Software developer Oracle has agreed to acquire Lodestar for an undisclosed sum, adding to its existing applications suite for utilities management.

Lodestar sells meter data management applications and competitive energy solutions for the utilities industry. Oracle expects its bid for the company to close in May, pending customary closing conditions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The company agreed to acquire Hyperion Solutions in March for $3.3 billion. In November of last year, Oracle acquired another utilities management applications vendor, SPL Worldgroup.

The new deal comes after IBM unveiled its new infrastructure to help improve the efficiency of its utilities and reduce power consumption earlier this month. Oracle's competitor, Sun Microsystems, created its Blackbox data center with liquid cooling technology and Hewlett-Packard introduced its Dynamic Smart Cooling system last year.

Oracle agreed to acquire meter data management applications vendor Lodestar today for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition complements Oracle's existing applications suite for utilities management and gives the vendor an even stronger foothold in an industry that has seen greater competition emerge in the wake of deregulation.

(Continue reading this story on internetnews.com)

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