Oracle muscles into PLM market

Software giant Oracle has snapped up Agile Software, a provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) products.

The US$495million acquisition of US-based Agile gives Oracle its first real presence in the rapidly growing PLM market.

Agile develops software designed to manage a product's complete lifecycle from concept all the way through to production, sales and service.

"The addition of Agile, which will serve as the foundation of our PLM offering, will further Oracle's strategy of delivering industry-specific enterprise applications and allows us to offer yet another strategic application to SAP customers," Oracle president Charles Phillips stated.