The database maker announced its acquisition of Oblix on Monday. Oblix, based in California, makes programs that guard access to computer programs and data on corporate networks and Web sites, a specialty known as "identity management."
Oracle has been on an acquisition tear recently, buying software maker Retek for US$650 million in a deal inked just last week. In December, it bought rival PeopleSoft for US$10 billion, after a heated takeover battle.
The Oblix deal is tiny relative to the others. Though Oracle didn't disclose financial details, Oblix employs just 100 people.
Oracle said the company's technology complements access management software already built in to its Oracle Application Server program and will further bolster the security features of the product. Competitors on this front include BEA Systems, IBM and Sun Microsystems.
Oblix recently entered the Web services technology market via acquisition -- another aspect of the company that may have appealed to Oracle. Many software companies are touting Web services as a breakthrough method for sharing data among incompatible computers programs.
Oblix also counts as clients several blue chip companies, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cisco Systems, General Motors and Ingersoll-Rand.
