Portal Product line:
Oracle Portal
Oracle Webcenter Framework(is it a portal? is it a framework? I’m sure there’s a debate, but I’m including it)
BEA Weblogic Portal
Aqualogic Portal
I think things are going to be a bit confusing for a little while, especially if you are trying to select a portal application. Which one has the brightest future? Or will they all continue to be emphasised(at least in the short to medium term), like JD Edwards and Peoplesoft.
If I’m a BEA customer(which I am not, but Ironworks is a BEA partner), I would be pretty excited. If the transition goes anything like the Stellent acquisition, you can expect a lull in product development for about a year as they get everyone settled and then a steady stream of new functionality and product road maps. Support has been excellent as you reach the same folks as before. Again I haven’t worked with BEA to have a comparison, but I really liked working with Stellent and so far I have have the same opinion of Oracle.
