Oracle Acquires Moniforce

Oracle has acquired Moniforce, a Dutch software vendor active in online transaction and user monitoring, for an undisclosed sum. Oracle executives declined to comment about the deal in detail, aside from releasing a written statement outlining rough plans to fold Moniforce into its Enterprise Manager 10g. Moniforce provides four main functionality lines:

• User Monitoring: The webProbe module provides passive and real-time monitoring of the end-user experience on a Web site while UXinsight offers deeper visibility into the performance issues responsible for generating end-user problems. UXinsight is the Moniforce product that Oracle chose to highlight in its release, suggesting that Oracle is most interested in the user-monitoring component of the Moniforce portfolio.
• Business Transaction Monitoring: The webAlarm module provides always-on availability monitoring designed to alert companies when a Web site, server, or application goes down.
• Web Analytics: The Commerce and Enterprise editions of webSensor allow companies to monitor, segment, and otherwise analyze customer behavior on Web sites with a view to optimizing marketing campaigns and navigability.
• Load and Stress Testing: Moniforce runs simulations to determine in advance whether a company's infrastructure is prepared for a certain amount of visitors; the software also performs other audit tests.

The Moniforce product with the closest applicability to CRM is Web Analytics, but Denis Pombriant, founder and managing principal of CRM consultancy Beagle Research, points out that the overlap between what Moniforce does and the current state of CRM -- or, for that matter, customer experience management (CEM) -- is actually minimal. "Customer experience is defined as a staged modification or customization of a service for a customer to drive a transformative experience or event," Pombriant says. Moniforce, on the other hand, "allows you to answer the question of 'What happened today?' " By focusing on issues such as diagnostics, replays of problem transactions, and performance-tracking of applications, Moniforce plays more squarely in the categories of performance management and infrastructure. According to a statement from Chuck Rozwat, Oracle's executive vice president of product development, the acquisition of Moniforce "broadens the scope of business exceptions addressed by Oracle Enterprise Manager" -- both in Oracle and non-Oracle environments. Rozwat did not specify whether the Moniforce code will replace Oracle Enterprise Manager's core agent-based performance management functionality or constitute some kind of plug-in or add-on pack. Moniforce has over 100 customers, including such companies as Ahold, Corporate Express, KLM, Robeco, and T-Mobile. Oracle plans to retain the company's leadership and employees.

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