Other blogs on the BI Network have already covered Oracle's proposed acquisition of Sunopsis and so I won't repeat the details here. The only point to add is that although Sunopsis will likely continue to support non-Oracle data sources it will become an Oracle product. This means that any partnerships with companies such as Netezza, for example, are dead.

The question is, where next for Oracle? There have been some interesting rumors floating around the analyst communities of late about possible BI acquisitions. One says Oracle will acquire Business Objects, while another says Cognos will be acquired by IBM. I have also heard a rumor about a possible Cognos and Hyperion merger. Who knows how much truth there is to these rumors. It does suggest though that maybe the days of the independent BI vendor are possibly numbered. Perhaps it's time to look at open source BI! Also if any of of these acquisitions takes place where does it leave SAP?