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While you were sleeping...Oracle acquires Captovation

Oracle bought a company on the sly. What is it up to?

Matt Asay Contributing Writer
Matt Asay is a veteran technology columnist who has written for CNET, ReadWrite, and other tech media. Asay has also held a variety of executive roles with leading mobile and big data software companies.
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Matt Asay

Lost in the rubble of Oracle's acquisition of BEA was its much smaller acquisition of Captovation, a middling document capture firm that positions Oracle to compete in the cash-rich imaging market. As CMS Watch reports:

We...believe that Oracle's 2006 acquisition of Stellent was in part driven for their desire for the somewhat neglected Optika technologies, which provide high-end imaging capabilities. The acquisition of Captovation today confirms that, and provides Oracle with a platform...to compete head to head with EMC and IBM / FileNet for major imaging driven deals (still the ECM deals with the largest price tags).

Interesting move for Oracle. It's not much of a competitor in the content management market (I should know - I compete with them and have yet to lose a deal to Stellent), but this gives it another arrow in the quiver. Perhaps it will eventually be a player in ECM. Perhaps.