Oracle Corp has acquired UK metadata specialist One Meaning Inc, vaulting it, the company claims, ahead of Microsoft Corp and all other comers in the ability to offer a complete data modeling solution. Oracle said that soon after it realized that metadata was it as far as data warehousing is concerned, it began to coalesce its decision support and multidimensional (Discovery and Express) tools. That work showed it clearly lacked sufficient back-end technology for its Common Warehouse Meta Data technology and led it to put its hand in its pocket for One Meaning. The UK company, which transferred its headquarters to Palo Alto, California last year, has been acting as meta data consultant to Oracle for many moons. But it was simply too small to use as the basis of CWM when the project started, Oracle says. Quickly, however its importance became clear. And Oracle does not pick up such fundamental technologies from third parties lightly, observes VP data warehousing Michael Howard. Experience is the biggest thing we are buying here, he said. Oracle will roll the One Meaning technology into CWM over eight months or so. CWM gets its first outing in Oracle Warehouse Builder early next year. One meaning’s software includes bridges to 26 warehouse tools and applications that will enable Oracle to support a range third party data warehouse environments. Oracle says it will continue to support customers using One Meaning’s Marlow product suite and already has five ready to begin swapping in Oracle’s CWM components as they become available. The acquisition is the perfect end game for privately-held 40 person One Meaning. Ironically its Marlow metadata technology was actually born out of a failed Sybase data warehouse project. The Marlow, UK data exchange company started life as Software One Ltd in 1989 with an idea about metadata, that is, data about data. Initially it applied the notion to Computer Aided Systems Engineering (CASE), which is when it formed an initial relationship with Oracle. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but Oracle said it would not be material to its financial results.
