Oracle and SAP Sitting on Clouds

It was revealed on Wednesday that Oracle

is buying cloud marketing platform Vitrue, one day after SAP AG

announced its own cloud deal. The deal sees Oracle eating its own words, as it was previously and very publically dismissive of cloud computing, where companies store software and data on remote servers rather than on their own within the confines of their own offices. SAP announced yesterday that it would be paying $4.3 billion for German cloud platform Ariba, subject to approval from Ariba's shareholders and regulators. SAP will be paying $45 per share, 20% more than Ariba's May 21 closing price. "We don't have the DNA in the cloud," SAP co-Chief Executive Officer Bill McDermott said in an interview. "We're probably the most strategic cloud player in the enterprise software industry." It seems like a huge coincidence that ORCL buys a cloud platform one day after SAP, despite being down on the technology for so long. Obviously, the company feels that it has to expand into the field to keep up, simultaneously creating a technology shop for big companies. Still, the timing is mildly embarrassing.