The middleware market will continue to consolidate as firms seek expansion through acquisition, according to an industry analyst.

David Mitchell, senior vice president of IT research at Ovum, made his comments in the wake of Oracle's buyout of BEA.

"The middleware market is one of the most significant within the technology industry, with competitors like Oracle, IBM, Microsoft and BEA vying with numerous niche technology providers," he said.

"It is also a market that has been consolidating and will to continue to consolidate further."

"Oracle's appetite is not satiated, although the volume of medium to large scale targets on the market is now reducing."

Mitchell added that Oracle's next targets are likely to be in the " industry-specific applications category".

The company has already amassed a range of middleware products from organic development and acquisitions, assembling these into its Fusion Middleware range.

"BEA products are likely to form a part of this domain, with its standards-based architecture allowing this to happen," said Mitchell.

The analyst suggested that Oracle is particularly good at integrating new acquisitions into its core business, making sure it experiences as little distraction to business operations as possible.

"This sees the main elements of integration completed with 30 to 90 days," Mitchell said.

"Key within this area is the integration of the sales and go-to-market teams to ensure that little loss of sales traction is found."