Oracle snaps up G-Log to strengthen logistics offerings

By Bridget McCrea -- Logistics Management, 10/1/2005

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.—Looking to build up its stable of logistics and supply chain products, Oracle Corp. of Redwood Shores, Calif., has purchased G-Log, a Shelton, Conn.-based, privately held provider of logistics and transportation management software, for an undisclosed sum.

Jon Chorley, Oracle's vice president of supply chain execution and product life-cycle management strategy, said G-Log's Global Command and Control Center (GC3) product is "highly compatible" with Oracle's Fusion Middleware platform for logistics. Time-to-market concerns, as well as shippers' increasing need for more sophisticated logistics and transportation applications to help them manage globalization, rising fuel costs, outsourcing, security, and capacity shortages, all played into Oracle's decision, he added. "We've recognized that our own in-house development…was not making fast enough progress to meet the needs of our customers," he said. "We also recognize that, within this growing logistics and transportation management sector, having a stronger solution sooner would get us a great advantage."

John Fontanella, senior vice president and research director of Supply Chain Services at Aberdeen Group in Boston, called the deal a good move. "Oracle's transportation and management modules just weren't robust enough and lacked global capabilities," he said. "It was pretty much a starter kit compared to G-Log's product."

Based on Oracle's track record with acquisitions like Retek and PeopleSoft, Fontanella expects the company will further develop G-Log's product while to a lesser degree supporting its own transportation module. "Oracle has treated them with kid gloves, exerting no pressure to move to other applications or alternatives," he said. "Expect to see G-Log's integration capabilities and tools beefed up as the GC3 product is further developed."

Adrian Gonzalez, director of Dedham, Mass.-based ARC Advisory Group's Logistics Executive Council, said that the acquisition gives Oracle's clients access to a leading transportation management system (TMS) while easing G-Log customers' minds about their vendor's long-term viability. "The biggest risk for clients is a potential slowdown in product innovation," said Gonzalez. "Oracle already has its hands full with fusing together its legacy solutions and acquisitions, and GC3 is essentially a little fish in a big pond."