Everyone is still waiting for Oracle Corp to go for the big one, be it Apple Computer Inc or Novell Inc, but in the meantime it is making an infilling acquisition to get it into the world of On-Line Analytical Processing, the fancy new name for what people used to call decision support or Executive Information Systems when they comply with a set of rules laid down by Ted Codd. It has agreed to buy the Express family of management information software of Information Resources Inc for $100m cash. The Express product family includes server technology and client tools used primarily for sales, marketing, finance and management applications. About 600 software developers, sales, support, marketing and consulting staff from the IRI Software side of Information Res ources are expected to join Oracle, and Oracle will create a new OLAP Products Division, based in Waltham, Massachusetts. IRI Software will retain its identity as a business of Information Resources and continue to develop and sell applications for the consumer packaged goods and retailer markets based on Express technology licensed back from Oracle; it will also act as a value-added reseller of Oracle’s newly acquired OLAP products, and Oracle7.
