Oracle Acquisition of Haley Reduces Independent BRE Options Further

10/30/2008

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On the heels of IBM's pending aquisition of Ilog, Oracle has acquired the independent business rules engine (BRE) provider Haley, which has been part of Australian-based Rulesburst since 2007. Becaucse the Oracle press releaase does not mention BRE and emphasizes an applications angle, it is possible that this acquisition is more related to the heritage Rulesburst technology and Oracle's industry-specific growth strategy. On the other hand, Oracle reportedly uses the heritage Haley technology in its Siebel line (or Siebel did before Oracle acquired it). Either way, the number of choices users have for rolling their own BPM capability by choosing an independent BRE, an independent ESB, etc. just got smaller. (For more on BPM in Government, see http://www.ebizq.net/hot_topics/bpm/features/10517.html)

ebizQ received the following:

On October 29, Oracle announced it has agreed to acquire RuleBurst Holdings Limited, the parent company of Haley Limited, a leading provider of policy modeling and automation software, to create an end-to-end solution for social services agencies.

Social service agencies are moving to commercial software to automate entitlements. With limited resources to serve a growing constituency, these agencies need to administer and distribute entitlements consistently and accurately as defined by the underlying legislation. Haley's policy automation platform translates legislation and policies into defined, automated rules that are deployed in an application.

Together with Oracle’s ERP and Siebel CRM applications, Oracle expects to create the first packaged software solution for social services agencies with an enhanced case management application utilizing Haley to drive eligibility determinations.

The Haley policy automation platform is also used in other industries that are highly regulated, such as financial services and insurance, to implement and manage complicated and rapidly changing policies in common language without the need for specialized software programming.

Haley management and employees are expected to join Oracle to form a global business unit focused on enterprise policy automation solutions across multiple industries. Haley’s CEO Dominic O’Hanlon is expected to lead the business unit as Senior Vice President and General Manager.

The transaction is subject to stockholder and governmental approvals and other customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of calendar 2009. Until the deal closes, each company will continue to operate independently. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

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