Oracle to Buy BEA Systems for $8.5 Billion

"It's a good acquisition for Oracle and BEA," said James Kobielus, an analyst with Forrester Research. "BEA brings strength in some areas, like complex event processing. It's a strong platform for real-time business intelligence."

"There's also the fact that Oracle is very strong on data warehousing and batch ETL, while BEA is quite strong on data federation with AquaLogic. Oracle has data federation too, but BEA is more mature," he added.

The executives' promises about continued support for BEA's software rings true, according to Kobielus.

"If you look at Oracle's track record, they've done a good job of acquiring substantial brands, linking them into the Fusion middleware portfolio and then allowing them to continue steadily," he said. "Look at Hyperion. A lot of people said Oracle would discontinue Hyperion's BI, but clearly they haven't, and I don't see them doing so."

BEA's customers should watch and wait for a while, the analyst said.

"M&As don't change anything fundamentally when they are announced, or even when they are closed," he said. "It's only after the merged companies' CEOs get together and decide where they are going next, and these details start to become public, it's only then that CIOs should start to rethink their sourcing and partnering strategies."

BEA's products probably won't be rebranded for six to nine months, and two to three years of integration work will follow that, he predicted.

The companies expect to close the deal by mid-year, subject to the approval of regulators and BEA shareholders.

Oracle is financing the deal through a combination of cash and short-term credit, according to Ellison.

(Additional reporting by Peter Sayer in Paris.)