Oracle Buys Docker Container Startup StackEngine, Opens Cloud Campus in Austin

Article courtesy of theWHIR

Oracle acquired Docker container operations management startup StackEngine on Friday and followed on Tuesday by announcing plans to build a cutting-edge cloud campus in Austin, Texas. A team of recent graduates and technical professionals will be employed on the campus, which is designed to attract top millennial talent to support Oracle’s rapidly growing cloud business.

StackEngine sells an application management solution called Container Application Center, which provides an administrative console to automate and simplify container operations management. The company just emerged from stealth in October 2014 and TechCrunch reports it had accumulated $4.5 million in funding over multiple investment rounds prior to the sale. StackEngine’s full team will be integrated with Oracle as part of Oracle Public Cloud, which is the only detail provided about the acquisition by the companies.

The cloud campus announcement provides further clues, however, about Oracle’s plan and StackEngine’s role in it, as StackEngine is also based in Austin. With application development shifting steadily toward container-centric architectures, and Docker purchasing competing container management software company Tutum in October, Oracle seized the remaining opportunity to compete in the hot DevOps services market. Competing means offering enterprises a differentiated solution, and if StackEngine can be integrated with Oracle’s PaaS to deliver the security, resiliency, and speed it promises, easy container management may become a selling feature for Oracle.

Staff at the Austin cloud campus will increase Oracle’s local team “by more than 50 percent over the next few years.” Oracle will also purchase a 295-unit apartment building adjacent to the planned 560,000 square foot complex and parking development to house employees and provide work-life balance, the company said.

In an earnings report last week, Oracle revealed that while quarterly on-premise software revenue decreased 7 percent, its total cloud revenue rose 26 percent to $649 million, with PaaS making up three-quarters and growing by 34 percent. Oracle launched new IaaS offerings and expanded its Cloud Marketplace in October.

This first ran at http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/oracle-announces-cloud-growth-stackengine-acquisition-and-austin-cloud-campus