Oracle buys Netsure; CDC Software adds in Catalyst; Cognos to buy BPM vendor Applix

· Oracle announced an agreement to acquire network intelligence and security specialist Netsure Telecom Limited.

By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff September 6, 2007

Oracle announced an agreement to acquire network intelligence and security specialist Netsure Telecom Limited .
Netsure’s software has been successfully deployed for Tier 1 operators including Vodafone, Cable & Wireless, and Eircom. The Dublin-based vendor will become a part of Oracle’s Communications Global Business Unit, which delivers compelling communications-specific applications to service providers worldwide. The transaction is subject to customary conditions and is expected to close later in September 2007.
“The addition of Netsure’s products to Oracle’s comprehensive communications applications suite is expected to help Oracle’s customers improve network utilization, optimize capacity planning and financial modeling, and streamline end-to-end network life-cycle management,” says Oracle senior VP and GM Bhaskar Gorti. “In conjunction with Oracle’s ERP, supply chain, inventory management and network discovery solutions, Oracle [will deliver to service providers] the ability to improve their network ROI and increase their operational efficiency as they launch, deploy, and profit from next-generation IP services.”
CDC Software reports a definitive agreement to acquire Milwaukee-based Catalyst International , a leading provider of supply chain execution solutions and services.
With approximate annual revenues of U.S.$35 million, the acquisition of Catalyst is expected to be immediately accretive to CDC Software upon completion of the acquisition.
Catalyst’s software solutions and services are highly complementary to CDC Software’s IMI Supply Chain product line, as well as its CDC Global Services operations. The IMI suite supports demand-driven fulfillment in multi-company, multi-site and multi-channel environments.
“This acquisition will expand our global supply chain offerings and base of blue-chip customers, and at the same time, strengthen our CDC Global Services offerings by adding significant expertise and resources in large-scale supply chain execution,” says Eric Musser, CEO of CDC Software. “We are also excited about the advanced architecture of CatalystConnect, an event-driven, rules-based workflow platform that will serve as an integration backbone in the future for CDC Software’s applications. The Catalyst International SAP logistics consulting practice will extend our strategy of building services practices across key areas of the ERP application space.
Cognos reports a definitive agreement to acquire business performance management vendor Applix .
Applix will complement Cognos flagship products—Cognos 8 Planning, Cognos 8 Controller, and Cognos 8 Business Intelligence—specifically in the area of financial performance management. Applix performance analytics will give customers new and enhanced capabilities to analyze and optimize financial performance. This will include improved analysis and optimization of large, complex financial performance data; strong finance self-service capabilities such as business rules management; new solution areas including profitability analysis; and innovative technology, including Applix TM1, a patented, 64-bit, in-memory multidimensional OLAP server.
Applix will broaden our solution offering and provide Cognos with an innovative, 64-bit, in-memory analytics capability,” says Rob Ashe, Cognos CEO. “It also will bring into the company a very strong employee and customer base that has been committed to performance management through high-impact analytics. This is another major step forward for Cognos in delivering leading performance management solutions to finance and across operations.”