The world’s second largest software maker has its heart set on becoming even bigger as today Oracle (News - Alert) Corp. agreed to buy RightNow Technologies (News - Alert) Inc. for about $1.5 billion to expand its offering of Internet-based services.

 “Oracle is moving aggressively to offer customers a full range of Cloud Solutions including sales force automation, human resources, talent management, social networking, databases and Java as part of the Oracle Public Cloud," said Thomas Kurian, executive vice president of Oracle Development, in a statement. "RightNow's leading customer service cloud is a very important addition to Oracle's Public Cloud."

The Redwood City, Calif.-based Oracle will pay $43 per RightNow share, according to a statement that was made today. The proposed transaction is subject to RightNow stockholder approval, certain regulatory approvals, and customary closing conditions and is expected to close by late 2011 or early 2012, according to RightNow officials. Until the deal closes, each company will continue to operate independently and it is business as usual.

In light of the news announcement, TMC’s CEO Rich Tehrani (News - Alert) said, “This move further entrenches Oracle as a leader in CRM and, more importantly, allows the company to compete more aggressively in the cloud with Salesforce.com (News - Alert).”

The move will allow Oracle to offer its customers a full range of cloud solutions more aggressively, according to company officials.

"RightNow’s products add leading customer experience capabilities that help empower companies to interact with and provide a consistent experience to customers across channels," said Greg Gianforte (News - Alert), CEO, RightNow. "We look forward to combining our complementary capabilities along with maintaining and expanding our presence in Bozeman, Montana in order to better service our customers."

Oracle gained 0.3 percent to $32.23 before the opening of the markets, 8:10 a.m. New York time, according to reports.

Just a few days ago, Oracle announced that it has also entered into an agreement to acquire Endeca Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of unstructured data management, web commerce and business intelligence solutions. Endeca provides powerful and highly intuitive products that help companies analyze unstructured data, gain better business intelligence, and deliver a superior customer experience, according to company officials.