Oracle has been building its telecom technology arsenal for a number of years, focusing primarily on OSS and BSS (core Service Provider Information Technologyassets). But it signaled new intentions in January this year when it announced the impending acquisition of Acme Packet Inc., a move that will take it into the network infrastructure market and give it a prime seat on the network functions virtualization (NFV) bandwagon. (See Oracle to Acquire Acme for $1.7B and Is Acme a Virtual Gain for Oracle?)

Now it's buying Tekelec, which in the past has been known for its traditional SS7 signaling systems, but is now best known for its policy control, subscriber data management and Diameter routing (packet signaling management) platforms. Tekelec is also one of the companies at the forefront of NFV developments, having created a virtualized version of its Diameter Signaling Router and PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function) platforms.

Interestingly, both Acme and Tekelec have developed products for the management of Diameter traffic, which is (and will increasingly) play a critical role in the management of 3G and 4G mobile traffic.

But Heavy Reading Senior Analyst Jim Hodges doesn't see this as an issue. "While there is some overlap between Tekelec and Acme Packet in terms of Diameter products, Tekelec also brings to the table other unique data management and policy capabilities that will help Oracle expand market coverage. Like the Acme Packet acquisition, this wouldn't have made sense only a few years ago, but does today in this world of network virtualization and policy control enabled personalized services."

Tekelec is a private company, so there will be scant financial details about the proposed transaction. The company went private in January 2012 following a $780 million buy-out by a consortium of investors led by Siris Capital Group. (See Has Tekelec Been Undervalued?)

But only months after that transaction there was talk in the market that Tekelec was up for grabs. (See Tekelec Back in M&A Mode.)

— Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading