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June 21, 2014

Wheelings & Dealings: M&A Week in Review

By Joe Rizzo, TMCnet Contributing Writer

It seems that something that has become very important across enterprises is the concept of putting the customer experience and the number one top priority. I say concept because I’m still waiting to experience it myself. That aside, it does look like Oracle (News - Alert) is among those corporations that is trying to improve the quality of its customer’s interactions.



Oracle is also looking to improve its cloud services. This brings us to the announcement that this week Oracle has acquired LiveLOOK. This company is a leading provider of innovative visual sharing technologies used by companies to improve online customer service. It is with that in mind that Oracle is acquiring the company in an attempt to boost its suite of customer experience software.

We know Red Hat (News - Alert) as the American multinational software company that provides open-source software products to the enterprise community. The company is constantly demonstrating that OpenStack is an important part of an open source platform.

It has updated its operating systems and virtual machine software in an attempt to better support and integrate into the OpenStack environment. Its next step is finalizing its intention to acquire eNovance. Adding eNovance's Software Factory and eNovance's clear expertise in OpenStack to its portfolio can only serve to elevate Red Hat's position in the market.

Earlier this week, Cisco (News - Alert) announced that it has intentions of acquiring a privately held leader in multi-vendor network service orchestration solutions for traditional, as well as virtualized networks, called Tail-f Systems. Retaining some autonomy, Tail-f Systems (News - Alert) will merge with Cisco’s service provider cloud and virtualization portfolio. It seems that the plan is to simplify by automating provisioning and management for physical and virtual networks.

United Bank Card, Inc. is currently doing business as Harbortouch. This is a payment and transaction processor company. InterCloud is a company that provides a variety of applications and services that include unified communications, interactive voice response (IVR) and SIP based call centers. This week it was announced that InterCloud entered into a $400,000 contract with Harbortouch. The terms call for a total migration from Harbortouch’s legacy voice system to next-generation unified communications and contact center architectures. 

Same-day grocery delivery services from Google (News - Alert), Instacart and Postmates are expanding into more cities around the country. They deliver pretty much everything from cereal to bottled water to toilet paper from nearby stores. Instacart recently completed a round of Series B funding which brought in an additional $44 million. This seems to be a service that is quickly gaining in popularity and was a major decision for some of the investors.

Every day companies all over the world make deals, raise funds and form partnerships. We try to keep an eye on these Wheelings & Dealings. Whether it is an acquisition or a joint partnership that benefits several companies, we will keep you apprised of all of the important details.



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