Oracle has agreed to acquire publicly Portal Software for about $220m in cash.

Portal develops revenue management applications for the communications and media sectors. These offerings are designed to allow operators to bill and manage a wide range of services.

Oracle already has a strong position in the global communications market, the company claimed. The firm has recently been on a buying binge in the application software area. Following the mammoth acquisition on Peoplesoft, the company has bought retail specialist Retek, CRM vendor Siebel Systems and financial services focused firm iFlex.

Portal will form the basis of a new communications business unit inside the database developer that will focus on billing and revenue management.